/Public Information/Press Releases

• Press Releases/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 07.04.2015.

On Acquittal for the Crimes in Tenja

On 6 April 2015, the Trial Chamber of the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade (the Chamber) rendered a judgment finding Žarko Čubrilo not guilty of a war crime against civilians committed in the first half of July 1991 in Tenja (Republic of Croatia). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) points out that the decision of the Chamber is based on an erroneous interpretation of key pieces of evidence and a disregard of the most important sections of the statements by eye-witnesses.

• Human Losses/Press Releases
• 25.03.2015.

Demystifying „NATO Aggression and the Fight Against Shiptar Terrorists“

In 2000, the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia announced the publication of „The Heroes of the Fatherland,“ a valuable, though incomplete, record of military victims in connection with the war in Kosovo. The record includes the names of military war victims – 275 members of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) and Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior (MUP) – who were killed in NATO attacks on the territory of Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo..

• Press Releases/War crime trials/Vetting
• 09.03.2015.

Eleven Years Later OWCP Still Offers no Answer to Question: Who Committed the Most Massive Crime in Kosovo?

In an interview given on March 5, 2015 to the daily newspaper ‘Novosti’ [*available only in Serbian], the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia Vladimir Vukčević stated that Momir Stojanović, former Chief of Staff of the Military Security Department of the Priština Corps of the Yugoslav Army (VJ), does not appear as even a “possible perpetrator” of war crimes in the investigation into the crimes committed in Meje/Mejës (Kosovo) conducted by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP). Referring to the arrest warrants issued by Interpol for 17 individuals suspected of having committed war crimes in the Đakovica/Gjakova municipality in Kosovo, Vukčević also claimed that the OWCP does not know what evidence the warrants were based on, but that he is ready to verify the evidence obtained by EULEX.

• Press Releases
• 26.02.2015.

Marking the anniversary of the crime committed in Štrpci

On Friday, February 27th, 2015, it will be 22 years since the abduction and murder of 20 passengers on the train travelling from Belgrade to Bar. The Women in Black, Youth Initiative for Human Rights, Sandžak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will organize a Peace Action entitled ‘Truth – Accountability – Justice’ in front of the main entrance to Belgrade Railway Station, in order to remind the public of this crime, and to call on the institutions of Serbia to prosecute all the individuals responsible, find the locations with the mortal remains of the victims, and provide their families with dignified satisfaction and acknowledgement.

• Financial Reparations/Press Releases
• 17.02.2015.

22 Years since the VJ Crime in Kukurovici

February 18, 2015 marks the 22nd anniversary since the Yugoslav Army’s attack on the village of Kukurovici near Priboj, where the elderly Uzeir Bulutovic, Musan Husovic and Fatima Sarac were killed. To date, the institutions have not identified the perpetrators, nor have the victims’ families received the status of civilian victims of war.

• Dossiers/Press Releases/Vetting
• 05.02.2015.

Reaction of the Humanitarian Law Center to Allegations made by General Ljubiša Diković in the “Teška Reč” TV Show

General Ljubiša Diković appeared on the Pink TV show Teška Rečon February 2, 2015, after the “Rudnica File” had been made public, only to deny his responsibility for the war crimes committed in Kosovo and to accuse the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) of running a “smear campaign” against him personally and against the entire Army of the Republic of Serbia. General Diković claimed he had never “planned, organized, participated, or in any way instigated the commitment of war crimes.”

• Press Releases
• 03.02.2015.

The rulings of the International Court of Justice establish the historical responsibility of the institutions of Croatia and Serbia for the legacy of crimes

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed the mutual lawsuits between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia for the violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, establishing that none of the parties committed an act of genocide during the war on the territory of the Republic of Croatia in the period 1991-95, but also establishing that large-scale crimes against the civilian population were committed.

• Dossiers/Press Releases/War crime trials
• 01.02.2015.

OWCP showed no genuine will to investigate crimes committed by the 37th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) informed the public on Friday, January 30th, 2015 that it has requested from the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) the „entire documentation relating to the Rudnica Case“. The OWCP stated that 53 bodies have been identified at the Rudnica location so far, on the basis of which pre-trial proceedings have been launched, adding that they are requesting the documents from the HLC for the purpose of gathering further information on the crimes, which were, according to the allegations of the HLC, committed by members of the Yugoslav Army and Ministry of the Interior in April and May 1999“. The OWCP also reminded the general public that in January 2012 they established, on the basis of an inspection of the HLC’s allegations, that there were no grounds for the suspicion that General Ljubiša Diković was responsible for the war crimes alleged in the Ljubiša Diković Dossier.

• Financial Reparations/Reparations/Press Releases
• 26.12.2014.

Bill on Rights of Civilian Victims of War should be withdrawn

On 23rd December 2014, the public consultation on the Bill on the Rights of War Veterans,
Disabled War Veterans, Civilian Invalids of
War and their Family Members  (the Bill) prepared by the  Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Policy (the Ministry) was closed. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that this Bill should be withdrawn from the adoption procedure, because it does not reflect the real needs and diversity of victims who live in Serbia, violates the constitutional principle of equal protection before the law for every citizen, and is deeply inconsistent with international and generally accepted norms relating to the protection of victims of human rights abuses.  

• Press Releases/War crime trials
• 19.12.2014.

Court of Appeals in Belgrade: Three Years Imprisonment For War Crime Against Frail Old Man

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade has modified the judgment rendered by the Higher Court in Požarevac, by which the accused, Boban Petković, was found guilty of a war crime against a civilian population and sentenced to five years of imprisonment, and decreased his sentence to three years of imprisonment. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that three years of imprisonment is an inappropriately mild sentence and that the mitigating circumstances that the Court of Appeals considered in the case of the accused are unacceptable from the standpoint of justice for victims of war crimes.

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