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.

Bill on Rights of Civilian Victims of War should be withdrawn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 The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that this Bill should be withdrawn from the adoption procedure, because it does not reflect the real needs and diversity of victims who live in Serbia, violates the constitutional principle of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.  

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.

On the occasion of Human Rights Day: Record of murdered/killed and dissapeared persons in connection with the war in Kosovo

Wartime rape victims should not be subject to jokes

A talk show host on the Prva srpska televizija (First Serbian TV Station), Ivan Ivanović, mocked victims of rapes committed during and in relation to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in his show broadcast on November 30th, 2014, thus seriously offending thousands of rape victims in BiH. Human rights organizations demand that Prva srpska televizija and Ivan Ivanović make a public apology to victims of rapes committed during the war in BiH, and that they show the movie Grbavica, which discusses the fate of women who were raped in BiH, at the usual time dedicated to this talk show, in order to indicate respect  for these victims. 

Serbia Has Obligation to Locate Mass Gravesite with Victims from Ovčara and to Punish JNA Officers

On November 20th, 2014, it will be 23 years since the crime at the “Ovčara” farm near Vukovar was committed. In this incident, members of the Serb Radical Party volunteer units under the control of the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) executed 265 Croat civilians and prisoners of war. The bodies of 48 of the victims have not been found to date.

Administrative Court in Novi Sad: Croat From Vojvodina injured by JNA members is not war victim

The Administrative Court in Novi Sad rendered a judgment on October 22nd, 2014, dismissing the lawsuit filed by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) against the Provincial Secretariat For Health, Social Policy and Demography (Provincial Secretariat), because they refused to grant the status of civilian invalid of war to A.S. from Vojvodina, whom JNA soldiers had attempted to kill at his job in September 1991 not far from Apatin. In view of this judgment by the Administrative Court, the HLC will file a constitutional appeal with the Constitutional Court of Serbia.

Director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights Offends Victims of Torture in Sandžak

In an interview for the daily newspaper Večernje novosti, published on September 6, 2014 under the title “Ugljanin inventing Torture”, Suzana Paunović, the Director of the Office for Human and Minority Rights of Serbia, said that the claim made by the former Minister without portfolio, Sulejman Ugljanin, which stated that Bosniaks in Sandžak were victims of systematic torture, is inappropriate and unfounded.

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade: Serbia is responsible for the torture and inhumane treatment of Bosniaks in the Šljivovica concentration camp

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade (Court of Appeals) amended the judgment of the First Basic Court in Belgrade and rendered a final judgment stating that Serbia is responsible for the torture and inhumane treatment of the Bosniaks Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo from Žepa, committed by members of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI). Bogilović and Džebo were detained in the concentration camp Šljivovica (municipality Čajetina) in 1995 and 1996. The Court of Appeals also obliged the State to pay them compensation to the amount of 600,000 RSD. Although the amount awarded may not constitute fair compensation for the victims, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) points out that the final court assessment of the treatment of captured Bosniaks in the camp Šljivovica by members of the MOI represents the first institutional recognition of the atrocities committed against Bosniaks in the concentration camps at Šljivovica and Mitrovo Polje.

Include victims’ rights to reparation in Chapter 23

The European Commission (EC) Screening Report for Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Human Rights, does not contain information on the rights of victims of the war crimes and of mass violations of human rights committed during the 1990’s to material compensation and other types of reparation. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) calls upon all participants in Serbia’s European Union (EU) accession negotiations to include all norms and international standards relating to the rights of victims of human rights violations, including the requirements of the EU Acquis, into the process of the harmonization of domestic regulations with  EU law.