/Public Information/Press Releases

• Financial Reparations/Reparations/Press Releases
• 31.01.2014.

Court does not recognise former Croatian POWs’ right to redress

The First Basic Court in Belgrade, following the proceedings which lasted six years, passed a judgment dismissing the compensation claim against the Republic of Serbia filed by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) in November 2007 on behalf of 12 Croatian citizens for torture they endured in the JNA (Yugoslav People’s Army) prison camps in Sremska Mitrovica and Begejci in 1991. The HLC notes that this judgement denies the victims of severe crimes their right to obtain just compensation, which is guaranteed by both domestic and international law.

• Press Releases/ICTY trials and before the courts in the other post-Yugoslav states
• 27.01.2014.

ICTY Appeals Chamber’s Judgment against Vlastimir Đorđević

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today delivered its final guilty verdict against the former Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia and Chief of its Public Security Division (RJB) Vlastimir Đorđević, reducing his sentence to 18 years of prison, instead of 27 years as initially imposed.

• Press Releases/ICTY trials and before the courts in the other post-Yugoslav states
• 23.01.2014.

Anatomy of Serbian institutions’ responsibility for crimes against Kosovo Albanians

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today passed a judgment confirming the conviction of four high-ranking government, military and police officials of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and Serbia – Nikola Šainović, Nebojša Pavković, Sreten Lukić and Vladimir Lazarević – for deportation, forcible displacement, killing, sexual assaults, persecution on political and racial grounds and other crimes against civilians (Kosovo Albanians) committed between March and May 1999. Šainović, Lukić and Lazarević had their sentences marginally reduced.

• Criminal Justice/Press Releases/War crime trials
• 21.01.2014.

Anonymization of judgments in war crimes cases contrary to national and international regulations

 On 16 January 2014, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) appealed to the Commissioner for information of public importance against the decision of the Higher Court in Belgrade (the Higher Court) to deny the HLC access to the full text of the court judgments delivered in the Beli Manastir and Gnjilane Group cases. The HLC notes that the Serbian courts’ practice of judgment “anonymization” in war crimes cases runs contrary to the Serbian Constitution and other national and international regulations and denies victims and the society the right to know the truth about the crimes that were committed.

• Criminal Justice/Press Releases
• 03.01.2014.

Prison Regime for War Crimes in Serbia Represents Mockery of Victims’ Suffering

Slobodan Medić, the former Commander of the “Scorpions” unit, who was convicted of the war crime in which six Muslim boys and men from Srebrenica were killed, died in a car accident near Sremska Mitrovica on Tuesday, December 31^st, 2013. At the time of the accident, Medić was serving his prison sentence of 20 years in the Sremska Mitrovica Penitentiary. As the media have reported, Medić was on provisional release, because he was granted the right to leave prison for holidays on account of his good behaviour. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) emphasizes that war crimes trials in Serbia are being trivialized by granting privileges to perpetrators of war crimes, and that the sufferings of victims are thereby being negated.

• Criminal complaints/Press Releases
• 27.12.2013.

Criminal Complaint Against Yugoslav Army Officer for Crime Committed Against 17 Kosovo Albanians and One Ashkali

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a criminal complaint against Božidar Delić, the former Commander of the 549^th Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav Army (549^th YA MtBr), Radivoj Paravinja, the Commander of the 3^rd Combat Group, and a number of unidentified members of the 549^th MtBr, on December 26^th, 2013, based on reasonable suspicion that they committed a war crime against the civilian population in the village of Landovica (Municipality of Prizren) on March 26^th, 1999.

• Pravda i reforma institucija/Press Releases/Vetting
• 09.12.2013.

Persons Indicted for War Crimes in Police Uniform

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) demands that the Gendarmerie Commander, Milenko Božović, and Police Director, Milorad Veljović, use the option offered by the law and suspend the Gendarmerie Commander, Vladan Krstović, indicted for the war crime committed against Kosovo Albanians in Ljubenić on April 1st, 1999, until the completion of the proceedings in question.

• Analysis/Press Releases/War crime trials
• 09.12.2013.

Acquittal in Case Against Samir Hondo

The Trial Chamber of the Higher Court in Belgrade rendered an acquittal on November 22^nd, 2013, in the case of Samir Hondo, indicted for war crimes against the civilian population in the Čelebići Camp, near Konjic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) stresses that the court rendered a correct ruling, because the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) failed to provide credible evidence during the trial which would have pointed to the responsibility of the accused for the crimes he had been charged with.

• Pravda i reforma institucija/Press Releases/Vetting
• 20.11.2013.

Officers Indicted of Crimes Against Civilians in Trnje Should Be Suspended from Serbian Army

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) demands that the Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Ljubiša Diković, suspends Pavle Gavrilović and Rajko Kozlina, persons indicted for the crime in Trnje committed against Kosovo Albanians on March 25^th, 1999, from the Serbian Armed Forces, until the completion of the proceedings.

• Press Releases
• 07.11.2013.

Request to the Republic of Serbia to enable CSOs to access the documents on the contents of laws

The Coalition for Access to Justice requires that the Republic of Serbia immediately allows the civil society organizations (CSOs) to access the documents related to the contents of laws prepared to be adopted. In line with the strategic orientation of the Republic of Serbia, CSOs should have a key role in the legislative reforms and other aspects of the process of joining the European Union.

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