Five ethnic Albanian men, suspected by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, for the kidnapping and murder of Serb civilians during the internal conflict in South Serbia between 1999 and 2001, were released on May 9, 2012, following the suspension of legal activity against them. The HLC believes that the arrests, detention and their eventual release were politically motivated.
On June 19th, 2012, the trial chamber of the Higher Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Department, presided over by Judge Dragan Mirković, convicted four persons indicted for the commission of war crimes against Croat civilians in the Beli Manastir municipality between August 1991 and later the same year. Zoran Vukšić was sentenced to 20 years in prison Slobodan Strigić to 10 years, Bransko Hrnjak to 5 years and Velimir Bertić to 1 year and 6 months.
The First Primary Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment obliging the Republic of Serbia to pay the amount of 1.3 million Serbian Dinars (RSD) in damages to five Kosovo Albanians in compensation for their unlawful detention lasting from eight to 17 months, and for torture inflicted on them by members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior and the Yugoslav Army. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that courts in the Republic of Serbia continue to award derisory, humiliating and unjust material compensation for past human rights abuses. The HLC will file an appeal against this judgment on behalf of the five, and will demand that the new Government establishes a level of just compensation for past human rights violations, which will abolish the de facto discrimination against non-Serb victims.
On Thursday, May 31st, 2012, Ćamil Durmišević testified before the First Basic Court in Belgrade in a compensation lawsuit against the Republic of Serbia, initiated by the Humanitarian Law Center on November 20th, 2007, on behalf of Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo, former detainees of the Šljivovica and Mitrovo Polje camps.
Following on from his recent statement that Vukovar was a Serbian city, the newly appointed President of the Republic of Serbia has made another serious mistake. In an interview with RTCG (the Montenegrin national broadcaster) on May 31st, 2012 he denied that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica, thus damaging the image of the Reublic of Serbia, which has previously recognized and accepted the judgment of the International Court of Justice, by which it was established that the Army of Republika Srpska committed genocide against Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.
According to HLC information[1], between January 1st, 1999 and May 21st, 2001 when an amnesty was granted to former soldiers of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa, and Bujanovac (LAPMB), at least 40 citizens of Serbia and Montenegro died in the municipalities of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac. During the NATO bombing at least 11 ethnic Albanians were killed in these municipalities in circumstances that have not yet been clarified.
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On February 8th, 2012, the Court of Appeals in Belgrade confirmed the judgement of the First Primary Court in Belgrade by which the compensation lawsuit filed by the children of Mušan Husović against the Republic of Serbia was dismissed because of the effect of the expiration of the statute of limitations. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that such a decision is contradictory to the guaranteed rights to the prohibition of discrimination, equal protection of rights, the right to life, fair trial, and the right to compensation. Because of this, HLC filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court of Serbia (CCS) on April 19th, 2012, on behalf of six children of Mušan Husović, who was killed by members of the Yugoslav Army (YA) in February 1993 in his house in Kukurovići (Priboj Municipality), namely Husein Husović, Rašid Kaltak, Mevla Berbo, Emina Muratović, Zahida Rovčanin, Ramiza Arbak, and Džemila Čalaković, expecting this court to determine the violations of the rights and order the state of Serbia to compensate the children of Mušan Husović for the damages.
Your Excellency,
More than two weeks after the arrest of Mr. Hasan Abazi at the Konculj border crossing in Serbia, the appeal that was filed against the extension of his detention has yet to be reviewed despite the fact that Serbian jurisprudence dictates that the appellate court should complete its review either immediately or at most within three days of an appeal being filed. In addition, Mr. Abazi’s attorney is being denied access to his client’s full legal file. The violations of Serbian law on criminal proceedings in this case are thus numerous.