Appropriate sentences for the accused Musliu and Tahiri charged with kidnapping and extortion in Kosovo

On its decision of October 5, 2010 rendered in a retrial, the District Court in Gjilan/Gnjilan pronounced unified sentences for the accused Shefket Musliu and Besim Tahiri charged with the commission of the criminal act of kidnapping under Article 64 paragraphs 1, 2, and 4 of the CCS and an attempted criminal act of extortion under Article 180 of the CCS. The accused Musliu was sentenced to a unified prison sentence of 10 years and six (6) months in prison while Besim Tahiri was sentenced to six (6) years and nine (9) months in prison.

5 pitanja Vladi – Parada ponosa (13.10.2010.)

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Court of appeal in Belgrade denied Munir Šabotić, a victim of police torture, right to just compensation

BELGRADE, November 30th, 2011.

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade has rendered a judgment denying the compensation lawsuit filed by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on behalf of Munir Šabotić, a victim of torture, which he was subjected to by members of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) in Novi Pazar in August and September 1994. The Court of Appeal accepted the appeal filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Serbia and modified the judgment, which originally had granted Munir Šabotić compensation to the amount of 300,000 RSD and had ordered the Republic of Serbia to pay for litigation expenses to the amount of 20,000 RSD. The HLC believes that the Court of Appeal arbitrarily and unjustly denied the right to compensation for the violation of human rights, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, the laws, and various international conventions. For this reason, the HLC will file a complaint on behalf of Munir Šabotić with the Constitutional Court of Serbia.

We Should Know the Facts: Mrkonjić Grad, October 10, 1995

In the Croatian armed forces offensive on Mrkonjić Grad municipality on October 10, 1995, 480 Serbs were killed or disappeared. Up to this date, only 219 bodies were found and identified.

According to the data the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) obtained in March and April 1996 during the exhumation of bodily remains buried in the Orthodox Christian’s cemetery in Mrkonjić Grad, the remains of 181 were found in that location. On that occasion forensic experts identified 136 bodies: 34 civilians (nine women and 25 men) and 102 members of the Army of Republika Srpska. Seven unidentified bodies were in civilian clothes (two women and five men) and the remaining 38 unidentified bodies were in military uniforms.

Out of 136 identified bodies 25 were civilians between the age of 60 and 88 years. The oldest indentified male victim was Jovan Lazendić from Podbrdo, who was 91 years old when he was killed, and the oldest female victim was Ljubica Oroz from the village of Bočac, Mrkonjić Grad municipality, who was killed at the age of 90.

First Sentences for Perjury in War Crimes Trials Rendered in Kosovo

On September 16, 2010 the Municipal Court in Peć/Pejë convicted Bekim, Engjell, and Prenk Luli of acts of perjury and sentenced them to suspended jail sentences of five months. In a separate trial, the court convicted Gjerg Luli and Kole Krasniqi of the same crimes. Kole Krasniqi is the only one whose jail sentence was not suspended and must be serevd.

We Need to Know: Gornje Obrinje, September 26, 1998

Serb forces killed 27 civilians, including children, in Gornje Obrinje / Obri e Epërme, Kosovo on September 26, 1998.

We Should Know the Facts: September 9, 1993 – Medak Pocket, Croatia

In the joint operation by Croatian military police conducted in the period from September 9 – 17, 1993, Croatian armed forces killed 36 civilians and several soldiers after they had been captured. For the duration of the operation between 40 and 45 members of the police and Army of the then-Republic of Serbian Krajina were killed.

HLC Calls upon the Institutions of the Republic of Serbia and Other post-Yugoslav States to Discover the Location of Remaining Mass Graves

On the occasion of the International Day of Missing Persons, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) calls upon the institutions of the Republic of Serbia to find the location of remaining mass graves and to ratify the international Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

Criminal Complaint Filed Against Members of VJ and MUP Serbia Accused of War Crimes Against Albanian Civilians in the Villages of Zahać/Zahaq and Plavljan/Pavlan

On August 23, 2010 the Humanitarian Law Center filed with the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia a criminal complaint against an unidentified number of members of the former Yugoslav Army (VJ), members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia (MUP Serbia), and members of criminal groups operating under the control of VJ and MUP Serbia for their responsibility for for war crimes committed against Albanians in the villages of Plavljane/Pavlan, Zahać/Zahaq, and other surrounding villages and settlements in the Peć/Pejë municipality during 1998 and 1999.

Criminal complaint against persons suspected to have committed a criminal act of genocide in Srebrenica, BiH

Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia against an unspecified number of members of the former Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS), believed to be responsible for committing a criminal act of genocide against over 1800 Bosnian Muslims from Srebrenica in July 1995.