/Public Information/Press Releases

• Press Releases
• 12.09.2014.

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.

• Reparations/Press Releases
• 10.09.2014.

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.

• Financial Reparations/Press Releases
• 15.08.2014.

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.

• Press Releases/War crime trials
• 14.07.2014.

Racist Positions of the Court of Appeals in the Judgment in the Skočić Case

The War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeals in Belgrade (Court of Appeals Department) has quashed the judgment rendered by the Higher Court in the Belgrade War Crimes Department (Higher Court Department), by which seven members of “Simo’s Chetnicks”, a paramilitary unit, were found guilty of committing war crime in the village of Skočić (in the Municipality of Zvornik, B&H), and sent the case back for a new trial. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeals contains a number of controversial findings, and that the rationale based on racist positions are particularly unacceptable and utterly inappropriate for a court, as well as being highly offensive to the victims.

• Press Releases
• 09.07.2014.

(srpski) 11. jul – Dan sećanja na genocid u Srebrenici – proglasite!

Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.

• Press Releases
• 07.07.2014.

15 years after the murder of the Bytyqi brothers: individuals responsible still above the law

On July 9th, 2014 it will be 15 years since the brothers Mehmet (21), Agron (23), and Ylli (25) Bytyqi were murdered by members of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior (MUP). The failure of institutions to punish this crime points to the fact that justice in Serbia is selective and that the individuals responsible for the execution of the Bytyqi brothers are above the law.

• Pravda i reforma institucija/Press Releases/Vetting
• 09.06.2014.

The belated dismissal of Miloš Perović is insufficient

Miloš Perović, the former Head of the Ministry of the Interior (MUP) Protection Unit for Participants in Criminal Proceedings, was dismissed from this position on Friday June 6th, 2014. He had been holding this position since 2008. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that his dismissal, even though late, is significant for the reform of the witness protection system in cases of war crimes, but that it has to be followed by serious reforms of the Unit and the protection system.

• Press Releases
• 09.04.2014.

Srebrenica Genocide Denial Under Auspices of Serbian Army and Ministry of Defence

For Thursday, April 10, the promotion has been scheduled, on the premises of the Serbian Army Centre, of the book “The Srebrenica Fraud”, authored by Ratko Škrbić, who denies the Srebrenica genocide and the facts established in the judgments of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Serbia.

• Pravda i reforma institucija/Press Releases/Vetting
• 28.03.2014.

Suspended member of Gendarmery accused of war crimes

The Commander of the Gendarmery, Milenko Božović, has suspended Vladan Krstović, a serving officer of this unit, who was indicted by the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) in the Ljubenić case, at the request thereupon submitted by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). The HLC points out that the Serbian Army and the Ministry of Defence have declined to remove from active duty Serbian Army (SA) officer Pavle Gavrilović and serviceman Rajko Kozlina, who stand trial for the crime against civilians in the village of Trnje in March 1999.

• Financial Reparations/Press Releases
• 27.03.2014.

Court of Appeal in Belgrade does not give credence to Bosniak victims

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade has quashed the interim judgment of the Higher Court in Belgrade, which found the Yugoslav Army (YA) responsible for the war crime which occurred in the village of Kukurovići on 18^th February 1993, and remanded the case for retrial. The Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) notes that this decision shows that Serbian courts are continuing with their practice of shielding the state institutions from responsibility for past human rights violations.

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