(srpski) 11. jul – Dan sećanja na genocid u Srebrenici – proglasite!
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
Sorry, this entry is only available in srpski.
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.
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.
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.
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 18th 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.
The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, acting upon the appeal filed by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), has found that the practice of anonymization of judgments is in violation of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Law on Personal Data Protection. In his Decision, the Commissioner issued an order to the Higher Court in Belgrade to deliver to the HLC the judgment without illegal anonymization, under the threat of the imposition of a fine.
In Serbia (without Kosovo) and Montenegro, 275 people lost their lives as a result of the NATO bombing: 180 civilians, 90 members of the Yugoslav Army (YA) and five were members of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior (MUP). Except three Chinese nationals, all were citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
In Kosovo, 484 people were killed: 267 civilians (209 Albanian and 58 non-Albanian), 171 members of the YA, 20 members of the Serbian MUP and 26 members of the KLA (19 of whom died in the NATO bombing of the Dubrava prison, near Istok).
Here you can see list of names of people who lost their lives in NATO bombing.
Monday, 24th March, marks fifteen years since the Serbian army and police waged its systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing and violence directed against the Kosovo Albanian civilian population during the NATO intervention against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) calls on the state institutions of the Republic of Serbia to secure justice for the victims of the crimes in Kosovo and their family members, by prosecuting all those responsible, regardless of their rank at the time of the commission of crimes or within the current hierarchies of power, and by providing just satisfaction to the victims for the suffering they endured.
On 12th March 2014, the Coalition for Access to Justice invited Pablo de Greiff, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, to visit Serbia, in order to make recommendations to the Government of Serbia regarding the measures which will help achieve justice for victims of crimes and other gross human rights violations committed during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.