/Public Information/Press Releases

Kidnapped Residents of Sjeverin not Recognised as Victims by the State of Serbia

The Municipal Administration in Priboj has dismissed the requests of three families of kidnapped residents of Sjeverin to be officially recognized as families of civilian victims of war in Serbia. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the families of the kidnapped Sjeverin residents, filed a complaint with the Ministry of Labour, Employment, and Social Policy on October 17th, 2012 against the Administration’s decision, noting that it was in violation of the Constitution, laws, and international conventions protecting human rights and pointing out that claims filed by family members of the war crime victims from Sjeverin had been dismissed on the basis of criteria that are not applied in cases of victims of Serbian nationality. The HLC filed its complaints with the Ombudsman, Saša Janković.


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380,000 Serbian Dinars in Damages for 480 Days of Torture and Inhuman Treatment

The First Basic Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment declaring the Republic of Serbia responsible for torture and inhuman treatment committed by members of the Serbian Ministry of interior (Serbian MUP against Mustafa Kolgeci, a Kosovo Albanian from Suva Reka/Suhareke while he was in detention between September 1998 and January 2000. The Court ordered the Republic of Serbia to pay 380,000 Serbian Dinars in non-material damages but rejected his compensation claim for unlawful detention, noting that it was invalid because of the statute of limitations. The HLC believes that the court decision is unjust and inappropriate when compared to the suffering that Kolgeci was continuously exposed to during the 16 months he was in detention and is a continuation of the Serbian courts’ practice of putting the interests of the government and its budget ahead of justice for victims of serious human rights violations committed during 1990’s by Serbian troops.


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Chief Prosecution Witness ‘Not Credible’ but 11 Convicted in Gnjilane Case Re-trial

On September 19th, 2012, a trial chamber at the Higher Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Department, presided over by Judge Snežana Nikolić-Garotić, rendered a guilty verdict  sentencing Samet Hajdari to 15 years of imprisonment, Ahmet and Nazif Hasani to 13 years each, Agush Memishi, Burim Fazliu, and Selimon Sadiku to 12 years each, Faton Hajdari to 10 years, Kamber Sahiti, Ferat Hajdari, and Sadik Aliu to 8 years each, and Shefqet Musliu to 5 years of imprisonment. They were found guilty of committing a criminal act of war crime against the civilian population, as defined by Article 142 Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Yugoslavia, in Gnjilane/Gjilan during the period June 17th-23rd, 1999, against protected witnesses C1 and C2, whom they tortured, beat and raped. The accused were acquitted, due to a lack of evidence, of charges of torture and killing of as yet unidentified victims and of the mutilation and incineration of bodies. Fazli Ajdari, Rexhep Aliu, Shaqir Shaqiri, Shefqet Musliu, Sadik Aliu, Idriz Aliu, Shemsij Nuhium, Ramadan Halimi, and Ferat Hajdari were acquitted of all charges due to the lack of evidence.


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Repeated Examination of Bogujevci Sisters

The compensation lawsuit that the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) initiated in August 2008 against the Republic of Serbia on behalf of sisters Saranda, Jehona and Lirie Bogujevci, who were seriously injured in the war crime committed in Podujevo/Podujevë on March 28th, 1999 by members of the Scorpions unit, which is a reserve unit of the Serbian Ministry of Interior, continued before the Higher Court in Belgrade.


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State Responsible for Police Torture in Prijepolje in 1993

A First Instance Court in Belgrade has delivered a judgment requiring the Republic of Serbia to pay the sum of RSD360,000 (Serbian Dinars) to Sead Rovčanin, a Bosniak from the village of Gračanica, in the municipality of Prijepolje. The court found the state responsible for the torture inflicted on Mr. Rovčanin in October 1993 by members of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Interior (MOI). The Humanitarian Law Center believes that this judgment, should it become final, will bring only partial satisfaction to Mr. Rovčanin as he has waited 19 years for recognition of the injustice that he suffered  and because the perpetrators have have yet to be punished and are still working as police officers.


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A Step towards a Solution of the Problem of Legally Invisible Persons

Law on Amendments to the Law on Non-Contentious Procedure, adopted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on 31st August 2012, prescribes a procedure for determination of date and place of birth of persons not registered in birth registry books. Thus, the first step was made towards solving the problem of several thousands of legally invisible persons in Serbia. Through the aforementioned procedure, the persons who do not fulfil conditions for registration in birth registry book in an administrative procedure will be able to exercise their rights through a separate court procedure which recognizes the particulars of the problems they are facing.


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Coalition for RECOM calls for an end to silence on secret graves and the fate of missing persons

On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the Coalition for RECOM calls on the governments of post-Yugoslav countries to break the silence about secret graves, because that silence is the major contributor to the public culture of silence about what happened in the past.


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