Coalition for Access to Justice Demands Respect for Acquired Rights and Freedoms

The limitation of acquired level of human rights and freedoms by new laws is apparent and it becomes unbearable when it comes to the access to justice.
By passing the Civil Procedure Code, the Criminal Procedure Code, and the Criminal Code, the state, especially the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, limits the access to justice for individuals, organizations, independent bodies, associations, and media.
These laws threaten free thought, critical speech, and free action by repression.


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Darko Janković and Goran Savić Found Guilty of War Crimes Against Muslims in the Municipality of Zvornik

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The Trial Chamber of the Higher Court in Belgrade War Crimes Department presided by Judge Tatjana Vuković rendered a judgment on December 16th, 2011, after three years of trials, finding the accused Darko Janković aka Pufta and Goran Savić guilty and sentencing them to 15 years of imprisonment and 1 year and 6 months of imprisonment respectively, while the accused Saša Ćilerdžić was acquitted of charges. The Humanitarian Law Center believes that the Court has rendered a just sentence in the case of the accused Janković, which is adequate for the gravity of the crime committed. In this moment, while there is no access to the written reasoning of the judgment, it is unclear what were the reasons that led the Court into rendering the acquittal of Ćilerdžić and the minimum prison sentence in the case of the accused Savić.


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Police Officers Charged With Murder of Kosovo Albanian Isa Emini Acquitted

According to the assessment of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), the trial and acquittal of Miloš Simonović and Republic of Serbia MoI Reserve Dragiša Marković for the murder of Isa Emini, an Albanian from Priština/Prishtin, rendered by the Court of Appeal in Niš on November 17th, 2011, raises serious doubts as to the declared willingness of the Judiciary of the Republic of Serbia to prosecute perpetrators of war crimes who are members of the Police.


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Duško Kesar sentenced again to 15 years of imprisonment for the crime committed in Prijedor

FHP_srb_logobezThe Humanitarian Law Center believes that the sentence rendered in this case, even though it may be considered strict, could have been stricter, since the victims of the crime were civilians who were murdered in a brutal manner, and the accused is a former member of the Reserve Police, who had an obligation to protect civilians. The accused in this case did not submit a guilty plea for the murder, nor did he show remorse or express his condolences to the family of the victims, thus preventing this trial from offering moral satisfaction for victims’ family members.


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

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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 him 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.


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

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BELGRADE, November 28th, 2011 – Jahir Krasniqi and Jakup Tahiri, victims of unlawful detention in 1999, gave statements on Monday, November 28th, 2011 before the First Basic Court in Belgrade in a compensation lawsuit that HLC initiated against the Republic of Serbia because of its responsibility for torture and unlawful detention. Jahir Krasniqi and Jakup Tahiri testified about the torture and unlawful detention they were subjected to in Serbian prisons in the period from 1999 to 2000 and medical consequences that they still suffer due to this torture.


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The Humanitarian Law Center files a criminal complaint against more than 30 individuals for war crimes committed in Croatia in 1991

The Humanitarian Law Center files a criminal complaint against more than 30 individuals for war crimes committed in Croatia in 1991

#IzSudnice - Sajt  - 4The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed a criminal complaint with the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia against more than 30 individuals, members of the former Territorial Defense (TO) and police station in Tenja (Croatia), as well as a number of members of the Novi Sad Corps of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), members of military and civilian secret services, and groups under the command of Željko Ražnatović Arkan for war crimes committed in Tenja in 1991 against the civilian population and prisoners of war.


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Croatian Citizen Veljko Maric Should Have Been Tried in Croatia, not in Serbia

hlcDepartment for War Crimes of the High Court in Belgrade sentenced on September 23, 2011 the accused Veljko Maric to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in 1991 against civilians in the village Rastovac (Croatia). The Humanitarian law Center believes that Veljko Maric, a Croatian citizen, should be tried in Croatia, that the Republic of Serbia should have extradited him to Croatia, and that it should have submitted evidence against him to the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic of Croatia, in accordance with the 2006 Agreement on cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes offenders. HLC reminds that the War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia has filed at least 10 indictments against war criminals, citizens of Serbia, based on evidence handed over to it by the State Attorney’s Office of the Republic fo Croatia.


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