The fifteenth HLC Dossier on the unpunished crimes of the Serbian Volunteer Guard

The fifteenth HLC Dossier on the unpunished crimes of the Serbian Volunteer Guard

Predstavljanje-SDG-slika-ENGOn Thursday, 23 March 2023, Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) launched its fifteenth dossier on potential war crime perpetrators during the wars in former Yugoslavia,  The “Serbian Volunteer Guard“ Dossier presents the facts on the creation, structure and characteristics of actions conducted by the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SVG/the Guard), as well as its participation in the crimes perpetrated during the armed conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The Dossier is based on the military and police documents admitted by the International Criminal Court for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), as well as on the ascertained facts, statements and testimonials, including those of former Guard members as well as media packages and witness statements collected by HLC’s researchers. During the research, HLC identified 189 SVG members who were under the command of Željko Ražnatović Arkan, whose names are among the annexes to this Dossier.

HLC’s Executive Director, Ivana Žanić, stated that the Dossier rendered the formation of SVG, its structure and actions through cooperation with other units, evidence of the Guard’s participation in the crimes committed in Croatia and BiH, via referral of forcefully mobilised refugees to the front, to the eventual disbanding of SVG. The crimes committed by SVG, as well as its links with the police, military and political structures of Serbia were part of the ICTY indictments against Slobodan Milošević, Goran Hadžić and Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. Although the Milošević and Hadžić trials were curtailed by the demise of the defendants, during these two proceedings exhibits and witness statements were presented, clearly describing the SVG operations and indicating the perpetrated crimes. The ICTY Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against the SVG commander Željko Ražnatović Arkan in 1997, for the crimes committed in Sanski Most in 1995. The contents of the indictment remained confidential all the way until 2001.


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Dossier: “Serbian Volunteer Guard”

Dossier: “Serbian Volunteer Guard”

Dosije-DG-enThe crimes committed by the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG/the Guard), a group formed by Željko Ražnatović (Arkan), and its links with the Serbian police, military and political establishment, were an integral part of the indictments of the ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor against Slobodan Milošević, Goran Hadžić, Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović.

The trials of Milošević and Hadžić were terminated because they had died before the judgments were passed, but witness statements and evidence presented during the trials contain a wealth of materials about the activities of the SDG. In addition, the ICTY’s Office of the Prosecutor filed an indictment against SDG commander Željko Ražnatović aka Arkan for crimes committed in the area of Sanski Most. In the trial judgment following the retrial of Stanišić and Simatović, the Trial Chamber of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (MICT) established that the SDG was involved in murders, persecution and forced displacement in the area of the so-called Serbian Autonomous Region of Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem (SAO SBZS) in 1991 and 1992, in Bijeljina and Zvornik in 1992, and in Sanski Most in 1995. Nevertheless, not a single member of the SDG has been prosecuted for these crimes to date.


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EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Dossier, “Serbian Volunteer Guard”

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT:   Presentation of the Dossier, “Serbian Volunteer Guard”

Predstavljanje-SDG-slika-ENGOn Thursday, March 23, 2023, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will present its fifteenth Dossier, entitled “Serbian Volunteer Guard” (Dossier). The presentation will be held in the large hall of the Media Center in Belgrade (Terazije 3, 2nd floor), starting at 12 PM.

The Dossier presents facts about the Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) from its establishment in 1990 until its formal dissolution in 1996. The first part of the Dossier deals with the emergence of the SDG and its structure, and then the basic characteristics of its operation through cooperation with other units. The Dossier then goes on to present evidence implicating members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard’s involvement in crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during armed conflicts. After reviewing the part played by the SDG in sending forcibly mobilised refugees into combat, and also their role in acts of robbery, a review of the dissolution of the Guard is provided.

The Dossier is based on authentic military and police documents that have been accepted as evidence before international and domestic courts, facts established in the verdicts, and a large number of witness statements, including the testimonies of former SDG members, as well as media contributions and witness statements collected by HLC researchers.

At the presentation the speakers will be:

  • Ivana Žanić, Executive Director of the HLC
  • Jovana Kolarić, HLC researcher
  • Filip Švarm, journalist of the weekly “Vreme”, and author of the film “The Unit”

 

Simultaneous translation into English is provided.

Live stream of the presentation without translation will be available: https://bit.ly/pdsdgfb

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Remembering the 2001 Armed Conflict in Macedonia: Modes of Commemoration and Memorialization

Remembering the 2001 Armed Conflict in Macedonia: Modes of Commemoration and Memorialization

Publikacija-Oruzani_Sukob_u_Makedoniji-thumb-enThis paper discusses the strategies of commemorating and memorializing the armed conflict in North Macedonia since its formal ending in August 2001. It argues that there are two prevailing modes of remembering the 2001 conflict in post-conflict Macedonia, which match the domains of the two largest ethnic communities in the state, the Macedonian and the Albanian. Observation of annual developments, however, demonstrates that commemorative practices within the two domains are not as uniform as they might seem.


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Call for Applications: Memory Activism Fellowship – Deadline: 1 October

Call for Applications: Memory Activism Fellowship – Deadline: 1 October

MAFSince 1992, Humanitarian Law Center has worked on documenting war crimes and human rights violations committed in the former Yugoslavia, focusing on the victims and their stories. The organisation advocates for a comprehensive and multifaceted transitional justice process. The work of the HLC is based on three pillars: documentation, justice and memory, with the Memory Activism Program as central for the organisation’s future. With its Memory Activism Program, the Humanitarian Law Center commemorates victims through various initiatives, including public debates, documentary films and digital memory activism on social media and other digital memory practices. In addition to commemorating victims of war crimes and mass human rights violations during the 1990s wars, the Memory Program challenges and confronts the dominant revisionist narratives about the wars, provides informal education, disseminates the judicially determined facts about the wars engagingly, using different media formats. Furthermore, the program conducts policy-oriented research and analysis and commentary of official memory politics in the region.


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Report „The bombing of the refugee columns during Operaton ’Storm’ – August 1995“

Report „The bombing of the refugee columns during Operaton ’Storm’ – August 1995“

bombardovanje-kolona-enIn order to establish the facts about the bombing of refugee columns on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Croatian military-police Operation “Storm”, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) is publishing the data and excerpts from the witness statements about those events, which it collected immediately after the refugees’ arrival in Serbia.

 The report is available on this link

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