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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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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Serbian Courts Award Derisory Compensation to Non-Serb Victims

The First Primary Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment obliging the Republic of Serbia to pay the amount of 1.3 million Serbian Dinars (RSD) in damages to five Kosovo Albanians in compensation for their unlawful detention lasting from eight to 17 months, and for torture inflicted on them by members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior and the Yugoslav Army. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that courts in the Republic of Serbia continue to award derisory, humiliating and unjust material compensation for past human rights abuses. The HLC will file an appeal against this judgment on behalf of the five, and will demand that the new Government establishes a level of just compensation for past human rights violations, which will abolish the de facto discrimination against non-Serb victims.


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Testimony of Ćamil Durmišević in the compensation lawsuit of Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo

On Thursday, May 31st, 2012, Ćamil Durmišević testified before the First Basic Court in Belgrade in a compensation lawsuit against the Republic of Serbia, initiated by the Humanitarian Law Center on November 20th, 2007, on behalf of Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo, former detainees of the Šljivovica and Mitrovo Polje camps.


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Hearing victims without detention – Rrahman Elshani and Bekim Istog

Rrahman Elshani and Bekim Istogu gave their statements before the First Primary Court in Belgrade on Monday, May 21st, 2012 in the compensation lawsuit against the Republic of Serbia initiated because of its liability for unlawful detention and torture that these persons suffered during the years of 1999 and 2000. The HLC initiated the proceedings on behalf of Elshani and Istogu on April 26th, 2010.


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Justice for the Children of the Killed Mušan Husović Before the Constitutional Court of Serbia

On February 8th, 2012, the Court of Appeals in Belgrade confirmed the judgement of the First Primary Court in Belgrade by which the compensation lawsuit filed by the children of Mušan Husović against the Republic of Serbia was dismissed because of the effect of the expiration of the statute of limitations. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that such a decision is contradictory to the guaranteed rights to the prohibition of discrimination, equal protection of rights, the right to life, fair trial, and the right to compensation. Because of this, HLC filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court of Serbia (CCS) on April 19th, 2012, on behalf of six children of Mušan Husović, who was killed by members of the Yugoslav Army (YA) in February 1993 in his house in Kukurovići (Priboj Municipality), namely  Husein Husović, Rašid Kaltak, Mevla Berbo, Emina Muratović, Zahida Rovčanin, Ramiza Arbak, and Džemila Čalaković, expecting this court to determine the violations of the rights and order the state of Serbia to compensate the children of Mušan Husović for the damages.

 


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The program for the return of refugees and displaced persons from the Municipality of Priboj is the first official recognition of the injustices against Bosniaks in Sandzak

The government of the Republic of Serbia adopted on March 29th, 2012 the program for the return of refugees and displaced Bosniaks from the municipality of Priboj in the period 1991-1999, with a clear message that “expulsion and eviction of its citizens will not happen again under threats, fear and objective danger to life, as was the case with the Bosniak citizens in the municipality of Priboj.”

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