/Public Information/Transitional justice in focus

Controversial promotion shows Serbia still has a long way to go

Robert Hardh’s Blog

The Executive Director of Civil Rights Defenders about Human Rights

At the end of last year, Serbian President Boris Tadic announced he would be making Lieutenant General Ljubisa Dikovic Chief of Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces. The promotion is seen as controversial as Dikovic was a Commander when numerous war crimes were committed in Kosovo in 1999. The Serbian government stands by the decision to promote Dikovic and the debate over the controversy has been redirected to a discussion involving the prestigious organisation, the Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) and its uncompromising director, Natasa Kandic.


Share

Call for Verification of Allegations on Responsibility of Diković for War Crimes

Civil society organizations are calling on the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor to verify the allegations of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) relating to the possible responsibility of the Serbian Army  Chief of Staff, Ljubiša Diković, for war crimes committed in Kosovo and BiH.


Share

Natasa Kandic: Letter to Sutanovac

Minister Sutanovac,

In your interview with ‘Pescanik’, published on-line on February 17, 2012 (www.pescanik.net), you seem very confident when claiming, among other things, that ‘the false Ljubisa Dikovic File’ was written by a man who had lied when saying that there existed a transcript of a conversation between a pilot and his base at Aviano, Italy, during the bombing of the Serbian National Radio and Television (RTS) Building. In the interview, you also claim that in an article published on February 11, 2012 in the daily newspaper Danas, I admitted that General Dikovic was not the commander of the 16th Border Battalions “which killed Muslims,” and that you personally knew that the courts would “prove” all HLC’s claims in this matter to be untrue. In addition, in the interview you say that Dikovic’s name has been “stained,” and by implication lay the responsibility for that at the door of the HLC and you claim that  “contrary to those who focus only on Serbian crimes,” you express sympathy for the victims on all sides.


Share

Natasa Kandic: Serbia’s Bloodstained Army Boss Must Go

Marija Ristic, BIRN, Belgrade

10 February 2012

The denunciations of the Humanitarian Law Centre’s report on the head of the Serbian army reveal the strength of Milosevic’s ideology in Serbia today and the politicisation of the war crimes office.


Share

Natasa Kandic: Military Leaders attempt to Check Democracy in Serbia

The Ljubisa Dikovic File, which the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) published on January 23, 2012, has re-opened the issue of war crimes in Serbia. War crimes became a public topic in Serbia after Slobodan Milosevic’s arrest and extradition to the Hague Tribunal. In order to justify its decision to hand Milosevic over to an ‘anti-Serb’ court, the then new government revealed the existence of mass graves in the police training field in Batajnica near Belgrade. There was no public debate about this issue – instead, the official explanation about Milosevic’s extradition being the condition for international loans was insistently reiterated. A video recording of the execution of six Muslims, first revealed the by the HLC in June 2005, caused a strong emotional reaction among ordinary people in Serbia, who sided with the victims and against the perpetrators who came from ‘their own national community’. The government hastened to explain that the crime had been committed by an isolated group of criminals, who would be tried, and that Serbian state institutions had nothing to do with the crime itself. And this is when we missed the opportunity to broach the question of our own responsibility, to start thinking in a new way, and to build a new attitude toward the victims from the ‘other side’.


Share

Gaze into the Past: Press statement of the Yugoslav Army Headquarters Intelligence Service and Nataša Kandić’s Response in the Danas Daily, August 2000

Reaction of the Yugoslav Army Intelligence Service to the Interview of Nataša Kandić in the Danas Daily on August 17th, 2000 and her response published on August 24th, 2000

Share
«‹127128129130131132133134135›»