According to HLC information[1], between January 1st, 1999 and May 21st, 2001 when an amnesty was granted to former soldiers of the Liberation Army of Preševo, Medveđa, and Bujanovac (LAPMB), at least 40 citizens of Serbia and Montenegro died in the municipalities of Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac. During the NATO bombing at least 11 ethnic Albanians were killed in these municipalities in circumstances that have not yet been clarified.
Proper processing of war criminals is crucial for the region in order to face the past adequately, it has been concluded at the debate about war crime trials in Serbia.
In 2003, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) strongly supported the establishment of the Prosecutor’s Office and the judicial councils for war crimes in Serbia. In the absence of communication and cooperation among the countries in the region, the HLC facilitated support from the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia for the first first trial for war crimes committed in Croatia (the Ovcara case). By the end of 2011, as many as 70 victims and witnesses from other countries had testified before the Higher court in Belgrade at the HLC’s invitation. The HLC handed a video recording of the execution of Muslims from Srebrenica to the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP), based on which the OWCP pressed charges against members of the Scorpions police unit. The HLC enabled the families of victims from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo to monitor trials. The HLC represented, and continues to represent, victims’ families in every major war crimes case before trial chambers of the Higher Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Department.
The Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia in 2011 you can download here.