The exhibition on the destruction of cultural heritage sites opened in Belgrade

On Saturday, May 27th 2017 the exhibition titled “Targeting monuments-Targeting history and memory” was opened in Belgrade. The exhibition consists of photographs, videos, eyewitness testimonies and documents that speak of the enormous scale of destroyed cultural heritage during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. The exhibition is based on the eponymous narrative, which shows how serious crimes against the cultural, historical and religious heritage committed during the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo were investigated, reconstructed and prosecuted before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

(srpski) Provodeći ostatak života između dva mezara

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(srpski) Kalesić o Tuzlanskoj kapiji: Prkosilo se tokom cijelog rata

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(srpski) Zločini u logorima u Srbiji nezapočeta priča

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(srpski) Gde smo bili kad si bio niko

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Are war crimes trials in Serbia dying out?

On Thursday May 18th 2017, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its sixth report on war crimes trials in Serbia. The report includes an analysis of 28 cases that were conducted before the courts in Serbia in 2016, placing them in the socio-political context that affects their processing.

INVITATION: Exhibition and the debate on the destruction of the cultural heritage in the former Yugoslavia

SENSE – Center for Transitional Justice and Humanitarian Law Center

in cooperation with  Documenta – Center for Dealing with the Past, History Museum of BiH and Europa Nostra

cordially invite you to join us at the exhibition

 „Targeting monuments – Targeting history and memory“

and the opening talk attended by

PhD Milena Dragićević Šešić,  professor at Faculty of Dramatic Arts

PhD Olga Manojlović Pintar, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Recent History of Serbia

Mina Vidaković, SENSE – Center for Transitional Justice

on Saturday, May 27, 2017 at 19:00

at the Center for Cultural Decontamination (Birčaninova 21, Belgrade).

The exhibition „Repression of history and memory“ shows the tremendous scale of the destruction of the cultural heritage during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, which reached the level of becoming the greatest devastation on European soil since World War II. The destruction of historical, religious and cultural buildings and sites was deliberate, part of the execution of the policy of persecuting communities from those areas the conquest of which was the aim. In that way, buildings that once unified the nations became places that separated them, often even after their restoration. The exhibition is designed to contribute to the public debate on the scope and consequences of the destruction of the cultural heritage of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, to expand horizons beyond the prosecution of those crimes by the Hague Tribunal, and to contribute to a more comprehensive discussion of the importance of cultural, religious and historical treasures in our region.

Prominent war photographers, numerous archival and museum institutions, and such renowned international experts on cultural heritage as Helen Walasek, Andras Riedlmayer and Colin Kaiser, have participated in the setting and realisation of this exhibition. The curator of the exhibition is Branka Benčić from Croatia.

 Live stream is available here

Serbia Failing to Prosecute War Crimes, HLC Says

Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia during 2016

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has monitored all war crimes trials conducted in the territory of Serbia in 2016 – that is to say, a total of 26 trials conducted by the War Crimes Departments of the Higher Court or the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, or the courts of general jurisdiction.

The Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia during 2016 features a brief overview of all 26 cases observed and the HLC’s key findings on each case, which the public needs to be informed about. Given that a significant portion of the war crimes proceedings presented in the Report have been ongoing for a number of years, the previous annual HLC Reports on war crimes trials should also be consulted for a full appreciation of the course of the proceedings and the corresponding findings. The Report also covers trials for crimes that are not classified as war crimes by the relevant prosecutor’s offices of general jurisdiction; despite the fact that the circumstances of such cases indicate they do constitute war crimes.

The Report focuses particularly on the work of prosecutor’s offices and courts, notably in the analysis of indictments and judgments. An analysis of the work of other institutions involved in war crimes prosecution (the War Crimes Investigation Service of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior, the Protection Unit, etc.) could not be made within the context of each case as a result of the lack of publicly available information on their work.

The War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade handed down first-instance judgments in three cases over the reporting period, and a judgement accepting a plea agreement concluded between the OWCP and a the defendant. The War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade has issued six rulings on appeals against judgments passed by the Higher Court in Belgrade. The courts of general jurisdiction handed down four judgments. Eight OWCP’s indictments were confirmed in the reporting period against 15 individuals accused of a war crime against a civilian population.

The analyses of the cases in the Report are preceded by an overview of the general findings on war crimes trials in 2016, and a summary of the significant social and political events that had a bearing on the war crimes trials.

The Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia during 2016 is available here.

(srpski) Aktivisti: Osnovati regionalnu komisiju za ratne zločine

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