Trial of Dušan Lončar, JNA commander accused of the crime in Lovas, begins

Trial of Dušan Lončar, former commander of the Second Proletarian Elite Motorized Brigade of the Yugoslav People’s Army (2^nd PEMBR), accused of the war crime against civilian population committed on 10 October 1991 in Lovas (the Republic of Croatia), has begun before the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade.

The indictment of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) charges the accused of issuing an order to attack the village of Lovas and its population in the capacity of the JNA’s 2nd PEMBR commander with the rank of colonel, on 9 October 1991. The order instructed that the main forces should block the village and target its facilities with artillery, while the ancillary forces should “cleanse the village of the ZNG and MoI members, as well as of hostile inhabitants “. The following day, 10 October 1991, the forces under Dušan Lončar’s command, acting upon his order, attacked the village and killed “at least 7 civilians“and burnt down several residential buildings.

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

On 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.

Osman Osmanović sentenced to three and half years imprisonment

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade handed down a judgment on 26 January 2023, sentencing the citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) Osman Osmanović  with final end enforceable conviction of three and half years’ incarceration, because of inhuman treatment of an ethnic Serb civilian detained in the “Rasadnik” (Brčko, BiH), while in capacity of Brčko’s Public Security Station (SJB) inspector. The court extended Osmanović’s detention, in which he has been since arrest at the Sremska Rača border crossing in November 2019, and which is going to last until he is referred to serving his sentence. Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) deems that this case should have been transferred to the BiH judiciary from the very outset, in order to strengthen regional cooperation and trust in the BiH institutions.

Immediately after Osmanović was arrested, the BiH Public Prosecutor’s Office requested his extradition and case transfer from Serbia, given that Osmanović was a citizen of BiH and that the criminal offence had been perpetrated on the territory of that country, where the witnesses and injured parties also are. The request was rejected, so the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) issued an indictment against him on 21 February 2020, charging him with inhuman treatment of a member of the Republic of Srpska’s Army (VRS) and three Serb civilians who were captives in the “Rasadnik” detention camp, Gornji Rahić settlement, during May and June 1992.

Belgrade’s High Court brought a first-instance judgment on 18 February 2022, sentencing Osman Osmanović to five year’s imprisonment, because of his inhuman treatment of a VRS member and two Serb civilians detained in the “Rasadnik” camp when he was in the capacity of Brčko’s Public Security Station inspector. The court found that the defendant’s treatment of one civilian, which he was charged with by the indictment, did not constitute a criminal offence, so he was acquitted of that count of the indictment.

On the occasion of the state commemoration of the NATO bombing anniversary

On Friday, March 24, eight year in a row (not including 2020, when there was no commemoration due to the Covid-19 pandemic and state of emergency), the central state commemoration of the anniversary of commencement of the NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) was held. Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) draws attention to the established facts on the Kosovo war and bombing campaign of the FRY, warning against the threat of history revisionism undertaken by the state.

Let us recall that the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, used to make references to thousands of casualties of NATO’s air raids until 2022, most often mentioning 2,500 victims. At the 2018 commemoration, he stated that the Republic of Serbia had “more than 2,000 recorded, well remembered names”. However, as of 19 October 2021, when the Serbian Parliament rejected the proposal to set up the previously announced national commission which would be tasked with making a list of the bombing casualties, the President ceased to mention the number of victims. Speculating with the figures was resumed by the public broadcaster RTS, which this year highlighted that during the NATO bombing, “1,100 members of the Army and police were killed“ and “around 2,500 civilians, although the accurate list of victims has not been established yet ”.

Dossier: “Serbian Volunteer Guard”

The 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.

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

On 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

WE REMEMBER: 30 years since the crime in Štrpci

On Monday, February 27, 2023, three decades have passed since the crime in Štrpci. Thirty years ago, members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), at the railway station in Štrpci (BiH), took 20 passengers from the train on the Belgrade-Bar route and killed them. In the past year, courts in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have issued three first-instance convictions for this crime. However, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), Women in Black, the Sandžak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights remind that even after 30 years, the families of the victims have not received justice.

(srpski) Povodom presude za zločin u Štrpcima

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Serbia Authorities should support the agreement on Kosovo

To the President of the Republic of Serbia,
Government of the Republic of Serbia and
to the National Assembly,

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, ask the President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, the Government of the Republic of Serbia, and the National Assembly to accept the proposals regarding taking the necessary steps leading to the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Prishtina. The institutions of the Republic of Serbia and their representatives, as holders of public functions, are obliged to guarantee to their citizens and future generations the full implementation of future agreements between Kosovo and Serbia.

This is a historic opportunity for the authorities in Serbia and its citizens to accept reality and lay the foundations for building good-neighborly relations between Serbs and Albanians, which would permanently change the perspective of the entire Balkans. Any impossibility of negotiating with Prishtina has its roots in our conflictual past. It is necessary to find solutions by working on the causes that represent our misunderstanding and have consequences on people’s daily lives.

(srpski) Diskusija: Prošlost nas ne može izlečiti?

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