The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed criminal charges at the Office of the District Prosecutor in Užice related to an armed attack on the Muslim village of Kukurovići in the Priboj municipality conducted by unidentified members of the Užički Corps, a division of the Yugoslav Army. The attack happened on February 18 and April 11 of 1993. On that occasion three civilians were killed and the property of the majority of the population of the village completely destroyed.
The HLC office in Kosovo (HLC-K), strongly condemns the attack on Milorad Pavlovic who returned to his home in Klina. It is clear that the goal of this attack is to stop the process of return of Serb families to Klina which has been successful so far, thus preventing the Serbs to return to areas where they lived before.
On Sunday, September 3 2006, Humanitarian Law Centre’s Executive Director Natasa Kandic appeared on B92’s Utisak Nedelje. The programme was centred on the much criticised statement of the UN Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari, who was reported by the media as having said that “the Serbs are guilty as a nation.” This statement was later clarified by Ahtisaari: “Every nation carries a burden for which it has to pay.” Ahtisaari said, “leaders in Belgrade must face a historic inheritance and accept responsibility for the past years.”
The War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court, presided by judge Olivera Andjelkovic, in a Decision of September 18, 2006, found Anton Lekaj, a former member of KLA, guilty of war crimes against civilian population, and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. The verdict was highly publicized in all Serbian media, as opposed to the trial itself which went unnoticed, without media coverage or expert involvement.
The HLC office in Kosovo expressed its utmost concern due to the Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Çeku’s statements and behaviour surrounding conviction (first instance verdict) of General Selim Krasniqi for war crime committed against civilian population. HLC Kosovo believes that this behaviour is contrary to the principles of the rule of law and independent judiciary, which are the goals of independent Kosovo.
Press Release composed in view of the US Ambassador for the War Crimes Issues, John Clint Williamson’s visit
The book in front of you portrays the court truth about the responsibility of Saša Cvjetan, charged with the war crime against civilian population committed on 28 March 1999 in Podujevo, Kosovo. The documents, chronologically sorted, show how a trial, initiated on a factually incomplete and selective indictment, grew into a serious process against denial, lies, and impunity.
The great merit in this process belongs to Judge Biljana Sinanović who was led in this proces exclusively by the law, as well as to the surviving children, whose words in the courtroom we listened to with the feeling of shame not being able to look them in the eye.