/Reparations

380,000 Serbian Dinars in Damages for 480 Days of Torture and Inhuman Treatment

The First Basic Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment declaring the Republic of Serbia responsible for torture and inhuman treatment committed by members of the Serbian Ministry of interior (Serbian MUP against Mustafa Kolgeci, a Kosovo Albanian from Suva Reka/Suhareke while he was in detention between September 1998 and January 2000. The Court ordered the Republic of Serbia to pay 380,000 Serbian Dinars in non-material damages but rejected his compensation claim for unlawful detention, noting that it was invalid because of the statute of limitations. The HLC believes that the court decision is unjust and inappropriate when compared to the suffering that Kolgeci was continuously exposed to during the 16 months he was in detention and is a continuation of the Serbian courts’ practice of putting the interests of the government and its budget ahead of justice for victims of serious human rights violations committed during 1990’s by Serbian troops.


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Repeated Examination of Bogujevci Sisters

The compensation lawsuit that the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) initiated in August 2008 against the Republic of Serbia on behalf of sisters Saranda, Jehona and Lirie Bogujevci, who were seriously injured in the war crime committed in Podujevo/Podujevë on March 28th, 1999 by members of the Scorpions unit, which is a reserve unit of the Serbian Ministry of Interior, continued before the Higher Court in Belgrade.


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State Responsible for Police Torture in Prijepolje in 1993

A First Instance Court in Belgrade has delivered a judgment requiring the Republic of Serbia to pay the sum of RSD360,000 (Serbian Dinars) to Sead Rovčanin, a Bosniak from the village of Gračanica, in the municipality of Prijepolje. The court found the state responsible for the torture inflicted on Mr. Rovčanin in October 1993 by members of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Interior (MOI). The Humanitarian Law Center believes that this judgment, should it become final, will bring only partial satisfaction to Mr. Rovčanin as he has waited 19 years for recognition of the injustice that he suffered  and because the perpetrators have have yet to be punished and are still working as police officers.


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Meeting of HLC Representatives With Ombudsman

Representatives of the HLC, Sandra Orlović and Marijana Toma, had a meeting today with Ombudsman Saša Janković anent the problems that victims of human rights violations committed during 1990s have to face in the proceedings for the recognition of the status of civilian victims of war.


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ICC issued a decision on reparations for Lubanga’s victims

On August 7, 2012, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a decision according to which the ICC Trust Fund for Victims would secure reparations for the victims of Thomas Lubanga, aconvicted leader of the militia of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is the first decision of its kind since the establishment of the ICC  in 2002. The Court has recommended a set of reparative measures and delegated their application to the Fund for Victims, which will perform this task in collaboration with victims’ associations.


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Meeting of HLC Representatives With Commissioner for Protection of Equality Regarding Victims of Serious Human Rights Violations Realizing Their Rights

Belgrade, August 2nd, 2012- HLC Deputy Director Sandra Orlović and Petar Žmak, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) Reparations Coordinator, attended a meeting today, August 2nd, 2012, with the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Nevena Petrušić, regarding HLC’s initiative for the amendment of the legal framework for the realizing of the rights of civilian victims of war in Serbia. HLC representatives informed the Commissioner about the existing legal framework, which prevents victims of human rights violations committed during 1990’s by members of the Serbian army and police, family members of the missing, and rape victims, from realizing their rights in the capacity of civilian victims of war. Furthermore, representatives of the HLC stated that they expected from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality in Serbia to focus on the unjustly different treatment of certain categories of victims of serious violations of human rights in Serbia.


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Serbian Courts Award Derisory Compensation to Non-Serb Victims

The First Primary Court in Belgrade delivered a judgment obliging the Republic of Serbia to pay the amount of 1.3 million Serbian Dinars (RSD) in damages to five Kosovo Albanians in compensation for their unlawful detention lasting from eight to 17 months, and for torture inflicted on them by members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior and the Yugoslav Army. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) believes that courts in the Republic of Serbia continue to award derisory, humiliating and unjust material compensation for past human rights abuses. The HLC will file an appeal against this judgment on behalf of the five, and will demand that the new Government establishes a level of just compensation for past human rights violations, which will abolish the de facto discrimination against non-Serb victims.


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Testimony of Ćamil Durmišević in the compensation lawsuit of Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo

On Thursday, May 31st, 2012, Ćamil Durmišević testified before the First Basic Court in Belgrade in a compensation lawsuit against the Republic of Serbia, initiated by the Humanitarian Law Center on November 20th, 2007, on behalf of Enes Bogilović and Mušan Džebo, former detainees of the Šljivovica and Mitrovo Polje camps.


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Hearing victims without detention – Rrahman Elshani and Bekim Istog

Rrahman Elshani and Bekim Istogu gave their statements before the First Primary Court in Belgrade on Monday, May 21st, 2012 in the compensation lawsuit against the Republic of Serbia initiated because of its liability for unlawful detention and torture that these persons suffered during the years of 1999 and 2000. The HLC initiated the proceedings on behalf of Elshani and Istogu on April 26th, 2010.


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