Ovčara Case: 14 years waiting for justice

Ovčara Case: 14 years waiting for justice

After 14 years, the first war crimes case before specialized court councils in Serbia came to a close with the new final judgment for the crime at Ovčara near Vukovar. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) points out that the trial in this case is one of the best indicators of the ineptitude of Serbian institutions in dealing with the obligation to approach the crimes from the past with responsibility and dedication.

Public Opinion Survey in Serbia Sheds Light on ICTY Legacy

Public Opinion Survey in Serbia Sheds Light on ICTY Legacy

ejil-logoIn anticipation of the closing of the ICTY, there has been plenty of discussion, including at EJIL: Talk! (see here), on the court’s impact in the former Yugoslavia, particularly relating to the public’s acceptance of ICTY findings and reconciliation. I’d like to contribute to this discussion with findings from the most recent public opinion survey conducted in Serbia – published in December 2017 (“Awareness of citizens of Serbia about the wars of the ‘90s, war crimes and war crimes trials” designed by the Humanitarian Law Center, commissioned by the Serbian daily Danas and conducted by Demostat – available only in Serbian here).

The latest survey mostly confirms what we already know from those previously conducted – revisionism and denialism are prevalent, and ethnic bias is entrenched – but it also provides additional information about these phenomena.

Serb Officers Claim Ignorance of Kosovo Massacre

Specijalni sud

Two former Yugoslav Army officers from the 549th Brigade told a court in Belgrade that they knew nothing about the attack on the village of Trnje in Kosovo in March 1999, when 27 Albanians were killed.


An insult to the victims and legitimization of crimes at the highest state level

An insult to the victims and legitimization of crimes at the highest state level

uvred_zrtava

Speaking on N1 TV station in January 2018, Milovan Drecun, the President of the Serbian Parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, referred to the Bytyqi brothers, killed by the Serbian police in July 1999, as „terrorists“. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) considers such a description of these victims, whose family has been waiting for justice for more than 18 years, unacceptable, especially bearing in mind that it comes from a person highly placeed within the power structures of the Republic of Serbia.


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