Letter to Judge Carmel Agius, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

Letter to Judge Carmel Agius, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

irmct-logoYour Honor,

As nongovernmental organizations for human rights, we believe that a person convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide, should not be commutation of sentence if they have not publicly addressed the families of their victims, expressing sincere regret and clearly demonstrating a readiness to help identify the perpetrators of specific crimes and reveal mass graves.

We are addressing you in regard to the possible paroling of Vlastimir Đorđević, sentenced to 18 years in prison for participation in a joint criminal enterprise, which included the crimes of murder, deportation, persecution and other inhumane acts. He was convicted in connection with the deportation of at least 200,000 Kosovo Albanians from 13 municipalities in Kosovo, the murder of at least 724 ethnic Albanians, and the forced relocation of the bodies of victims and their concealment in mass graves in the territory of Serbia. The ICTY Appeals Chamber established that Đorđević, as Head of the Public Security Department with the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, ordered the bodies of Kosovo Albanians be buried in mass graves in the territory of Serbia, in order to remove evidence of the crimes committed, as well as that he “clearly issued orders related to the clandestine handling of the bodies, their transportation and reburial.”


Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia

Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia

izvestaj_o_SZRZ-2019-enThis is the seventh report of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on war crimes trials in Serbia. The HLC has monitored all war crimes trials conducted in the territory of Serbia during 2017 and 2018, a total of 20 trials, conducted by the War Crimes Departments of the Higher Court in Belgrade or the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, including one trial conducted by a court of general jurisdiction. A brief overview of all cases observed, and the HLC’s key findings on each case of interest to the public, are provided in the Report.

A significant portion of the war crimes proceedings presented in the Report have been ongoing for a number of years. Therefore the previous annual HLC Reports on war crimes trials may also be consulted for full appreciation of the course of the proceedings and the corresponding findings. The Report also includes a trial for a criminal offence that the competent prosecutor’s office of general jurisdiction did not classify as a war crime, despite all the circumstances of the case indicating otherwise.

The Report focuses particularly on the work of the War Crimes Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) and of the courts (in the parts of the proceedings which are open to the public), and analyses the indictments and judgments in each individual case. 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 Witness Protection Unit, et al.) could not be made within the context of each case because of the lack of publicly available information about their work.

The War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade handed down first-instance judgments in three cases over the reporting period. The War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade handed down four rulings on appeals against judgments passed by the Higher Court in Belgrade. One interim judgment was handed down by a court of general jurisdiction, and was subsequently confirmed by the Court of Appeal. The OWCP issued a total of 14 indictments over the reporting period, three in 2017 (against four individuals), and 11 in 2018 (against 15 individuals), as indicated in the information supplied to the HLC by the OWCP.

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

Job Vacancy: Memory Activism Program Coordinator

Job Vacancy: Memory Activism Program Coordinator

HLC announces an ad for the position of the Memory Activism Program Coordinator

Conditions:

  • MA or PhD theses related to memory activism practice in the former Yugoslavia;
  • Interest and experience in the culture, politics and practice of memory;
  • Publications in the area of memory studies and practice AND/OR experience in program development;
  • Fluent in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS);

If you are interested in this position, please send us your CV and Motivation letter to konkurs@hlc-rdc.org

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Deadline for applications: 23.05.2019.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Presentation of the Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia

engleski k1On Thursday, 16th May 2019, at 11:00 a.m., the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will present its Seventh Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia, at the Media Center in Belgrade (Main Conference Hall, Terazije 3, 2nd Floor).