Charge Filed for Violations of Human Rights in Sandžak in 1993

On 5 September 2007 the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), as part of its programme of support to victims of violated human rights in the realization of their restitution and compensation rights, filed a charge for compensation on behalf of Šefko Bibić from the village of Ugao (municipality of Sjenica) against the Republic of Serbia for acts of torture committed upon him by Mile Nedić, Inspector of the Municipal Police Directorate in Sjenica.

Beginning of December 1993, Šefko Bibić received a police summons to an informative interrogation.  The following day he went to the police station in the village of Karajukića bunari. On arrival he was asked by the policeman on duty whether he had brought the arms.  When Sabit replied that he was not in possession of any arms, the policeman said that Inspector Mile Nedić is going to talk to him.  After a while Mile Nedić arrived at the station.  As soon as he saw Sabit, he asked him whether he had brought the arms.  When Sabit replied that he had no arms, Mile Nedić cursed “his Turkish mother” at him and started hitting him with fists.  Soon Sabit fell unconscience from the hitting.  Once he regained consciousness, Inspector Nedić went on hitting him saying that he had to bring in arms, and that he had to purchase them if he did not have any. The torture lasted another ten minutes or so, when the Inspector stopped the beating saying that he would “rest for a while and come back”. On returning, Mile Nedić continued hitting him, cursing his “Turkish mother”, and then released him, requesting that he come back again the next day.

During the armed conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, members of the Serbian Ministry of Interior conducted searches of Bosniak houses in the territory of Sandžak, looking for arms.  Although in most cases they found no arms, the policemen would arrest the Bosniaks and beat them up at the police stations, aiming to extort confessions from them that they possessed arms or that they were taking part in ”activities against the state”. Although these cases were reported to the state authorities, in most of them no substantial investigations, nor disciplinary measures were ever carried out.  On the contrary, according to information available to HLC, the majority of the policemen who had taken part in the beatings of Sandžak Bosniaks are still employed by the Serbain Ministry of Interior today.

The HLC calls upon the state authorities of Serbia, in accordance with the Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on the ”Basic Principles and Guidelines for the Realization of Rights to Legal Remedy and Restitution, Compensation and Rehabilitation of Victims of Grave Violations of International Law on Human Rights and Grave Violations of International Humanitarian Law” (adopted on 16 December 2005), to compensate the victims of violations of human rights committed by members of the Serbian army and police.