Family Members of Victims of War Crime from Sjeverin Seek Justice before Constitutional Court

The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) filed another appeal with the Constitutional Court of Serbia in the Sjeverin case. Namely, the HLC filed a constitutional appeal on behalf of 20 family members of war crime victims from Sjeverin against the ruling of the Court of Appeals in Belgrade, in which their claims for compensation of non-material damages against the Republic of Serbia were dismissed.

In its constitutional appeal against the ruling of the Court of Appeals, the HLC claims the violation of the right to life, the violation of the prohibition of discrimination, the violation of the right to a fair trial, rehabilitation and compensation of damages, and the right to equal protection and legal remedy. With its constitutional appeal, the HLC is demanding that the Constitutional Court establishes the violation of the aforementioned rights and, thus, annuls the ruling of the Court of Appeals, and that it grants compensation to the victims’ family members on account of the said violations to the amount of 10,000 Euros for each of the applicants.

The HLC initiated a lawsuit for compensation of non-material damages against the Republic of Serbia in June 2007 on behalf of the family members of the missing and the killed, before the First Municipal Court in Belgrade because of the state’s responsibility for the abduction of 16 Bosniaks from Sjeverin in October 1992. The judgment was rendered in February 2009. These claims for damages were dismissed in the judgment, for which reason the HLC filed an appeal.

Due to the failure of the Court of Appeals to act upon the appeal in this case, even after two notices of urgency and an application to the Acting President of the Court, in August 2013 the HLC filed a constitutional appeal because of the violation of the right to a fair trial. The Constitutional Court rendered a ruling on October 15th, 2013 establishing this violation.