Report on the implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes (2021–2026)

The National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes for the Period 2021–2026 was adopted in October 2021.1 In addition to monitoring and analysis of war crimes trials in Serbia, the HLC monitors and reports on the state of implementation of the National Strategy and its achievements in order to assist in the qualitative and quantitative assessment of the measures and activities set forth in the Strategy.

This report on the implementation of the National Strategy (2021–2026) covers the period from mid-October 2021 to 1 May 2024 and is the continuation of the reports published by the HLC during the implementation of the (first) National Strategy for the Prosecution of war Crimes for the Period 2016–2020.

The report covers the period from 14 October 2021 to 1 May 2024. It provides an overview of the current situation and the progress made in the implementation of the Strategy during this period. As shown by the findings of the HLC research conducted for this report, no progress has been made in the prosecution of war crimes in the 31 months since the adoption of the National Strategy for the Period 2021–2026. The number of indictments decreased year by year, war crimes trials continued to be lengthy, no progress was made towards strengthening the procedural rights of victims, fewer missing persons were found decreasing at a lower rate than expected, and no noteworthy progress can be reported in regional cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes.

You can download the report here.