Debate: Decade of Remembrance

As part of the RECOM Reconciliation Network project, the Humanitarian Law Center is organising a debate on memory politics and commemorative practices in post-Yugoslav countries under the title Decade of Remembrance.

Researchers will present the results of monitoring commemorations of five events over the past ten years in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. The discussion will focus on the conflicting narratives of the same events, which, instead of becoming less contentious over time, are showing increasing differences in the interpretation of judicial facts. The goal is to discuss ways to reconcile different perspectives and enhance the influence of the academic community and civil society in creating a culture of memory based on judicial facts and personal experiences.

The debate is taking place in hybrid format on January 25 2024 from 11:00 to 15:00 CET. It is open for public on Zoom, with language interpretation provided, with mandatory registration on the link.

(srpski) Otvoreno pismo Vladi RH i Državnom odvjetništvu RH u povodu primjene Odluke o otpisu i povratu troškova parničnog postupka

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Ready for Memory Wars: The Case of the HOS Memorial Plaque in Croatia

This paper focuses on Croatia and the use of hate speech and controversial symbols for the maintenance of symbolic boundaries, the reinforcement of a one-sided version of the past, and the mobilization of voters. The presence and use of the Ustaša salutation, “Ready for the Homeland” (Za dom spremni – ZDS) is a consistent example of those tendencies. In recent years, the salutation has become increasingly intertwined with the legacies of World War Two and the 1990s Croatian War of Independence, while simultaneously reflecting the rise of nationalism and radical-right parties and movements in Croatia as well as abroad. The paper presents insights into the ways ZDS is used to reify national identity, while centering around some of the main actors perpetuating this dynamic, such as politicians and war veterans. Accordingly, it focuses primarily on the case of the memorial plaque erected in 2016 by former members of the Croatian Defence Forces paramilitary unit, which included the ZDS salutation. At one point threatening to topple the government, the case demonstrates how the salute is used to maintain the dominant narrative of the Homeland War.

(srpski) Advokat Sead Spahović o 25 godina od maskara u Račku: Napad na selo koje nije branjeno je po definiciji ratni zločin

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(srpski) „Narativ oko Kosova i brojni sukobi koji su se desili uticali na to da se društvo i mladi radikalizuju“: Da li je pomirenje Srba sa Albancima i Hrvatima moguće?

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Kalinovik Case: War Rape Sentence Reduced to Legal Minimum

The Court of Appeals in Belgrade upheld the conviction against Dalibor Krstović, a member of the Republika Srpska Army, for the rape of a Bosniak woman in Kalinovik in August 1992, but radically reduced the sentence from nine to only five years in prison.

The Humanitarian Law Center believes that the reduced sentence of imprisonment of five years, which is the legal minimum for the criminal offence of war crime against civilians, is extremely inappropriate for the gravity of the offence committed, that it does not achieve the purpose of punishment, and that such a punishment is humiliating for the victim. Inadequate punishment of sexual violence in war neglects the lasting consequences such a decision has for the victim: the victim is retraumatised, and the crime itself, as one of the most destructive crimes committed in war, is minimised in relation to other war crimes. Exceeding the accusation to the detriment of the defendant, which the Court of Appeal cites as reason for mitigating the sentence, is not such as to justify that decision.

An Acquittal in Teslić Case Confirmed

On 15 December 2023[1], the Court of Appeal in Belgrade upheld the verdict of the Higher Court in Belgrade, which, in the absence of evidence, acquitted the accused Nebojša Mirović of committing the criminal offence of a war crime against civilians during the summer of 1992 in the territory of the municipality of Teslić (BiH). The Humanitarian Law Center believes that the Public Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor in this case failed to argue and substantiate the indictment it had presented.

By the indictment of the Public Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, Nebojša Mirović was charged on 12 counts, that during the summer of 1992, in the area of Teslić municipality, he and several members of the Teslić police station participated in inflicting physical and mental pain or suffering (torture) and bodily injury on Bosniak civilians.

(srpski) Za zločine u prijedorskom selu Zecovi ukupno 59 godina zatvora

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(srpski) ”Pamtimo sve žrtve” – Predstavljeni rezultati istraživanja za Sisačko-moslavačku županiju

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30 years without justice: First-instance verdict in Štrpci Case overturned – trial restored

On 30 October 2023, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade issued a decision[1] annulling the first-instance verdict in the Štrpci Case and returning the case for retrial. The Humanitarian Law Center considers it inadmissible that thirty years after the abduction and murder of twenty civilians in Štrpci, the judicial authorities are unable to conduct the procedure in a professional manner and reach a verdict.

Initiating the proceedings again implies the re-traumatisation and exhaustion of the families of the victims and witnesses in this proceeding, as well as the trivialisation of war crimes trials. Such a decision not only delays the imprisonment of the direct perpetrators, one of whom has already died during the proceedings, but also the hope that representatives of the civil, military and police authorities of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia who were familiar with the kidnapping plan in Štrpci, will be prosecuted for the crime. This procedure has not contributed to the discovery of the mortal remains of the victims, which is one of the goals of the National Strategy for the War Crimes Prosecution.