The sixteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The sixteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engOn July 11 2017, the mortal remains of 71 identified victims were buried in the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial center. The youngest victim at the time of murder was 15 years old, and the oldest 72.

Two articles published in this issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE were written by the participants at the 8th School of Transitional Justice, in memory of the 71 victims buried this year, as well as in memory of the 6504 victims buried so far, and those victims for whose mortal remains we are still looking, and in honour of the persistence of their families who have spent the last 22 years in grief and despair. The Bulletin also gives an overview of court procedures conducted before the courts in Serbia for crimes committed against Bosniak civilians during July 1995 in and around Srebrenica. Only three cases have been conducted to date, one of which ended in a guilty plea bargain; in the second, the indictment has recently been dismissed, and in the third case, the trial chamber, despite the evidence proving the opposite, avoided linking the crime which was subject to the indictment to the events happening at that time in and around Srebrenica. The Column titled “Current Events” presents the manner in which Serbia remembered victims of the Srebrenica genocide this year.

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The fifteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The fifteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engIn the new issue of the through ACCSESSION towards JUSTICE Bulletin, Attorney at Law Mr. Mihailo Pavlović, discusses a new attempt by Serbia to legally regulate the provision of free legal assistance. Free legal assistance represents more than a required obligation for harmonization with EU Acquis, but also an obligation towards society’s vulnerable citizens, who would be the greatest beneficiaries of this assistance: a number of which include victims of war crimes.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

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The fourteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The fourteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engThe new issue of the through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE bulletin brings an interview with the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Mr. Serge Brammertz, who spoke about the importance of establishing criminal justice for the war crimes committed and the achievements of the ICTY and national judiciaries. The Bulletin also relays an opinion about whether the European Union is faced with certain constraints, which make it difficult for the EU to approach the issues of establishing justice for the crimes committed in a more decisive and thorough manner. Mr. Iavor Rangelov and Ms. Marika Theros from the London School of Economics and Ms. Nataša Kandić, the founder of the Humanitarian Law Center and the RECOM Initiative Coordinator, give their answers to these questions.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

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The thirteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The thirteenth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engThe new issue of the through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE bulletin brings an interview with the Regional Cooperation Council’s Secretary General Mr. Goran Svilanović, and the analysis of the victims’ rights in Serbia provided by Humanitarian Law Center’s Legal Analyst Mr. Relja Radosavljević.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

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The twelfth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The twelfth issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

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The new issue of the through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE bulletin brings an article authored by the Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia, Mr Bruno Vekarić, and the Director of Programmes of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in Croatia, Mario Mažić.

Bruno Vekarić emphasizes the importance of the strategic framework for the prosecution of war crimes, and informs the public about the preparation of the Prosecution Strategy aimed at the investigation and prosecution of all individuals responsible for atrocities committed during the armed conflicts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Mario Mažić writes about the positions of Croatian institutions and the EU regarding the need for Croatia – when, as a post-conflict society, it was still a EU candidate country – to implement reforms which would encompass the application of transitional justice mechanisms, before their being able to join the community of European countries.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

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The eleventh issue of the Bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engThe new issue of the through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE bulletin brings an interview with the Ambassador of Switzerland to Serbia and to Montenegro, Mr. Jean-Daniel Ruch, and an article authored by the Director of the Policy Center, Dragan Popović.

With Ambassador Ruch we discussed the establishing of regional stability and reconciliation in the Western Balkans, Serbia’s priorities during its chairing of the OSCE, Serbia’s achievements in the field of dealing with the past and the potential contained in the European integration process for further improvements in this area, as well as the contribution of the ICTY towards establishing the facts about the crimes committed and reconciliation between the different communities in the region.

Dragan Popović explained how important it is to include transitional justice topics in the process of the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo. He stated that it is necessary that the Brussels negotiations include the topics of establishing the truth about war crimes, the prosecution of individuals responsible, the implementation of institutional reforms, reparation measures of many kinds, and disclosing the fate of missing persons.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

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The tenth issue of the bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

The tenth issue of the bulletin “through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE”

bilten_engThe 10th issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE has been released!

This issue features an interview with Dr Vladimir Orlić, Chairman of the EU-Serbia Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee and a MP of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. In it Mr Orlić answers our questions about whether Serbia has recognised the importance of addressing the grave legacy of the past, how the Committee he chairs approaches this subject and in what way the National Assembly can contribute towards reconciliation in the Western Balkans.

Goran Miletić, Western Balkans Programme Director at Civil Rights Defenders, analyses whether and to what extent Serbia has met the political criteria for becoming an EU member.

The News section highlights current developments in the areas of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process, and the War Crimes Trials section offers an overview of recently held trials and rulings delivered.

Send us your opinions and comments on the newsletter and/or the topics discussed to the e-mail address towardsJUSTICE@hlc-rdc.org. Discussion is also welcome on Twitter/#towardsJUSTICE.

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The Ninth issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

The Ninth issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

bilten_engThe ninth issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE has been published!

The ninth issue of the Bulletin conveys a discussion with the European Parliament Rapporteur on Serbia, Mr David McAllister, regarding the necessity of dealing with the legacy of the past for a state striving to become an EU member, and current endeavours to establish and apply mechanisms of transitional justice in Serbia.

A researcher at the University of Magdeburg, Ms Katarina Ristić, analyzes the consequences of the policy of conditionality demanding from Serbia to cooperate with ICTY, which has been applied by the EU for years, and its contribution to the recognition and acknowledgment of responsibility for crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

The column dedicated to the news contains an overview of the most recent events in the field of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process in the period January – April 2015.

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The Eight issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

The Eight issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

The eight issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE has been published!

The Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, Mr. Michael Davenport, speaks about Transitional Justice as an integral part of Serbia’s EU accession negotiations. He expresses the EU standpoint with regard to the dealing with the legacy of the armed conflicts and of the systematic violations of human rights committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and the importance of the negotiation process for establishing and accepting the responsibility for the crimes committed. A view of Serbia’s EU accession negotiations as offering a potential springboard for the development and comprehensive application of adequate Transitional Justice mechanisms is offered by Jelena Krstić, the Humanitarian Law Centre’s Outreach Manager.

The column dedicated to the news contains an overview of the most recent events in the field of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process in the period November 2014-January 2015.

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The seventh issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

The seventh issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE

bilten_engThe new issue of the bulletin through ACCESSION towards JUSTICE has been published!

The 7th issue of the Bulletin relays the experiences of Croatia, which directed a part of its endeavours during the EU accession negotiations to the advancement of the prosecution of war crimes. The requirement to include these issues involving the reform processes in the field of the rule of law in Croatia arrived from the European Union as standards that need to be met prior to joining the union of European countries. Mr. Kristian Turkalj, the negotiator for Chapters 23 and 24 from the Republic of Croatia, writes on this topic.

The President of the Sandžak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms, Semiha Kačar, writes on the need for Serbia to acknowledge its responsibility for the crimes committed against the citizens of Sandžak during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, to prosecute the individuals responsible for these crimes and to vet individuals from institutions who were involved in them, as well as to grant the status of civilian victims of war to victims and victims’ family members.

The column dedicated to the news contains an overview of the most recent events in the field of transitional justice and Serbia’s EU integration process.

Owing to the strike of the Serbian and Belgrade BAR Associations, war crimes trials have not been held since September 10th.

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