Organised by:
RECOM Reconciliation Network and the Humanitarian Law Center
13–14 December 2025, Zagreb
Saturday, December 13, 2025
9.00- 9.15
Opening of the Forum: Prof. Žarko Puhovski PhD (ret.), Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, RECOM Reconciliation Network
9.15 -10. 45
PANEL 1
Academic Community in a Captured Society: Limits of Critical Speech and the Possibility of Intellectual Resistance
Moderator and introductory remarks:
Žarko Puhovski:
“In societies that are not democratically stable, academic freedom does not imply the right to hold an opinion, but the courage to bear the consequences of that opinion.”
Thematic Focus:
Transitional justice at the level of formal outcomes, with absent transformative effects.
The system blocks reform and punishes resistance; critical thinking is risky, while symbolic resistance becomes the only “safe” form.
Academia as a space for shared intellectual resistance within a regional community of knowledge, as an alternative to ethnically enclosed memory regimes.
Language through which the past is articulated: analytical, normative, political frameworks.
Absence of interethnic dialogue in the academic field, mirroring state policies of heroisation of war.
How do national narratives persist independently of established facts?
Panelists:
Ana Milošević, Postdoctoral Researcher, Faculty of Law, KU Leuven
Prof. Eric Gordy, PhD, University College London, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)
Prof. Vjollca Krasniqi, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Prishtina
Prof. Nebojša Blanuša, PhD, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
Prof. Adnan Prekić, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Podgorica
Discussion:
Prof. Midhat Izmirlija, PhD, Faculty of Law, University of Sarajevo
Prof. Jelena Lončar, PhD, Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Belgrade
Prof. Smiljana Milinkov, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Prof. Artan Krasniqi, PhD,Faculty of Philosophy, University of Prishtina
10.45 – 11.15
Coffee break
11.15 -12.45
PANEL 2
Unrealised Transformative Potential of Transitional Justice
Moderator and introductory remarks:Prof. dr Denisa Kostovicova, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)
“We open the discussion by asking whether academia today is a legitimate interpreter of the past, or whether authority over the narrative belongs exclusively to political and media spaces. We will explore why deliberation has not enabled transformation, and whether academia can initiate change.”
Thematic Focus:
Who holds the authority today to define narratives about the past — academia, the state, victims’ associations, the media, or international actors?
Education and the interpretation of the past.
Reproduction of ethnic narratives and the role of academia.
The language through which the past is articulated: analytical, normative, political frameworks.
The limits of deliberation(“the most needed and the most difficult”).
Panelists:
Prof. Dejan Jović, PhD, Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb
Prof. Snježana Koren, PhD, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb
Prof. Gjylbehare Bella Murati, PhD, Faculty of Law, Peja
Prof. Nataša Milićević, PHD,Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad
Discussion:
Prof. Katarina Popović, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy, University of belgrade
Acad. Prof. Svetlana Slapšak, PhD, Serbian and Slovenian literary scholar
Prof. Danijela Majstorović, PhD, Faculty of Philology, University of Banja Luka
Gezim Visoka, PhD, Faculty of Law, Dublin
Aleksandra Jerkov, PhD, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Graz
12.45 – 14.00
Lunch
14.00 – 15.45
PANEL 3
War Crimes Trials: Legal Process and the (Un)Achieved Transformative Effects
Moderator / introductory remarks:Prof. dr Ivo Josipović, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Part I – ICTY Trial Strategy and the Completion of its Work — Was the Transformative Effect Missed?
Thematic Focus:
Was the impact of ICTY judgments on the interpretation of the past in local societies insufficiently addressed within the Tribunal’s completion strategy?
Did the legal dimension prevail, without planning a broader social integration of the judgments?
Do political elites block transformative justice by interpreting verdicts as attacks on entire nations instead of individualising responsibility?
Selective acknowledgment and silence regarding ICTY judgments.
How can it be explained that judicially established facts do not become part of collective memory, but are instead adapted to dominant national narratives?
Can the judicial system change the interpretation of the past without a social consensus on facts?
Part II – National War Crimes Trials — Reach and Limitations in the Region
Thematic Focus:
Do national trials have the potential for transformative justice?
Trials in absentia — a legal necessity or a continuation of resistance?
Do trials in absentia contribute to accountability, or reinforce denial and opposition?
Can domestic judiciary produce social change without institutional support from education and politics?
Can law faculties become a “regional community of knowledge”?
Key question:
Can academia develop a regional platform for the critical interpretation of judgments and thereby compensate for what trials alone cannot achieve?
Panelists:
Prof. Zlata Đurđević, PhD, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
Prof. Enis Omerović, PhD, Faculty of Law, Zenica
Prof. Sunčica Hajdarović, PhD, Faculty of Law “Džemal Bijedić”, Mostar
Florence Hartmann, French journalist and writer
Miodrag Vlahović, Montenegrin Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
Discussion:
Prof. Srđan Milošević, PhD, Faculty of Law, UNION University in Belgrade
Prof. Marin Bonačić, PhD, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb (tbc)
Prof. Denisa Kostovicova, PhD, LSE
Atdhe Hetemi, Institute for War Crimes Research, Prishtina
Sabina Galijatović, PhD, Institute for Research of Crimes against Humanity and International Law, University of Sarajevo
15.45- 16.15
Coffee break
16.15 – 17.45
PANEL 4
The ICTY Archive Between Justice and Memory: Access, Public Interest and Future Legacy
Moderator:Pierre Hazan, Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
Panelists:
Samuel Algozin, Office of the Registrar, Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals
Victor Jan Vos, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Prof. Niké Wentholt, PhD, University of Groningen
Petar Finci, PhD Candidate, University of Amsterdam
Thematic Focus:
This panel examines the public archive of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as:a legal record of war crimes;a research resource for future academic studies;a cultural and memorial legacy of victims;and a foundation of public knowledge about the past.
Key topics include:
Archive governance and public access: scope of the public archive, digitisation, long-term preservation, and management scenarios after 2026.
Archive as research infrastructure: NIOD’s experience in studying Srebrenica, the need to supplement research with judicial collections, and the archive as an “infrastructure of facts.”
Archive as victims’ memory: the archive as the “voice of victims” in the public domain, testimonies as social memory, and the archive as a basis for museums, education and commemorations.
How researchers use the archive: methodology of working with transcripts and judgments; risks of misinterpretation without context; how legal facts are translated into public knowledge.
Key Questions for Discussion:
If the archive preserves the voice of victims, do the societies of the former Yugoslavia want to hear it?
Why have judgments not become part of public knowledge?
Is the archive a public good, or an internal UN collection?
What does the future of the archive mean after the end of the Mechanism’s mandate (2026)?
Can the archive become a foundation for education and memorialisation?
The court has established the facts. The question is no longer what is true, but whether truth will become part of collective memory.
Discussion:
Danilo Kalezić, Institute of History, Podgorica
Nataša Kandić, Humanitarian Law Center
Edin Omerčić, Institute of History, University of Sarajevo
Sunday, 14 December 2025
PANEL 5
Time: 9.30 – 13:45
From Memory Transmission to Transformation: Youth Between the Past and the Future
Moderator:Prof. PhD Aleksandar Maršavelski,,Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb
9.30- 10.30
Part I — Intergenerational Transmission of Memory
Panel introduction:
This panel explores how young people who did not live through the wars of the 1990s inherit and reinterpret memories through family narratives, media influence and educational gaps, and how such memories shape contemporary student protests. The discussion will examine whether the struggle against corruption and authoritarianism has transformative potential, or whether it reproduces inherited narratives. The panel connects research from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the diaspora, deliberative practices of dealing with the past, and memory activism, in order to open space for reflecting on the role of students in social change.
Thematic Focus:
Attitudes of youth in Serbia toward the wars: lack of education and memory transmission through family (2023).
Attitudes of youth in the former Yugoslavia toward the trial of Radovan Karadžić: young people are not uninformed — they are discursively closed.
Minimal introduction of facts enables micro-deliberation, yet does not produce macro-change.
Deliberation on the trial of Radovan Karadžić — effects of dialogue on understanding the past.
Intergenerational transmission of memory in families in Sarajevo and in the diaspora.
Students in Serbia between a sense of victimhood and potential for social change (research 2021–2025):
“They identify as victims of multilayered injustice, yet they want to leave this position and participate in shaping a future-oriented narrative.”
Panelists:
Rodoljub Jovanović, PhD, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, Belgrade
Prof. Denisa Kostovicova, PhD
Emina Zoletić, PhD Candidate, University of Warsaw
Jessie Barton Hronešová,PhD, School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)
10.30 12.00
Part II — Student Protests in Serbia: Youth Between the Past and the Future
Protests were initiated as a response to corruption, violence and authoritarian rule — without ethnic messages. However, at a later stage of protest actions, graffiti such as “Nema predaje”, “Ne damo Kosovo”, “Aco Šiptare” began to appear. These inscriptions do not represent the core message of the protests, yet they are significant because they show how narratives of the past still resonate in a generation that demands change.
Key Question:
Do student protests have the capacity to overcome inherited identity narratives and become a driver of transformative change?
Panelists/Discussion
Prof. Ana Martinoli, PhD, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Prof. Nevena Jeftić, PhD, Faculty of Philosophy, Novi Sad
Prof. Stevan Filipović, Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade
Balša Božović, Regional Academy for Democratic Development
Mila Pajić, student, Faculty of Philosophy, Novi Sad (online)
Domagoj Fuk, student, Faculty of Political Science, Zagreb
Other students and participants
12.00 -12.30
Coffee break
12.30- 13.45
Part III — Memorial and Transformative Initiatives
Moderator:Jasna Dragović-Soso, Visiting Professor, LSE Research Unit on Southeast Europe (LSEE)
Thematic Focus:
Transformative potential and limitations of memorial activism initiatives.
The child as a symbol of universal victimhood: possibilities for empathy and limits of instrumentalisation.
Can externally imposed legal interventions be considered part of transitional or transformative justice?
Civil initiatives and alternative narratives.
Deliberation may contribute to the pursuit of justice, but transformation requires expanding moral horizons and acknowledging the dignity and suffering of the Other.
“A dominant feature of discussions on war crimes in the RECOM process was the avoidance of blaming. People focused on details of suffering, without naming perpetrators… The communication style of the RECOM process was perceived as non-accusatory.”
Panelists/Discussion:
Prof. Jasna Dragović-Soso, PhD
essie Barton Hronešová, PhD
Belma Bećirbašić, independent researcher and publicist
Prof. Denisa Kostovicova, PhD
Across Ethnic Divides:
Ajnura Akbas, War Childhood Museum — How children’s wartime testimonies affect audiences: from experience to understanding (institutionalised transformative initiative)
Fikret Bačić, „Jer me se tiče“ — The struggle for a memorial to the murdered children of Prijedor: how personal testimony drives public understanding (in the process of institutionalisation).
Bekim Blakaj and Nataša Kandić — Facts that become public memory: from Dignity for the Missing to the Memorial for the Missing (transformative changes of the RECOM process)
13.45 -14.15
Closing words by the panel moderator:Prof. PhD Aleksandar Maršavelski
Closing of the XVII Forum on Transitional Justice:
Nataša Kandić and Vesna Teršelič
14.15 – 15.30
Lunch
This activity is carried out with the financial support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Italy, the European Union, ProPeace, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. The Humanitarian Law Center is solely responsible for its content, which does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the other donors.
