Election of Politically Suitable Prosecutors Undermines Rule of Law

With regard to the statement made by the Minister of Justice, Nikola Selaković, that prosecutors who are politically suitable for the Government of the Republic of Serbia should be elected in the new election process, human rights organizations emphasize that such an application of political criteria without any doubt represents a violation of the constitutionality and legality of the prosecutors’ election process; and demand the dismissal of the Minister of Justice and repetition of the prosecutors’ election procedure.

ICTY Appeals Chamber Renders Judgment in Case of Stanišić and Simatović

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) rendered a judgment on 15 December 2015 in the case of the former heads of the Serbian State Security Service (SDB), quashing the first instance judgment on account of errors in law, and ordering a retrial. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) maintains that the court’s decision is correct, and points out that in the case of the former Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Momčilo Perišić, the ICTY made a serious mistake and that, had the Chamber not erred, he would have been held accountable for the assistance that this institution had provided to the Republic of Srpska Army in the commission of systematic crimes against the non-Serb civilian population.

Bill on Rights of Civilian Victims of War Still Hidden from Public Eye

The Ministry of Labour, Employment and Veterans and Social Policy (Ministry) has refused to deliver the amended text of the Bill on the Rights of Veterans, Military Invalids, Civilian Invalids of War and Members of Their Families (Bill) to the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), which the HLC demanded on the basis of the Law on the Free Access to Information of Public Importance. The HLC notes that, by doing this, the Ministry has not only violated the right to free access to information of public importance, but has also continued with the practice of hiding the process of passing a new law regulating the rights of civilian victims of war from the public eye and from all interested parties.

Republic of Serbia Has No Answer for Human Rights Violations Committed during 1990’s

On the occasion of marking International Human Rights Day, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) would like to remind the public that the Republic of Serbia has an obligation to apply the provisions of international human rights law to cases of systematic human rights violations during the 1990’s, and emphasizes that the position of institutions towards these obligations represents a reflection of sincerity of the political authorities in the process of building a democratic society and a culture of human rights.

Urgently shed light on the attack against attack on Serbs in Gorazdevac

Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) Kosovo strongly condemns the recent armed attack on the village of Gorazhdevc/Goraždevac in the municipality of Peja/Peć. HLC Kosovo recalls that, in the past, attacks against local Serbs in this region almost never led to appropriate police investigations. The recurrent failure to arrest perpetrators of these crimes creates a climate of insecurity for Serb citizens of this village and of Kosovo at large, and has a negative impact on the establishment of civic trust in Kosovo institutions.

Victims Mocked by Government Reception for Lazarević

Vladimir Lazarević, the former Commander of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) Priština Corps, returned to Serbia on December 3^rd, 2015, after having served his prison sentence imposed for his responsibility in the commission of crimes against humanity. His return was organized at the expense of the Republic of Serbia; he was accompanied by two Ministers in the Government of Serbia, and welcomed at the airport by other high government officials. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) emphasizes that the institutions of the Republic of Serbia have mocked the Albanian victims of the crimes committed by the army and police in Kosovo, by honouring a person convicted for the most serious crimes according to national and international law, and have thus demonstrated a clear dedication to the anti-civilization values promoted by the Slobodan Milošević regime.

To Withdraw Discriminatory Bill on Rights of Civilian Victims of War

With regard to the announced passing of the Bill on the Rights of War Veterans, Disabled War Veterans, Civilian Invalids of War and their Family Members (Bill), human rights organizations use this opportunity to draw the attention of the public and international community once more to the lack of harmonization of the provisions in this Bill with the mandatory provisions for the protection of human rights, and they call upon the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Veterans and Social Policy (Ministry) to withdraw the Bill from the adoption procedure, and the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the National Assembly to draft and pass a new Bill based on the Model Law on the Rights of Civilian Victims of Human Rights Violations Committed during and in Connection with Armed Conflicts in the Period 1991-2001, which contains normative solutions for the realization of the rights of victims in accordance with international agreements on the protection of human rights and other international standards in the provision of reparation to victims.

State Obliged to Pay Compensatory Damages for Murder of Two Croats from Vojvodina

The First Basic Court in Belgrade delivered a first instance judgment upholding the lawsuit filed by Stjepan Oskomić from Kukujevci in its entirety, and ordering the Republic of Serbia to pay the amount of 1,000,000 RSD in compensatory damages for the ethnically motivated murder of his parents Agica and Nikola Oskomić, which was committed in July 1993 in Kukujevci (the Municipality of Šid). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), which represents Stjepan Oskomić in this case, states that, after more than nine years of proceedings, justice has finally been served by the judgment delivered in this case, and the responsibility of the state for serious ethnically motivated violations of human rights has been established correctly and in line with domestic and international law.

No Justice for Wartime Victims of Sexual Violence

The Higher Court in Belgrade War Crimes Department rendered a first instance judgment in the repeated trial of the Bijeljina II Case on November 24^th, 2015, acquitting Miodrag Živković once again of the charges related to the commission of a war crime against a civilian population. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) emphasizes that this judgment represents part of the negative score of the national judiciary in the prosecution of cases of wartime sexual violence, and also a continuation of the practice of departing from the international standards set in such cases.

Serbia violates international law by refusing to grant the status of civilian war victims to the victims of Sjeverin

Regarding the 23^rd anniversary since the crime in Sjeverin

On Thursday, 22^nd of October, the opening of the memorial to the victims in Sjeverin will mark the 23^rd anniversary of the abduction and murders of 16 Serbian citizens of Bosnian nationality. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) and the Sandžak Committee for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms (the Sandžak Committee) caution that, from the point of view of international law, it is unacceptable for the Republic of Serbia not to approve the status of civilian war victims to the victims of Sjeverin. At the same time, the HLC and the Sandžak Committee state that the engagement of the local community and the municipality of Priboj in the commemoration of this crime and their help in constructing the monument are a rare example of responsible attitude on part of the institutions in the former Yugoslavia towards the victims, who come from an ethnic minority community.