/Criminal Justice/War crime trials

• Analysis/Press Releases/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 18.11.2016.

25 Years Since Crime at Ovčara Victims’ trust in domestic judiciary is betrayed

November 20^th 2016 marks the 25^th anniversary of the crime committed at „Ovčara“ farm near Vukovar, when members of the local territorial defense unit (Teritorijalna odbrana – TO) and Serb volunteers under the command of the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) killed 265 Croatian civilians and prisoners of war. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) on this occasion would like to remind the public that the trial of this case before the domestic courts has not yet been finally completed, even after more than 12 years.

• Analysis/Press Releases/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 14.10.2016.

Acquittal in Gradiška Case: New Instance of Omissions in Work of Prosecutor’s Office and Court

The Higher Court in Belgrade rendered a judgment in the Gradiška Case on October 13^th, 2016, acquitting the accused Goran Šinik of charges that he had committed an act of war crime against a civilian population. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) emphasizes that this judgement is the outcome of an unfounded indictment filed by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP), as well as of inadequate control exercised by the Trial Chamber of the Higher Court in Belgrade in the phase of judgment confirmation; and that this case represents a paradigmatic example of how an image of productivity of the war crimes judiciary is being fabricated, by raising indictments which are doomed to failure.

• Analysis/Press Releases/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 07.09.2016.

Consequences of Political Tensions on Prosecution of War Crimes: For the first time, Serbia does not participate in the regional conference of war crimes prosecutors

After 12 years of contacts between prosecution offices in the region within the framework of cooperation in the prosecution of war crimes, the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) of the Republic of Serbia for the first time did not participate in the regional conference of war crimes prosecutors, the tenth in the series, which began on the 5th September 2016 in Brijuni, Croatia. This is a dramatic change in long-standing practices, and it is happening at a moment of severely undermined bilateral relations (available in Bosnian) between Serbia and Croatia, and a political crisis (available in Serbian) in the region. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) feels that this is an alarming indicator of political influence being exerted on the judiciary, and points out that the decision on non-participation by the OWCP at the conference is in direct conflict with the obligations which the Republic of Serbia committed itself to with the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes.

• War crime trials in Serbia/News
• 08.07.2016.

Open Letter to E.U. & U.S. Leaders

8 July 2016: To mark the 17th Anniversary of the Bytyqi murders, please read this Open Letter to European Union and United States leaders on the failures of Serbia’s war crimes processes and in the Bytyqi case. The letter is signed by nearly forty experts with considerable experience in government, academia, and within the NGO community on the Balkans.

• Press Releases/ICTY trials and before the courts in the other post-Yugoslav states/War crime trials
• 01.04.2016.

ICTY Trial Chamber Judgment in Šešelj Case: In Time of War, Laws Fall Silent

On March 31^st, 2016, the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) delivered its  first instance judgment acquitting the President of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Šešelj, of criminal responsibility on all counts of the indictment, with the dissenting opinion of one member of the Trial Chamber expressing criticism of the judgement in harsh tones. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that the acquittal is based on findings which are in contradiction to the practice of the ICTY, as well as on an unsustainable reinterpretation of events which occurred during the wars, which is offensive to the victims.

• Conferences/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia/News
• 07.03.2016.

War Crimes Trials in Serbia in 2014 and 2015

On Thursday, March 3, 2016, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented the Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia in 2014 and 2015, and organised a debate on this occasion. The Report includes an analysis of 27 cases that were conducted before the courts in Serbia, the general findings about the war crimes trials, and an overview of the sociopolitical events that were of importance to the war crimes trials in Serbia in the said period.

• Reports/Publications/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 03.03.2016.

Report on War Crimes Trials in Serbia during 2014 and 2015

The biannual report on war crimes trials in Serbia offers an insight into all war crimes trials conducted  before the Higher Court and the Appellate Court in Belgrade, as well as before the courts of general jurisdiction. The report gives a brief overview of proceedings for 27 cases, as well as the basic findings of the HLC regarding the cases.

• Press Releases/War crime trials/War crime trials in Serbia
• 18.02.2016.

Judgment in “Cobras” Case Delivered

The Higher Court in Niš delivered a judgment on February 17^th, 2016 finding the accused Shyqer Maloku, Xhafer Gashi, Demush Gacaferi, Dem Maloku, Argon Isufi, Anton Quni, Alija Rabit and Rustem Berisha, who were tried in absentia, guilty of the criminal offence of terrorism and sentencing each of them to 15 years of imprisonment. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) highlights that a distinctive mark of this case was the presence of some illogicalities and serious legal faults emerging from the erroneous qualification of the criminal act and the decision to prosecute the accused in absentia.

• Before the internationalised courts in Kosovo/Press Releases/War crime trials
• 25.01.2016.

HLC Kosovo: Oliver Ivanović has been sentenced to nine years of imprisonment for a war crime against civilian population

Following a thirteen-month trial in the case the Prosecutor against Oliver Ivanović et aila,^[1] the international panel of the Basic Court of Mitrovicë/Mitrovica (presided by Judge Roxana Comsa^[2]) announced the judgment on 21 January 2016 finding the accused Oliver Ivanović guilty of the criminal offense of War Crimes Against Civilian Population and sentenced him to imprisonment of nine (9) years. In her brief reasoning that was on this occasion announced to the parties to the proceedings, Judge Comsa said that the Court found that Ivanović was responsible for the crime committed on 14 April 1999 in Mitrovicë/Mitrovica, in Miladin Popović Street (nowadays Ahmet Selaci Street), as well as in Put za Bajr (The Road to Bajr). As a result of the actions of Serbian paramilitary police forces, on that occasion, the following Albanians were killed: Fatmir Mustafa, Skender Paqarada, Avni Abazi and Mehmet Seferi.

• Press Releases/War crime trials
• 04.01.2016.

Draft Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes Does Not Guarantee More Efficient Prosecution of Perpetrators of War Crimes in Serbia

The Republic of Serbia Ministry of Justice published the
Draft National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes for the period 2016-2020 (Draft Strategy) in November 2015 , in accordance with the Action Plan for Chapter 23, and then opened a public debate, which was closed on December 31st, 2015. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that, even though the Draft Strategy does recognize some of the key shortcomings in the current work of the institutions responsible for the prosecution of war crimes and foresees some good solutions for overcoming these shortcomings, it still fails to establish the key measures for the achievement of the primary objective, which is the more efficient prosecution of war crimes; and therefore it significantly dilutes its potential.

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