The second consultative meeting with regard to the Draft Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes was held on Tuesday, October 28th, 2014, in the Library of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). The meeting was dedicated to the pre-trial phase in cases of war crimes.
The first consultation session regarding the creation of the draft Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes over the next ten years was held on Thursday October 9th, 2014, at the premises of the Library of the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC). The meeting was dedicated to the theme of support for victims and witnesses in war crimes cases in Serbia.
On September 30th 2014, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented its Analysis of the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia in the period 2004 to 2013. The Analysis encompasses the overview of practice, achievements and problems in the work of the institutions which were responsible for the enforcement of criminal justice in cases of crimes committed during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, as well as 75 recommendations to institutions and other stakeholders. The Analysis provides a starting point for drafting the strategic guidelines for the prosecution of war crimes in the forthcoming decade, which will be handed to the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia at the end of 2014.
The Analysis contains 15 chapters that portray the work of key institutions in the prosecution of war crimes, putting forward the issues important for the credibility of war crimes trials in Serbia, such as the compliance of indictments and convictions in domestic cases, with the facts established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Analysis concludes with 75 recommendations to state bodies of the Republic of Serbia and international stakeholders on how to improve almost all aspects of the prosecution of war crimes in Serbia.
You can download the Analysis of the Prosecution of War Crimes in Serbia 2004-2013 here.
On Tuesday, July 8th 2014, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) presented the Report on War Crimes Trials in 2013 and held a debate on the main findings of the report. The report is based on the monitoring of war crimes proceedings carried out before the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade, the War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade and the courts of general jurisdiction in Požarevac, Niš and Prokuplje.
The Report on War Crimes Trials in 2013 is based on the monitoring and analysis of war crimes trials before the Higher Court in Belgrade, Court of Appeal in Belgrade and the courts of general jurisdiction in Nis, Pozarevac and Prokuplje.
You can download the Report on War Crime Trials in Serbia in 2013 here.
The Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, acting upon the appeal filed by the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), has found that the practice of anonymization of judgments is in violation of the Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance and the Law on Personal Data Protection. In his Decision, the Commissioner issued an order to the Higher Court in Belgrade to deliver to the HLC the judgment without illegal anonymization, under the threat of the imposition of a fine.
The Higher Court in Belgrade on 4 February 2014 passed a judgment convicting Đuro Tadić of the war crime against civilians committed on 23 September 1992 in the village of Duljci (municipality of Bihać, BiH), and sentenced him to 10 years in prison. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) points out that the judgment is based on convincing evidence presented at the trial, and that the accountability of Đuro Tadić was proved beyond reasonable doubt, but that the sentence imposed on him is an insult to the victims.
The Trial Chamber of the Higher Court in Belgrade rendered an acquittal on November 22nd, 2013, in the case of Samir Hondo, indicted for war crimes against the civilian population in the Čelebići Camp, near Konjic (Bosnia and Herzegovina). The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) stresses that the court rendered a correct ruling, because the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) failed to provide credible evidence during the trial which would have pointed to the responsibility of the accused for the crimes he had been charged with.
After a retrial, the Higher Court in Belgrade again convicted Marko Kashnjeti on June 21st, 2013 to two years of imprisonment for a War Crime against a Civilian Population committed on June 14th, 1999 in Prizren. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) holds that the evidence presented in the trial does not point to the conclusion that Mark Kasnjeti is responsible for the crime he was charged with and that the judgment is marked by errors made by the court in the evaluation of evidence.