UNMIK ON AIR

22 July 2003

War Crimes Lejislation

(Andrea Saula)

Hello and welcome to UNMIK on AIR with Hysni Recica and Martin Redi.

While major war crimes trials are conducted by the International Criminal Tribunal for ex Yugoslavia (ICTY), the UN tribunal expects the local judiciary in all countries bound by ICTY rules to prosecute lower profile suspects. Until now, these institutions across former Yugoslavia have made little headway. Kosovo is in a league apart, given that its judicial system is in part under UNMIK supervision.

The draft law, adopted recently by the Serbian parliament envisages setting up a special war crimes prosecution office to cover the whole of Serbia.

Belgrade based human rights activist Natasa Kandic has been monitoring war crimes committed in Bosnia and in Kosovo. She welcomes the new Serbian legislation because she says Serbia still has a long way to go before becoming a normal democratic society.

Natasa Kandic: The special war crimes prosecution office will be totally independent. The prosecutor will have autonomy and independence in his decision-making. However, demands from experts for a special investigation unit have been rejected. Special units from the Serbian interior ministry will conduct the inquiry into both organized crime and war crimes.

Behxhet Shala, executive director of the Council for the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms in Prishtina feels that things are slowly changing for the better in Serbia, he remains unconvinced by this new draft law.

Behxhet Shala: The fact that some people who were involved or who directly took part in committing crimes against civilians in Kosovo have been arrested is a step forward, but this has more to do with propaganda than delivering justice. Sentences so far in Serbia are symbolic, very low sentences.

Serbia has long been accused of not cooperating sufficiently with the ICTY - one of the most wanted fugitives, Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military leader is still believed to be hiding in Serbia. Other war crimes suspects are also alleged to be at large and even sometimes, part of government structures. A context that makes the new war crimes legislation all the more urgent. But human rights activists like Natasha Kandic remain skeptical that higher-ranking army or police officials will in fact face prosecution.

Natasha Kandic: There are trials, but not against those who ordered those actions or who were in command. And at this moment, it is hard to imagine that the special war crimes prosecution office will have the competency and power to accuse those who occupy high-level functions. Do not forget that there are still many senior officials suspected of involvement in violations of international humanitarian law.

Many of them are not accused of specific acts but their names figure in other indictments being examined by the ICTY.

Goran Radosavljevic Guri, the commander of the gendarmerie and Sreten Lukic the head of Public Security fit into this category, says Kandic, who adds that this probably also applies to the newly appointed head of Military Intelligence.

Natasha Kandic: In the case of the head of Military intelligence Momir Stojanovic we tried to warn the Serbian Government and the Government of S&M that there is very serious testimony in the ICTY that accuses Momir Stojanovic for ordering the murder of civilians in the village of Meja on April 27^th 1999.

One more reason for mistrust. Behxhet Shala,again.

Behxhet Shala: We have not yet seen top level officials being brought to justice in Serbia, on the contrary there are moves to sacrifice pawns, small criminals, in order to protect big figures, who are in the hierarchy of internal affairs, the military, or even in the political scene. It is an effort to cover up. They act as if nothing had happened in Kosovo. They do not feel they should apologize or at least to contribute to making these people responsible for what they did.

All is not bleak however - things are moving forward in Serbia, says Natasha Kandic, citing the Sjeverin case, when 17 Sandzak Muslims were kidnapped and killed and the 1999 Podujevo massacre. Police, for the first time, provided evidence in the Sjeverin case. Similarly, during the retrial of the Podujevo case, the public was given the opportunity to head first hand evidence about the events of March 28^th 1999 in Podujevo.

Behxhet Shala: That was the first chance for truth, about what happened on that March 28^th, to be heard in front of the Court. That truth from survivors, children and their parents is terrifying. Everybody in the Courtroom was touched deeply because it is hard to imagine that something like that happened. So cruel, so brutal.

So cruel, so brutal. Those words could be repeated for so many crimes. The mass grave of Kosovo Albanians in Batajnica for example, or the Ovcara case, when 200 Croat civilians were killed in Vukovar hospital. Authorities say these horrific incidents will be amongst the first to be taken up by the newly formed special prosecution office. It remains to be seen whether they keep their word.

That brings us to an end of this edition of UNMIK on AIR. Thank you for listening.