RIGHTS-SERBIA: Human Rights Violations Go From Bad To Worse

By Vesna Peric Zimonjic Reprint | | Print |

Vesna Peric Zimonjic

BELGRADE, Apr 13 2000 (IPS) - “We know we have no rights at all. In our courts one can be sentenced without any proof for anything.

“On the other hand we see criminals walking the streets. People believe there is no justice as all,” says Serbian school teacher, Mirjana Vaskovic.

The Belgrade Centre For Human Rights, BCHR, a domestic non governmental organisation established in 1995 by human rights experts and activists, agrees.

The report deals with the situation faced by ethnic Albanians, including the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO, air raids against Kosovo in March last year.

It also documents the growing repression by authorities in the rest of the county, under the pretext of the proclaimed state of war during the same period.

“The situation is bad and it is becoming worse” Vojin Dimitirjevic, head of BCHR told journalists.

“Since 1998, the authorities here do not hide their disrespect for human rights by adopting laws that are contradictory both to the constitution of Yugoslavia and international law. The authorities are showing their clear hostility to human rights” he added.

According to the report, in 1998 as a result of the armed conflict in Kosovo between Serb security forces and ethnic Albanian “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA), that led to NATO intervention against Serbia in 1999, a series of repressive laws were adopted by Serbian parliament.

This included the Law on Information, adopted by the Serbian parliament in late 1998, which calls for the drastic punishment of all media who “report in a way that can disturb the public, cause fear and defeatism”.

At the same time, there was a total collapse of the judiciary which resulted in a further deterioration of human rights. “Since then, there is no rule of law in the country and no independent judiciary system” Dimitrijevic told IPS.

The report said this has led to major abuses of human rights in 1999, especially when the state of war was proclaimed in Serbia on Mar 24, 1999, the day the NATO air strikes began.

Special measures introduced at the time gave almost unlimited powers to the police.

Some of the most serious abuses occurred in Kosovo, where attempts to curb KLA activities against Serb security forces had aggravated violations of ethnic Albanians’ human rights.

“In 1999, ethnic discrimination (of Kosovo Albanians) took on massive proportions and frightening features in the forced expulsion of 1.4 million people from their homes” the report says.

More than 860.000 people were forced into neighbouring countries, while the rest were displaced within Kosovo. Serb authorities denied responsibility and blamed the exodus on the NATO bombings.

BCHR says that the exact number of ethnic Albanians who were killed in March-June 1999 period has not yet been established.

The report quotes the Kosovo Human Rights Committee, which says that at least 9.500 people were killed and 4.109 are believed to be missing.

The report stresses that when the air strikes began, repression spread to Serbia itself, with changes in legislation allowing discrimination against opponents of the government.

Vladan Joksimovic, a legal expert with BCHR, told IPS that “Serbia’s constitution gives its president (during a state of war) the right to abolish almost all civic rights”.

Police could confine, for up to 60 days, those seen as a security risk, conduct searches without any warrants and silence independent media.

Censorship was bluntly introduced and freedom of movement and public gatherings severely limited.

The post-bombing period saw a reversal in Kosovo, with its remaining non-Albanian population – mostly Serbs – fleeing reprisals from returning Albanians.

The report partially blames the international community for the flight of some 200.000 Serbs, Gypsies and other non-Albanians from Kosovo since mid-1999, when NATO peacekeepers and UN administrators took charge.

The report also dealt with violations of media freedom in Serbia. These varied from police shutdowns of opposition and private broadcasting media to heavy fines imposed on independent newspapers under the strict information law.

Independent media in Serbia, almost the only ones targeted by fines, paid more than 24 million dinars (2,4 million US dollars) in fines in 1999.

“The extremely high penalties are directed at the financial destruction of the independent media” the report says adding that as a result out of 1.100 registered members of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, 70 percent are now jobless.

The report also accuses the authorities of denying the basic right to life to certain categories of its own population, namely the political opponents.

There were two outstanding cases of the kind in 1999, labelled as “politically motivated killings” by BCHR.

Slavko Curuvija, well known Belgrade journalist, editor in chief and owner of Dnevni Telegraf, was killed in broad daylight on April 11, 1999, in front of his home. He was highly critical of the authorities and politics that led to the isolation of Serbia and the NATO intervention.

By the end of 1999, the official investigation into Curuvija’s slaying was at a standstill.

The other case is the mysterious car crash last October, when four prominent officials of the opposition Serbian Renewal Party (SPO) were killed. SPO leader Vuk Draskovic was the sole survivor of the crash.

The official investigation of the case has so far revealed nothing.

“Under such circumstances, there is little space for optimism here” Vojin Dimitrijevic concluded, adding that it will take years to change legislation and to teach the broader public on how important the preservation of human rights really is.”