Serbia responds to the request of the European Court of Human Rights to provide it with information about the extradition of Bahraini national

The letter, signed by Serbia’s State Agent before the European Court of Human Rights, notified the ECtHR that Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed was extradited to Bahrain on Monday, 24 January 2022, in the early morning hours. The letter said that the State received the ECtHR’s decision on the interim measure on Friday, 21 January 2022, at 19:57h, but that it did not comply with the interim measure because of the short period of time between the issuance of the ECtHR’s decision and the extradition. The letter said that Mr. Mohamed had not applied for asylum in Serbia and that Serbia has always complied with the ECtHR’s interim measures to date.

BCHR underlines that 57 hours, i.e. more than two days, passed from the moment the Serbian authorities received the ECtHR’s letter indicating it refrain from extraditing Mr. Mohamed to the moment of his extradition. ECtHR’s interim measures require immediate action precisely to prevent the occurrence of irreparable harm, in this case the extradition of Mr. Mohamed to the state where he is at risk of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed did not apply for asylum formally because the extradition authorities ignored his written requests in December 2021 to enable him access to the asylum procedure. BCHR, as his legal representative, made the same request to the Asylum Office on Friday, 21 January 2022.  

Given that Serbia is a Council of Europe member, that it signed the European Convention on Human Rights and recognised the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights, the relevant Serbian authorities were under the obligation to comply with the ECtHR’s legally binding interim measure, wherefore the State’s reply can only be qualified as unacceptable.

BCHR’s legal team will file an application with the ECtHR complaining of this manifest violation of the European Convention on Human Rights, which is an integral part of Serbia’s legal order.

BCHR recalls that this is not the first time Serbia disregarded an interim measure indicated by the ECtHR. It did so also in 2016 (in the case of Antić v. Serbia).

Mr. Ali Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed written requests to Serbian authorities from December 2021 are here in Serbian. 

The Republic of Serbia this morning extradited to Bahrain its national, despite the interim measure imposed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Friday, 21 January 2022 in response to a request submitted to this Court by the BCHR and the man’s lawyers. The man was held in pre-trial detention in Serbia since November 2021, although he expressed the intention to seek asylum to the relevant authorities during the extradition procedure, claiming that he was at risk of being subjected to torture and political persecution if returned to his country of origin. Despite the ECtHR’s interim measure indicating that Serbia should refrain from extraditing him until 25 February and the completion of the proceedings before this Court, Serbia extradited the man, thus violating not only the decision of the Strasbourg court, but a number of international and domestic regulations obligating it to respect and protect human rights as well.     

Bahrain’ Sunni-led monarchy has a poor human rights record and is well-known for limiting the political rights and civic freedoms of the Shi’ite population. The extradited man had been detained and tortured by the Bahraini security forces  because of his opposition to the regime. He sustained severe physical injuries during the 2011 protests in Manama, when the police and army killed five and wounded around 250 people. He was sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment in two separate trials, in 2013 and 2015. The 2015 proceedings were conducted against another nine people, three of whom were convicted to death and executed in 2017. The United Nations, the European Parliament and international human rights organisations criticised Bahrain for imposing capital punishment.

The European Convention on Human Rights, as well as Serbian law, prohibit the expulsion, refoulement or extradition of anyone to another state where they may be at risk of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

In response to BCHR’s request, the European Court of Human Rights issued an interim measure indicating to the Serbian Government not to extradite the Bahraini national until 25 February and requesting of Serbia to provide it by 11 February  with additional infomation about the 2.5 month long extradition procedure before Serbia’s courts. The Belgrade Higher and Appeals Courts and the Justice Minister were of the opinion that all the requirements for the man’s extradition were fufilled. The ECtHR required of Serbia to provide additional information, among other things, whether the relevant courts had taken into consideration the possible risks of torture and/or ill-treatment that the applicant would face if extradited to Bahrain and whether he had been allowed to access the asylum procedure in Serbia.

Serbia’s decision to extradite the Bahraini national despite the ECtHR’s interim measure will further impinge on its international reputation and bring into question its commitment to the rule of law, legal certainty and respect for human rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and the Serbian Constitution. To recall, Serbia wrongfully extradited a Turkish national, Kurdish political activist Cevdet Ayaz to Turkey in 2019. In its Concluding observations of December 2021, the UN Committee against Torture mentioned this case, saying it regretted Serbia’s lack of progress in carrying out comprehensive post-expulsion monitoring of the complainant serving his prison sentence in Turkey and ensuring redress, including adequate compensation of non-pecuniary damage resulting from the physical and mental harm that he endured. The Committee required of Serbia to provide it with information on institutional and legal reforms undertaken to avoid a similar wrongful extradition. 

The Belgrade Centre of Human Rights has the pleasure to present the results of the public opinion survey poll on refugees and migrants in the Republic of Serbia. 

The key survey findings show that the vast majority of Serbia’s citizens (85%) do not know how many migrants and refugees are living in Serbia. Only 15% of the pollees said that they knew how many migrants are now living in Serbia; on average, they put their number at around 22,000.

Most of the respondents (56%) were against Serbia granting African and Middle East refugees citizenship; 25% disagreed. The respondents’ answers to questions on the refugees’ integration in terms of their employment and education, whether they would have anything against refugees becoming part of their family or living in their neighbourhoods indicate that women, university graduates, residents of urban settlements and youth are more tolerant towards refugees.

One out of two respondents said that they would befriend refugees from Africa or the Middle East. Willingness to befriend refugees was slightly higher in Vojvodina and among university graduates. Slightly over half of the respondents (54%) would not be pleased if an African or Middle East refugee married into their family. Many of the latter are male and live in rural areas. On the other hand, slightly over a third of the respondents (37%) would have no problem with that; many of them were women, youth and university graduates.

Over half (56%) of the pollees would have nothing against African and Middle East refugees settling down in their neighbourhood. Many of them were Belgraders and residents of other urban areas. On the other hand, 39% disagree with them, mostly because they fear for the safety of their neighbourhood. Headway on this issue has been noted compared with 2019, when only 42% of the respondents would have welcomed refugees in their neighbourhood.

The vast majority of respondents (78%) have nothing against children of African or Middle East refugees going to school with their children. Interestingly, this percentage was much lower in 2019, standing at 58%. It may be concluded that Serbia’s citizens have become more tolerant towards refugees, at least when it comes to education, and that they view refugee children as members of society who have the right to education. 

The survey results also show that Serbia’s citizens have grown more tolerant about working side by side with refugees – the number of respondents who had nothing against refugee co-workers grew from 39% in 2019 to 51% in 2021. One out of two pollees would have nothing against working together with African and Middle East refugees and would help them feel welcome. Another third would have nothing against working with refugees, but would not spend their time with them after work. Women and Belgraders are more willing to accept refugee co-workers.

The respondents’ views on the state’s migration policies are divided. Nearly a quarter of them approve Serbia’s policy on African and Middle East refugees, while 36% hold otherwise. In 2019, one out of three respondents approved of Serbia’s migration policy. Interestingly, the number of respondents who said that they were not fully familiar with the state policy on migrants fell substantially since 2019, from 30% to 16% in 2021.

Asked whether the parties’ position on migration was one of the factors they would take into account when deciding which one to vote for, 60% of the respondents replied ‘yes’. Interestingly, most of them are pensioners. The percentage of respondents who consider this an important issue increased by nearly 10% since 2019.

The public opinion survey on refugees/migrants in Serbia was conducted in cooperation with the Ipsos Strategic Marketing agency on a representative sample of 1,000 citizens in November 2021. The questionnaire comprised 10 questions of various types.  Most of the questions were Likert scale questions allowing the respondents to express how much they agree or disagree with a particular statement.

The entire 2021 survey is available in Serbian here.

The November 2019 survey is available in Serbian here.

A group of civil society organisations and experts hereby points out that the way laws and by-laws are passed, amended and abolished shows a true picture of the catastrophic state of democracy in Serbia. The content, enactment and urgent abolishment of the decree stipulating that scientific and other research of importance for the country’s defense, conducted in cooperation with foreign entities, will require the approval of competent authorities, violates all principles of democracy, rule of law and freedom of expression.

The regulation in question – which the government non-transparently passed, only to later abolish it – would restrict academic freedoms and violate the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, the right to freedom of expression, the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Human and Civil Rights. It would make it completely impossible to conduct independent research in many different fields, from natural and social sciences to mathematics, to the research of ores and mineral resources. In the context of the current fight against dirty technologies in Serbia, the latter particularly raises doubts about the legislator’s intentions. The above means that the Government could deny consent to research conducted in cooperation with foreign entities in these areas if it arbitrarily assesses that such research would threaten the country’s defence. This would open up the possibility of abuse and prevention of free and independent research and public information.

The decree is not only contrary to Serbia’s declarative commitment to joining the EU; imposing restrictions on cooperation of domestic researchers with foreign entities would also seriously hinder international scientific and research cooperation of faculties, institutes and citizens’ associations from Serbia that are financed from foreign funds. This would actually set a barrier that would prevent the public from being able to control the state authorities’ possible abuses: researchers would not be able to interview whistleblowers who react to unlawful activities, while researches would be prevented even from conducting public opinion surveys – it would be enough for the competent authorities to refuse to give approval under the pretext that the activity would endanger national security.

This is the second time that the government is trying to pass this sort of a decree. The attempt from 2017 was prevented by the strong reaction of the public. In order to eliminate the danger of this or a similar regulation being passed again, we ask that the disputed Article 71a of the Defence Act – based on which yesterday’s Decree was passed and later abolished – be abolished. However, there are fears that the reasons for this latest attempt to abolish transparency and stifle freedom of speech are rooted in our country’s ever stronger alliances with regimes that are known for much more brutal confrontations with political opponents, independent media and non-governmental organisations.

Just like the recent examples of the adoption, abolishment and amendment of two laws that led to mass civil protests, this is another proof that there is no division of power and independence of institutions in Serbia. Now that it has been reaffirmed that not only the laws, but also the by-laws are the result of the will of the President of Serbia, and that the procedures defined by the Constitution are no more than ornaments that help simulate the rule of law, it is clear that civil society remains one of the few barriers to full autocracy. If similar attacks on the civil sector continue, even that last bulwark of democracy in Serbia will be destroyed. For this reason, we call on the public, the media, non-governmental organisations, the academic community, activists and human rights defenders to raise their voices against such intentions of the government.

Signed by:

• ASTRA
• Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
• Belgrade Centre for Human Rights
• CRTA
• Civic initiatives
• Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights
• Drug Policy Network South East Europe
• Victimology Society of Serbia

The Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists and Doctors of Serbia and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) presented the results of a survey on respect for human rights of health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic on the eve of International Human Rights Day marked on 10 December.

The answers of doctors and medical technicians who took part in the survey indicate large-scale and diverse violations of their human rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. They singled out breaches of their rights to respect for their private and family life, an effective legal remedy, equality (prohibition of discrimination), freedom of expression, health care and some of their work-related rights.

Most of the respondents were not asked whether they suffered from any chronic diseases or conditions putting them at risk of grave consequences if they were infected with COVID-19 before they were referred to work in the COVID-19 system. The Trade Union’s data indicate that over 130 doctors infected with COVID-19 have died since the pandemic broke out.

A number of respondents said that they worked extremely long hours in COVID-19 hospitals (they worked 12- and 15-hour shifts in hazmat suits), with no breaks or adequate compensation. Some of them reported they were fined for using up PPE (surgical masks) and referred to COVID-19 institutions without any prior training or guidance from specialists (infectologists, pulmonologists or epidemiologists). Most respondents were not asked whether they had underage children before they were referred to COVID-19 hospitals or out-patient clinics.

The survey was presented on 9 December in the Belgrade Media Center by:

• Sonja Tošković, BCHR Executive Director, 
• Rade Panić, Chairman of the Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists of Serbia,
• Dr. Sc. Med. Gorica Đokić, Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists of Serbia, and
• Vladica Ilić, BCHR.

The survey, conducted within a project funded by the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States and USAID, involved use of a structured questionnaire especially designed for health professionals, which was distributed and filled electronically (due to the epidemiological situation) by doctors, nurses and medical technicians across Serbia in the 18-28 October 2021 period, with the support of the Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists of Serbia.

Detailed results of the survey on the respect of human rights of health professionals during the COVID- 19 pandemic are available in Serbian here.

Results of the public opinion survey on the status of health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic and satisfaction with healthcare services is available in Serbian here.

Organizations gathered around the Three Freedoms Platform strongly condemn the arrest of peace activists Aida Ćorović and Jelena Jaćimović, who were brutally detained by plainclothes police while protesting against the mural of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić. On International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism, the arrest of human rights activists and taking the side of convicted war criminals shows the true political orientation of the authorities in Serbia.

We remind you that a gathering organized by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights in order to remove the mural of Ratko Mladić was illegally banned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs due to alleged danger to the safety of people and property. Minister Aleksandar Vulin then issued a statement in which he characterized the planned removal as “hypocritical, vile and driven by evil intentions”. On the day of the originally scheduled protest, and according to eyewitnesses, members of the Ministry of the Interior stopped and identified citizens who found themselves in the immediate vicinity of the mural.

We remind you that the arrest of Maja Stojanović, now the executive director of Civic Initiatives, which took place 14 years ago after a similar action against Ratko Mladić, ended with her being declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and the President of Serbia paying the then imposed misdemeanor fine. The repetition of such catastrophic mistakes by Serbian authorities represents a step backwards, and shows that Serbia is moving in the direction of celebrating crimes, not democratization.

In its statement, the Ministry of the Interior stated that “there are many who would like to see pictures of broken Serb heads coming from Belgrade.” Instead, tonight in Belgrade, we are witnessing a brutal demonstration of force against peace activists by non-uniformed persons, in order to defend the politics of war-mongering.

1. Civic Initiatives
2. Youth Initiative for Human Rights
3. Center for Cultural Decontamination
4. Initiative for Social and Economic Rights – A11
5. Belgrade Center for Security Policy
6. Trag Foundation
7. Slavko Curuvija Foundation
8. Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
9. Belgrade Center for Human Rights
10. Partners Serbia
11. Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights – YUCOM
12. Women in Black
13. Autonomous Women’s Center
14. New Optimism
15. Policy Center
16. Serbia on the Move
17. Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability – CRTA
18. Our Endowment (Naša zadužbina)
19. Catalyst Balkans
20. National Coalition for Decentralization
21. Transparency Serbia