Belgrade, 26 December 2003 – The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights enthusiastically welcomes the ratification of the European Convention of Human Rights and the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by the Assembly of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro. (more…)

A leading politician, second on the candidate list of a party running in the upcoming elections, has on a number of occasions confirmed that he does not regret that publisher and journalist Slavko Ćuruvija was assassinated and that he feels no remorse that Ćuruvija was killed at the time his party was in power. As is well known, Slavko Ćuruvija was killed at the door of the building in which he lived in 1999. No light has been shed on his assassination yet but there is reasonable doubt that he was killed by the members of the then State Security.  (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is astonished by the quantity of hatred inspiring the terrorist act in Kosovo, in which two children lost their lives, while six were severely injured. This act of unprecedented violence in the village of Gorazdevac is a cold-blooded murder of innocent inhabitants of Kosovo; it is contrary to the tendency towards reconciliation and towards the restitution of ethnic tolerance. Besides this hideous crime, the stoning of the vehicle attempting to bring injured children to the hospital is also unbelievable, resulting in the injuries to child and the man who tried to carry out this rescue action. (more…)

The undersigned organizations regret the fact that the Serbian Parliament has violated the law by confirming the election of some members of the Broadcasting Council. An unlawful act remains illegal even if committed by the highest organs of the state. Two deputy prime ministers of Serbia, Jovanovic and Korac, made very surprising statements in this regard. They do not understand, or do not wish to understand, that this was a violation of the procedure prescribed by law, and not a statement about personalities: these two deputy prime ministers are even accusing all those objecting to illegality of participation in a “campaign” in favour a single media house. Respect for law cannot be a campaign; it is a constant effort, on which the undersigned organizations will insist. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights believes that the decisions of Prof. Snježana Milivojević and Prof. Vladimir Vodinelić to resign from the Broadcasting Council are honourable moves by honourable people not reconciling with the attempt to link this important institution with the disrespect of law, thus depriving it of all moral authority at the very start of its work. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights maintains that the freedom of expression has been violated by the ban on the dissemination of issue of the weekly Svedok carrying an interview with the main suspect of the Djindjic assassination, Milorad Lukovic Legija. Notwithstanding the irresponsible and sensationalist reports of this weekly, which render it unworthy of being labelled as serious media, the decision to ban the issue rendered by the District Court in Serbia is not explained convincingly and clearly and constitutes a misapplication of the Public Information Act and international human rights treaties. (more…)