The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights protests against frequent assaults on the principle of judicial independence and autonomy in Serbia. These attacks seriously bring into question the sincerity of the declared resolve for genuine reform and the establishment of an independent judiciary. The Government’s and Prime Minister’s calls for the dismissal of errant judges, for stepping up proceedings, punishing the senior officials of the former regime and more efficient trials are, of course, justified. The manner in which these legitimate views have been expressed and the inappropriate approach of the Prime Minister and Justice Minister to dealing with alleged negligence and the slow pace of judicial reforms give, however, rise to concern.   (more…)

The Council and Senate of the University of Kent in Canterbury (GB) awarded BCHR Director Vojinu Dimitrijević the degree of Honorary Doctor of Law. Dr. Dimitrijević will be awarded the degree at a ceremony in the Canterbury Cathedral on 10 July 2002. Finnish President Tarja Hallonen and Oxford University Professor of Pharmacology Greenfield, famous for her treatment of Altzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases, will be awarded their honorary doctorates at the ceremony as well.

The ceremony of depositing the ratifications of the Roman Statute of the International Criminal Court shall be held in the UN headquarters in New York on 11 April.  The deposition of the 60^th ratification shall formally mark the establishment of the permanent International Criminal Court.  (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is extremely concerned that Serbia’s society is on its way to reconcile with hate speech and rehabilitate war mongerers whose oral and written statements, which had received ample coverage in the local mass media in the last decade of the 20th century, led many people to unwillingly go to war, to become killers and torturers either consciously or unconsciously. Such discourse caused many deaths, the maiming and plight of thousands of innocent people, ultimately resulting in the poverty and homelessness of millions of people. War mongerers sent others to the battlefields, while they themselves remained at a safe distance, building their own careers and amassing riches. (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is concerned by the brutal and inhuman police conduct in the case of Belgrader  Vladimir Radojčić (28), whom the Smederevo police subjected to torture and cruel and inhuman treatment on 26 February. The authorities are obliged to investigate this and all other cases where there is reasonable doubt that torture or humiliating treatment had been committed and to punish the perpetrators of the crime.      (more…)

The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights shares the public concern aroused by the verdict handed down to NiN weekly chief editor Stevan Nikšić by the Belgrade Municipal Court. This verdict testifies of the crisis in the Serbian judiciary, the lack of culture of political discourse and the failure to recognise the true opponents of human rights and democracy. (more…)