Donor: OSCE Mission to Serbia funded by the European Union
Duration: August 2014 – May 2016
The project goal was to contribute to advancement of the rule of law in Serbia, particularly to its criminal justice system and accountability for war crimes, by evaluating adherence of national war crimes trials to international standards through building a sustainable national war crimes trial monitoring and information sharing mechanism.
The project team closely monitored national war crimes trials as one of the mechanisms for fulfilling a country’s international obligation to uphold criminal accountability for war crimes through strengthening trial monitoring capacity of Serbian civil society organizations so that they are able to entirely take over trial monitoring functions from the OSCE and make their findings available to all interested institutions, organizations and individuals.
Monitoring of War Crimes Trials in Serbia
Belgrade, 25 September 2015 – The team of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights is monitoring the course of the ongoing proceedings in cases before the War Crimes Department of the High Court in Belgrade, as well as before the War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade. From April to September 2015, the following cases were monitored:
- Beli Manastir
- Bijeljina II
- Bihac II
- Bosanski Petrovac
- Bosanski Petrovac – Gaj
- Cuska / Qyshk
- Gradiska
- Logor Luka
- Lovas
- Ovcara
- Sanski Most – Kijevo
- Sanski Most
- Skocic
- Sotin
- Tuzlanska kolona
- Trnje
- Tenja II
(Last update of information: Wednesday, 14 October 2015)
Universal Jurisdiction – Challenges and Perspectives
Belgrade, 6 October 2015 – The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, organised the panel discussion “Universal Jurisdiction in International Criminal Law.” The discussion was opened by former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and Professor Emeritus of international law at the University of Milan, Mr. Fausto Pocar. In his presentation, Prof. Pocar elaborated closely on the current challenges and perspectives of the universal jurisdiction in international criminal law. In the presentation that followed, Mr Sasa Obradovic, Legal Adviser in the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, spoke about the jurisdiction of the Republic of Serbia in war crimes cases. The presentations were followed with fruitful and very vivid discusion. The discussion brought together app. 40 judges, prosecutors, representatives of international organizations and civil society organizations, representatives of the police, lawyers, investigative journalists, professors of law schools, as well as a number of national experts in the field of international humanitarian and international criminal law. The discussion was organised within the EU funded project “Strengthening Capacities of Civil Society Organisations to Take Over Trial Monitoring.”
War Crimes Trials in the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Study visit
Sarajevo, 4 June 2015 – A four-days study visit to institutions and organizations dealing with war crimes trials in Bosnia and Herzegovina was organised for CSO moniors.
Representatives of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, Humanitarian Law Center and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) had the opportunity to meet and talk with representatives of the prosecution and of the judiciary, with lawyers, as well as with the representatives of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Representatives of civil society organizations had the opportunity to meet with representatives of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with representatives of the organization TRIAL, as well as with the representatives of associations of families of victims.
During the visit to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the CSO representatives attended the trial hearings.
The study visit was designed and implemented by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.
Training Program for CSO representatives to take over monitoring of national war crimes trials is completed
Belgrade, 16 April 2015 – Representatives of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, the Humanitarian Law Center and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (YUCOM) completed the six-months training programe on war crimes trials monitoring.
During the upcoming project activities, all monitors will focus on cases pending before the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade. 
Based on a curriculum specifically tailored to provide the CSO monitors with knowledge and skills required for competent trial monitoring and reporting, a comprehensive set of trainings was delivered by experts hired by the OSCE (presentations on international humanitarian and criminal law, on Serbian Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, on fair trial standards stipulated by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights as well as on reporting techniques and report drafting).
The training and capacity building of the CSO monitors was also tailored to increase their overall ability to engage in public outreach for promotion of the accountability for war crimes.
