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VOCATION AGAINST THE SENTENCE OF LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT A RIGHT TO CONDITIONAL RELEASE

8. May 2019.

We, the undersigned,

Recalling that all Serbian authorities are under the obligation to respect the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia,[1] the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,[2] the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,[3] the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment[4] and other ratified international treaties, as well as rules of international customary law prohibiting torture and inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment in all circumstances.

Noting the well-established view expressed by the European Court of Human Rights in its case-law that Contracting States, in which a sentence of life imprisonment may be imposed, are under the obligation to envisage a dedicated mechanism for reviewing, at least 25 years after the life prisoner began serving the sentence, whether any changes in the life prisoner are so significant, and such progress towards rehabilitation has been made in the course of the sentence, as to mean that continued detention can no longer be justified on legitimate penological grounds and that the absence of such a mechanism amounts to a violation of Article 3 of the ECHR prohibiting inhuman and degrading punishment.[5]

Noting the serious reservations the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment expressed about the very concept according to which life prisoners, once they are sentenced, are considered once and for all as a permanent threat to the community,[6] and the recommendation of the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers that the law should provide all convicted prisoners, including life prisoners, with the possibility of conditional release.[7]

Recalling that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court provides for the mandatory review of a life sentence after twenty-five years to determine whether it should be reduced and subsequent periodic reviews if the court determines in its initial review that it is not appropriate to reduce the sentence.[8]

Given that criminal law penalties must be adequate for the realisation of all the proclaimed goals of punishment, including the rehabilitation of prisoners and influencing them not to commit crimes in the future.

Holding that the existing pardon procedure in the Republic of Serbia cannot be considered a satisfactory mechanism for reviewing whether life imprisonment is justified on legitimate penological grounds, due to the character of the office of the Serbian President, absence of substantive legal grounds for pardon providing the President with unlimited discretion, the prisoners’ inability to contest the President’s decisions not to pardon them and for other reasons.

Without diminishing the particular gravity of violent crimes against children and the State’s obligation to take measures to prevent them.

Expressing dissatisfaction with the absence of a satisfactory explanation of the initiated amendments of criminal law and the fact that a public debate on them has not been envisaged.

We agree, at the very least, that the provision prohibiting conditional release of life prisoners in the Preliminary Draft Amendments to the Criminal Code, published by the Justice Ministry on 22 April 2019, needs to be deleted.

In Belgrade,
7 May 2019

Members of International Human Rights Protection Bodies and Associates

University Teachers

Judges, Public Prosecutors and Deputy Public Prosecutors

Lawyers

Associations/Organisations

[1] Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 98/06.

[2] Official Journal of the SFRY No. 7/71.

[3] Official Journal of Serbia and Montenegro Nos. 9/03, 5/05 and 7/05, and the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia – International Treaties No. 12/10.

[4] Official Journal of the SFRY No. 9/91

[5] European Court of Human Rights (Grand Chamber), Vinter and Others v. the United Kingdom, App Nos.

66069/09, 130/10 and 3896/10, of 9 July 2013, §§ 103-131.

[6] Actual/Real Life Sentences, CPT (2007) 55.

[7] Rec (2003) 22.

[8] Article 110, §§ 3 and 5 of the Rome Statute (Official Journal of the FRY – International Treaties No. 5/01).

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