Author Yucom

After the July 2008 change in central government, the newly struck coalition between Boris Tadić’s Democratic Party (DS) and Milošević/Dačić’s Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) necessitated a “new edition” of local governments in two municipalities in Belgrade and a small town in Western Serbia. As a result, SPS councilors in these municipalities helped topple their hitherto coalition partners from the Serbian Radical Party (SRS – Šešelj) and provoked new elections.

Večernje novosti, a high-circulation daily which belongs to strategically important national media and serves as a mouthpiece of the Government, carried Sunday, May 31 a two-page (pp. 6 and 7) Topic of the Day file under the caption WHY ARE CERTAIN NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS ATTEMPTING TO INFLICT AS MUCH DAMAGE AS POSSIBLE TO THEIR COUNTRY AND PEOPLE, AND AGGRAVATE THEIR POSITION IN THE MOST BRUTAL WAY EVEN IN THE TIMES OF CRISIS consisting of four pogrom-like texts directed (mainly) against three human rights organizations and the three ladies at their helm: Humanitarian Law Center and Nataša Kandić; Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and Sonja Biserko; and Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights and Biljana Kovačević-Vučo.

The New Income Tax Law – A New Strain on Civic Society in Serbia

As part of austerity measures to cope with the current economic crisis, a new Law on Citizens’ Income Taxation (passed on Apr. 29, 2009 by the People’s Assembly of the Republic of Serbia) is in force as of May 8, 2009. It stipulates that taxes payable on authors’ and/or experts’ fees (honoraria) be dramatically increased: if an author or an expert has a permanent job, the tax to be paid on his/her fee will jump from 33.7% to 50.6%, whereas the fees payable to those who are unemployed will now be burdened with 76.8% in taxes – up from 48.3% .

ICTY Appeals Chamber Sentence in the Šljivančanin Case and its Echo in Serbia

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) passed May 5, 2009 the final judgement in the Šljivančanin case of war crimes on the „Ovčara” farm near Vukovar, where 194 prisoners of war, including sick and wounded patients of a hospital, were executed in November 1991 . The original sentence was increased from five to seventeen yaers.

Following an initiative moved by the municipal Commission on Renaming Streets and Squares to name Južni bulevar (Southern boulevard) — a blind alley on the outskirts of the southern Serbian city of Niš — after Šaban Bajramović, a world famous Roma singer who recently passed away in bitter misery, a group of dwellers signed a petition against the initiative. “Arguments” they used to support their step — such as the claim that renaming their street would necessitate changing personal documents — could not serve even as rationalization to camouflage the naked racism they are inspired by. The inhabitanst of that putrid little “street” that for incomprehensible reasons was called a “boulevard” openly insisted that they had nothing against that a street — but not their street — bears Šaban Bajramović’s name and suggested that another street be picked, preferrably in the slum area “where he used to live and where his people live today”. They thereby insisted that they were no nationalists and had nothing against Roma people.

The overthrow of Milošević brought about negligible changes in Politika: whereas only few top editors and managers were removed and replaced by more moderate „professionals“, the entire team of editors and journalists „inherited“ from Milošević remained in place and adapted to the new political and business climate. The extent to which these changes were cosmetic was to be recognized only after the assassination of Prime Minister Djindjić in March 2003 and the restoration of much of the Milošević value system under Prime Minister Koštunica (2004-2007 and 2007-2008), assisted by President Tadić’s Democratic Party (DS) : Koštunica gained control over key ministries and other pillars of the system – Politika included. After Koštunica’s departure from power, Serbian part of the Management, as well as Chief Editor Ljiljana Smajlović and some members of her team were replaced in October and a new team installed in November 2008. The „hard core“ of Politika-„professionals“ stayed on.

Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, paid an official visit to Serbia from Oct. 13 to 17, 2008. An extensive Report on that visit and a broad range of talks he has had with representatives of government authorities and nongovernmental organizations was published on March 11, 2008 on CoE’s website .
The Report abounds with facts, useful information, assessments and recommendations concerning the human and minority rights condition in Serbia today.

At a request of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), the Government of Serbia withdrew on Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2009 the Draft Law on the Prohibition of Discrimination (hereinafter: Anti-Discrimination Law) from the parliamentary procedure.

Apart from the fact that it belongs to the legislative package to enable Serbia’s inclusion into the “white Schengen list” and enable its citizens visa-free travel to EU and some other European countries, the Law represents one of the pieces of legislation most essential for the further development of democracy and respect, uphold and protection of human and minority rights, change in the value system and acceptance of equality as a condition for the functionality of the system. This Law contributes to the harmonization of Serbian legislation with the standards enshrined in numerous international instruments and the European Convention on Human Rights

The Hague Tribunal Verdict for Top Political, Military and Police Leaders’ Crimes in Kosovo and Reactions in Serbia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s first verdict ever to deal with crimes committed in Kosovo, which acquitted former President of Serbia Milan Milutinović of all charges, sentenced former FRY Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Šainović, Commander of Army of Yugoslavia’s (VJ) 3rd Corps Nebojša Pavković and Police General Sreten Lukić to 22, whereas former General Staff Chief Dragoljub Ojdanić and VJ General Vladimir Lazarević received 15 years’ imprisonment each, caused much turmoil in political circles and the media and general public alike.

Hate Speech and Proclamation of the Srebrenica Memorial Day by the European Parliament

On January 15, the European Parliament in Strasbourg, with 556 votes in favor and 9 against, adopted the resolution which officially proclaimed July 11th Day of Commemoration of the Srebrenica Massacre Victims (LINK). The Resolution was adopted following a motion by Jelko Kacin, Slovenian MEP and rapporteur for Serbia. The text of the Resolution: „With this resolution, the EP calls on the European Commission and the Council to commemorate appropriately the anniversary of the Srebrenica-Potočari act of genocide and to call on all the countries of the western Balkans countries to also mark July 11th as the date of commemoration of the Srebrenica genocide”, adding that the crime in Srebrenica was the biggest war crime in Europe after World War II, which took the life of 8,000 men and that the persons most responsible were Ratko Mladić, Radislav Krstić and Radovan Karadžić.