Serbian lawmakers have adopted a long-awaited law they say will shed light on the mystery of hundreds of missing babies more than 30 years ago, and offer compensation to parents where the fate of their child cannot be determined.
In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of Serbian babies (some advocates say thousands) mysteriously vanished from hospitals and birth clinics with no explanation or proof of death.
While the debate on changes to the penal code focuses on the emotive issue of life sentences for child killers, the authorities are busy smuggling in a raft of other changes that will seriously limit the liberty of Serbia’s courts.
Two Serbian Radical Party politicians are refusing to travel to The Hague to face contempt-of-court proceedings after the UN court revoked its decision to allow a trial in Belgrade because witnesses said they feared for their safety.
A report from Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office reveals that over the past two years, it has mainly focused on smaller-scale crimes that were not committed by high-ranking officials, contrary to what the Belgrade authorities promised the EU.
Civil society groups in Serbia say that the process of selecting a new Information Commissioner, a post crucial for obtaining information of public importance, is not nearly as transparent as it should be.
Serbia has drawn criticism for sentencing three Albanians who wrote the Kosovo Liberation Army’s initials on snow-covered cars to 55 days in prison.
Human rights activists have criticised as excessive the 55-day sentences handed down to three ethnic Albanians by the Belgrade Misdemeanours Court for drawing the Kosovo Liberation Army’s initials in snow on several automobiles in the Serbian capital.
During a rare engagement between the Council of Europe’s decision-making body and civil society, human rights defenders and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted the need to support human rights defenders and raise awareness of their work in society.
The draft law on legal aid is unclear and some parts of it are even unconstitutional, experts who took part in a round table said adding that despite shortcomings it’s good that the law is a step away from being passed in the Serbian parliament.
Political T-shirts promoting nationalist ideas, glorifying war criminals and celebrating right-wing leaders from World War II are widely available in Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
When a nationalist T-shirt shop and online store in the Croatian city of Split wanted to celebrate the World War II fascist Ustasa movement without getting into trouble with the authorities, it came up with a novel idea.
Serbian judiciary associations have criticised the proposed amendments to the Serbian constitution which the Justice Ministry published on Tuesday, saying that the changes were only cosmetic and and not in line with most of the recommendations made by the Venice Commission.