Accountability should finish at home

I signed this open letter concerning Serbian lack of prosecution of war criminals, in particular the murderers of the Bytyqi brothers, but let me add that I feel no less strongly about Kosovar, Bosnian and Croatian failures in this domain. All their now more or less democratic governments need to take a hard look in the mirror and get busy with the difficult business of holding people accountable for horrendous crimes in the 1990s. Accountability may not start at home, but it should finish there.

OPEN LETTER TO

JOSEPH BIDEN, THE U.S. VICE PRESIDENT,

JOHN KERRY, THE U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE,

FEDERICA MOGHERINI, HIGH REPRESENTATIVE OF THE E.U. FOR

FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY,

JOHANNES HAHN, E.U. COMMISSIONER FOR EUROPEAN NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICY & ENLARGEMENT NEGOTIATIONS,

THE EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN AFFAIRS COUNCIL,                                                                              

THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, AND

THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

As former representatives of the United States government, authors, human rights activists, and academics who have closely followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and Serbia’s subsequent efforts to resolve the many war crimes committed during that period, we are deeply concerned by the slow pace of Serbia’s domestic war crimes prosecutions, including its failure to resolve the murders of Ylli, Agron, and Mehmet Bytyqi, three brothers who were executed and dumped on top of a mass grave seventeen years ago today.

Since the position’s inception in 2003, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor has indicted no senior Serbian military or police officials, no government officials, and no persons of any rank involved in the removal from Kosovo and reburial in Serbia of more than 900 Albanian bodies – a deliberate “cover-up operation”.[i]  Prosecutors filed only seven indictments in 2014, the majority of which were the result of complete investigatory files transferred from prosecutors in Bosnia and Herzegovina.[ii]  In 2015, they only issued two, neither of which was confirmed.[iii]  This is not a record to be proud of.

In the Bytyqi case, a Serbian President[iv] and the two most recent Prime Ministers[v] have repeatedly promised resolution since 2006, but have failed to take adequate steps to secure this result.  Instead, reports indicate that a primary suspect has intimidated witnesses and remains close to senior members of the current government.[vi]

International and domestic NGOs, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Commission, have diagnosed numerous problems with Serbia’s war crimes record.  Uniformly, each cites a lack of political will and political interference as impeding accountability.[vii]

Similarly, witnesses will never come forward and cases will not be resolved when government Ministers host “welcome home” parties[viii] for returning convicts of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and suggest there be a political loyalty test when selecting the chief war crimes prosecutor.[ix]

Though the ICTY is winding down, the hard work for its countries of focus is nowhere near complete.  Across the Balkans, tens of thousands of victims and their families deserve closure.  Henceforth, only domestic prosecutions will have the ability to deliver them justice.

To date, Serbia’s record has been a dismal one that is ultimately unacceptable. Therefore, we urge you and the entities you represent to take constructive steps to ensure better commitment and effort by Serbia’s leaders and institutions to resolve war crimes cases, including the Bytyqi Brothers case.  This issue should be raised as part of your continuing dialogue with the Serbian government, parliament and civil society leaders.

Sincerely,

[i] Humanitarian Law Center, Report on war crimes trials in Serbia during 2014 and 2015, pp. 9-10 (Mar. 2016), available at http://www.hlc-rdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Report_on_war_crimes_trials_in_Serbia_during_2014_and_2015.pdf; Hugh Williamson, Letter to Vice President Joe Biden, (June 1, 2015), available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/01/letter-vice-president-joe-biden; Amnesty International, Serbia: Ending Impunity for Crimes Under International Law, p. 20 (June 17, 2014), available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/EUR70/012/2014/en/;

[ii] Humanitarian Law Center, Report on war crimes trials in Serbia during 2014 and 2015, p. 8. See also, OSCE Mission to Serbia, War crimes proceedings in Serbia (2003-2014), pp. 40-44 (2015), available at http://www.osce.org/serbia/194461?download=true (reviewing history and counting six indictments in 2014).

[iii] Humanitarian Law Center, Report on war crimes trials in Serbia during 2014 and 2015, p. 8. See also Amnesty International, Serbia 2015/2016, available at https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/serbia/report-serbia/.

[iv] Pravda.Ru, Serbian president Boris Tadic promises to bring killers of Americans of Kosovo origin to justice, Pravda.Ru (Jan. 18, 2006), available at http://www.pravdareport.com/news/world/18-01-2006/74278-0/.

[v] Marija Ristic, Serbia’s Broken Promises Over US Albanians’ Murders, (Jul. 20, 2015), available at www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bytyqi-case-a-decade-long-brocken-promises-1; Carl Schreck, Serbia PM Promises ‘Justice’ in 1999 Slaying of U.S. Brothers (Jun. 4, 2015), available at www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/bytyqi-case-a-decade-long-brocken-promises-1.

[vi] WikiLeaks State Dept. Cables, Serbia: ICTY Prosecutor Calls for Arrest of Remaining Fugitives, Local Prosecutor Skeptical, (Apr. 22, 2008, available at https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08BELGRADE412_a.html.

[vii] Hugh Williamson, Letter to Vice President Joe Biden, (June 1, 2015), available at https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/01/letter-vice-president-joe-biden; Amnesty International, Serbia: Ending Impunity for Crimes Under International Law, pp 5, 7, & 11 (June 17, 2014); Humanitarian Law Center, Ten Years of War Crimes Prosecutions in Serbia: Contours of Justice, pp. 10-11 (Oct. 2014), available at http://www.hlc-rdc.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Analiza_2004-2013_eng.pdf; OSCE Mission to Serbia, War crimes proceedings in Serbia (2003-2014), pp. 12, 24 (2015), European Commission Staff Working Document, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, p. 19 (Nov. 10, 2015), available at http://ec.europa.eu/enlargement/pdf/key_documents/2015/20151110_report_serbia.pdf.

[viii] Marija Ristic, Hague Prosecutor Slams Serbia’s Welcome for War Criminal, BalkanInsight (Dec. 10, 2015), available at http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/brammertz-critised-serbia-for-welcoming-war-criminal-12-10-2015.

[ix] Ivana Nikolic, Serbia Govt Criticised for ‘Politicising’ Prosecutors’ Jobs, BalkanInsight (Dec. 24, 2015), available at www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbian-ngo-slam-justice-minister-over-prosecutors-election-12-23-2015-1/1431/2.