Izvor: N1 televizija, 02.Avg.2018, 11:40   (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)

Serbia’s activists fined for protesting against war crimina

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights said that Wednesday’s court ruling to fine eight of their members for a protest over a convicted war criminal participation in public debate was “cynical and shameful,” the Beta news agency reported.

They were convicted of “violating public order” during the debate which former Yugoslav Army officer Veselin Sljivancanin attended in Beska, in Serbia’s northern region of Vojvodina, for displaying a banner reading: “War criminals >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << to keep quiet, so the victims are talked about” and blowing in the whistle.

The Magistrates in the nearby town of Ruma fined the eight with 420 Euros.

Sljivancanin participated in the Battle of Vukovar, an eastern Croatian town in 1991, and was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his role in the massacre committed in Vukovar during the attack and after the town fell to the Yugoslav Army soldiers.

His was first sentenced to five years, then to 17, and eventually to ten years in jail. The ICTY released him in 2011 after he served the two-thirds of the 10-year sentence.

The Initiative said in its statement that the banner was destroyed and their activists were beaten before thrown out of the hall.

During the incident, two activists were injured. The relevant prosecutors’ office dismissed the charges the activists filed against the attackers.

The Initiative added it would appeal the verdict.

“We do not agree with the society in which a peaceful protest against war criminal in public space is judged as the violation of the order. Those who conducted the policy of wars and committed war crimes, supported by many (current) institutions with executive, legal and political powers still attempt to shape public opinion in Serbia,” the Initiative said in the statement.

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