Amnesty Law Proposed by the Government of Yugoslavia

No Pardon for Terrorism

Under the new Law over 33 thousand people, who have committed an offence against the Army of Yugoslavia(VJ), will be pardoned. This mostly concerns young people who failed to respond to their call-up during NATO air-raid on Yugoslavia.

AIM Belgrade, January 14, 2001

Whether the name of the editor of TV Montenegro's sports desk, Branko Vujisic (apprehended three days ago at the Belgrade Airport), will be the last on the list of persons convicted or arrested for failing to respond their call-up during NATO bombing, depends primarily on the timing of the adoption of the recently prepared Amnesty Law by the Federal Assembly. Initiative for the adoption of the Amnesty Law was launched by non-governmental organisations, but this document represents an important precondition for the country's full accession to the Council of Europe.

This Law, as Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac explained, envisages pardon for individual criminal offences which citizens of FRY have committed against the Army Yugoslavia. Federal Minister of Justice specified that this act might apply to over 33 thousand people who had committed offences against VJ. These were mostly young people who did not respond to their call-up during NATO attacks on Yugoslavia. Most of these men are now abroad. Until now, 24 thousand of them have been tried or convicted by courts. The adoption of this Law would mean that all proceedings against them would be dropped and that they would not have to serve their prison sentences, while those who have not been tried yet would no longer be prosecuted.

The Law relates to offences committed against country's constitutional order. The Justice Minister explained that this group includes acts of association for the purpose of hostile activity, prevention of fighting the enemy, organisation of armed revolts, attempts at violent overthrow of the FRY system, calls to engage in armed struggle, incitement to overthrow the constitutional order of FRY and damage of the FRY reputation. The proposal is to reduce by one fourth sentences to all prisoners, except to those who have committed grave crimes. Grubac explained this proposal by "justified requests" of prison inmates who revolted last autumn because of prison living conditions, i.e. by findings that "prison institutions are in such bad repair that the amnesty would represent some kind of compensation to inmates for all they had to endure within their walls".

"Dramatic events during and after the bombing of FRY have disrupted all basic values and theses for the determination of individual crimes thus making the application of the same standards to all violators of legal norms difficult. That is why we have decided to propose this Law on Amnesty", said Grubac.

However, amnesty would not include persons who had committed crimes of terrorism, genocide, war crimes and in case of the sale, trade and distribution of narcotic substances. Explaining reasons for these exceptions, Grubac stated that every form of amnesty of these prisoners would be contrary to the conventions of the international community in the struggle against terrorism, Yugoslavia is also a party to. Speaking about the Kosovo Albanians in Serbian prisons, the Justice Minister said that the postulates of this law do not apply to them. However, he warned that a significant number of court proceedings in which the Kosovo Albanians were tried for terrorism, were not "fair", that these persons were tried under the influence of war situation and political circumstances prevailing during the former regime. That was why, according to Grubac, "these errors will be rectified by legal means". He pointed out that a large number of cases and appeals of the Kosovo Albanians has not yet been solved and that he would intercede with the Supreme Court of Serbia for their soonest possible resolution.

According to the data of the Fund for Humanitarian Law, currently some 700 Albanians are imprisoned all over Serbia. Out of that number, only 50 are political prisoners. Natasa Rasic, representative of the legal team of this non-governmental organisation estimated that some 400 Albanians, convicted for the crime of associating with the purpose of hostile activity, should be released under the Amnesty Law. According to the Fund's rough estimates, some 200 to 250 people are imprisoned all over Serbia serving their sentences for terrorism. "Since late June 1999 till October 1, the Serbian authorities have released 1,250 Albanian prisoners. There is no reason for the remaining 850 to be kept in Serbian prisons. Especially not as hostages, since only two of them had been convicted of the murder of Serbian civilians, 200 of common crimes and 650 are political prisoners", told us Natasa Kandic, the Fund's Director.

In these parts amnesty is not a novelty. In January 1996, on the initiative of the Supreme Defence Council, a law on amnesty was proposed for all those against whom proceedings had been instituted for avoiding draft from 1990 till December 14, 1995. That Law, which was adopted six months later, was applied to 12,455 persons. The envisaged prison sentences for draft dodging ranged between 1 to 20 years because the country was, if not at war, then faced with a direct war threat. This Law guaranteed the possibility of free return to country to all those who left it dodging the draft, but did not release them from the obligation towards the army, i.e. of their army service. The amnesty did not apply to acts such as taking of arms from military units from which the soldiers deserted during fightings in Croatia and B&H, while deserters who were hiding abroad at the time of death of their closest relatives, were denied the right to their inheritance which they had been deprived by the very fact that they were considered deserters.

This illogical element has not been rectified even three years later, because the Constitutional Court of Serbia confirmed that "deserters are not worthy of inheritance" and that that provision was not contrary to the Constitution. Incidentally, this was the second law on amnesty in the history of FRY. The first was proposed by Prime Minister Panic back in 1992, but was withdrawn from the procedure because a number of Parliamentary deputies opposed it. Before that, in former SFRY, laws on amnesty for draft-dodgers were passed every ten years, starting with the first one which pardoned all members of Chetnik and Croatian Home-Guard units who had not committed crimes.

The sponsor of the latest Law on Amnesty was the Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights who launched this initiative last October after "its long campaign for pardoning conscientious objectors and all those who refused to take part in the war that was forced upon them. They demanded state authorities to release all citizens of Albanian nationality who were arrested during NATO intervention and against whom both legal and illegal proceedings were instituted", said Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, President of this Committee, explaining the stand of renown Belgrade lawyers and legal experts from this non-governmental organisation claiming that "without amnesty of all political prisoners there can be no democratisation". According to her "President of FRY has the right to grant pardon for crimes regulated by the federal law, but amnesty carries with it a very important political message. It would wipe out the conviction and mark the end of conflicts, hostilities, wars and mean a fresh start".

Lawyer Djordje Mamula reminded that "amnesty has always represented the balance of one policy, and in this case, of the policy that has wasted many lives, put out numerous black flags all over Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. I am convinced that the adoption of this bill will change the climate and that all young men who left the country for refusing to participate in the war, will return and give their contribution to the winning of freedom".

But those who have not left, will not, like the Montenegrin journalist, be caught unawares by information that they have been convicted to prison for not responding to their call-up two years before that. Or, as a young man from Subotica, who was arrested year and a half after the bombing for returning late to his military unit because of the air-raid during NATO bombing, despite the fact that he had already spent three months in his unit.

Tatjana Stankovic

(AIM)