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REPORT NUMBER 7 ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR PROSECUTION OF WAR CRIMES

Introductory note:

On February 20th 2016, the Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes (hereinafter: “The National Strategy”). The National Strategy has been published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia on March 2nd 2016 under the number 19/2016.

In order of monitoring of the National Strategy, on August 26th 2017 by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Working body for Monitoring of the implementation of the National Strategy was established. The members of the Working body are representatives of all institutions relevant for the implementation of The National Strategy.

The seventh report on implementation of the National Strategy is related to the period starting from 1st April 2019 until 30th June 2019.

REPORT

Objective 1: The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor shall adopt and implement Prosecutorial Strategy for Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes (hereinafter: Prosecutorial strategy) in accordance with the objectives and time limits provided for in the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes and the Action Plan for Chapter 23.

Activities :

The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will draft and adopt the Prosecutorial Strategy for the Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes in the Republic of Serbia, taking into consideration the Completion Strategy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia and the Draft National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes, through a transparent and consultative process with all relevant stakeholders.

The Prosecutorial Strategy should define the criteria for the selection of war crimes cases and compiling a list of priority and major war crimes cases that should be prosecuted to fulfil the obligation that all priority and important cases are prosecuted.

Time limit: Quarter 1 of 2016

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Activity is fully implemented.

Update, June 2018:

The implementation of the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions in the Republic of Serbia 2018-2013 started immediately following its adoption. The activity has been carried out.

Update, March 2018:

In line with the preconditions and principles envisaged by the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the OWCP prepared a draft version of its Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigation and Processing 2018 – 2023, bearing in mind the ICTY completion strategy and the Republic’s National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy 2016 – 2020.

The draft version of the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigation and Processing 2018 – 2023 was presented at an expert meeting held on 12 March 2018. The meeting was attended by the following: judges, prosecutors and lawyers; officers of the War Crimes Identification Service, Protection Unit, Military Security Agency and Security Intelligence Agency; representatives of the Serbian Government, namely of the Ministry of Justice, Ministry for European Integration, Commission on Missing Persons and Office for Human and Minority Rights; representatives of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Humanitarian Law Centre, Judicial Academy and Belgrade Human Rights Centre. In the course of the subsequent 15 days, the meeting participants provided their written remarks on the draft Prosecution Strategy.

The Office of the MICT Prosecutor gave its full support to the working version of the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigation and Processing 2018 – 2023. In its comment on the draft Strategy, presented to the OWCP on 26 March 2018, the MICT Prosecutor confirmed his “full commitment to supporting the OWCP and the War Crimes Prosecutor in the fulfilment of the OWCP mandate to fight impunity for war crimes in Serbia.“

(The Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigation and Processing 2018 – 2023 was adopted at the OWCP management board meeting of 04 April 2018 and it will be a part of the next report on implementation of the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes having in mind that this report includes the period until 30th March 2018).

Initial report:

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At its 200th session of 20 February 2016, pursuant to article 45 (1) of the Government Act (RS Official Gazette, nos. 55/05, 71/05 – Correction, 101/07, 65/08, 16/11, 68/12 – CC, 72/12, 7/14 – CC and 44/14) and further to the proposal submitted by the Legal System and Government Authorities Committee, the Republic of Serbia’s Government rendered the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy, in its proposed version. The National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy was published in the RS Official Gazette, no. 19 of 02 March 2016. At its session of 15 May 2017, the Serbian National Assembly elected Ms. Snežana Stanojković as War Crimes Prosecutor. Following an oath before the National Assembly Speaker, the Prosecutor took office on 31 May 2017.

Pursuant to the Serbian Government’s Decision 05 no. 02-8006/2017 of 25 August 2017, a working body was assigned to monitor the National Strategy implementation. On 19 September 2017, the War Crimes Prosecutor was appointed as member of the working body.

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) initiated the implementation of the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy, specifically of the parts pertaining to the OWCP obligations.

Currently under way are the analysis of the draft Prosecution Strategy and its harmonization with the applicable national legislation, as well as the determination of concrete activities, designation of persons responsible for such activities and assessment of material capacities for the realization of the same. All of the aforementioned processes are being carried out in line with the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and with the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy.

Objective 2: The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will have accurate records of the events that may be qualified as war crimes, and records on unresolved cases, to be used, on the basis of clearly defined criteria, for the prioritization of cases pending and development of a five year plan for case processing.

Activities: The War Crimes Investigation Service will prepare a database on mass crimes committed during the armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia, which will serve, together with the records on the prosecutor’s pending cases, as a means to set work priorities and develop a separate five-year plan of investigations and indictments.


Activity is partially implemented.

Update, June 2019:

The activity is being successfully implemented.

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The update activity of the working material/records on individual and mass crimes committed during the armed conflict in the territory of former Yugoslavia continues, of which the War Crime Prosecutor Office is regularly informed.

Update, March 2019:

The update activity of the working material/records on individual and mass crimes committed during the armed conflict in the territory of former Yugoslavia continues, of which the War Crime Prosecutor Office is regularly informed.

Update, December 2018:


Update, September 2018:The update activity of the working material/records on individual and mass crimes committed during the armed conflict in the territory of former Yugoslavia continues, of which the War Crime Prosecutor Office is regularly informed.

Update, June 2018:

The update of the working material/records on individual and mass crimes committed during the armed conflict in the territory of former Yugoslavia continues. The Service regularly informs the War Crimes Prosecutor Office on all new information.

Update, March 2018:.

The Service provided working material/records on individual and mass crimes committed during the armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia to the The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, for the purpose of carrying out activities that are provided by the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes (Objective 2, subtitle: Increasing Efficiency of the War Crimes Proceedings before the Republic of Serbia Institutions – item 1.1. Investigations and Indictments). Those activities obligate the Service to prepare database on mass crimes which will serve, together with the records on the prosecutor’s pending cases, as means to set work priorities and develop a separate five-year plan of investigations and indictments.

Initial report:

Due to creation of a database on mass crimes committed during the armed conflicts in former Yugoslavia (The Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and Metohija) the War Crimes Investigation Service installed the Information Management Software Package of the

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Company "ZyLab", which is being used for systematization of documentation from all available sources on war crimes and for the creation of electronic database. The Information Management Software Package "ZyLab" was donated to the Ministry of Interior - Criminal Police Department - Service by the Department of Justice of the US Government through ICITAP. The training course for that computer program was provided to members of the Service by the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia. The Service was also provided with ICITAP technical equipment (computers, servers, scanners) which was the precondition for working on the digitization of documentation. The Service is the only entity in the Republic of Serbia using this Information Management Software Package for archiving and automated search of documents of the Company "ZyLab" (except EULEX Mission to Kosovo and Metohija).

The Service also uses the program called "Geographic Information System (GIS)", which enables analytical processing of data and their visual display on the map of the former Yugoslavia, where the spots of crime are marked with dots, and through which the access to the documentation related to certain crimes is obtained.

In October 2016 the Decision on forming the Working Group for Compilation of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohija was made. The Group acts within the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. At one of the sessions of the Working Group, the Head of the Service, as its member, suggested that the systematizations of war crimes which were committed by the so-called “Kosovo Liberation Army” should be analytically unified in the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. Those systematizations were created by the Military Intelligence Agency, the Security Intelligence Agency, the Military Security Agency and the Ministry of Interior. In order to implement that suggestion the Working Group formed the Analytical Team which is responsible for processing the subject documentation. One police officer of the Service participates in the Team work. So far, the Team has held several meetings.

In this regard the Service managed to systemize and process chronologically the documentation on war crimes which were committed by the members of the «Kosovo Liberation Army» in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija until 2000. The documentation was obtained in cooperation with Coordination Department for Kosovo and Metohija and regional police departments for Kosovo and Metohija, and submitted to the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. The documentation was systemized and chronologically processed by zones of operation of the KLA (7 zones in total), and consists of the operational information, criminal complaints, statements of the potential witnesses and other evidence. All documentation with the available documents of the other state authorities (the Military Security Agency, the Security Information Agency, the Military Intelligence Agency, the Commission on Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia) will be submitted to the Special Court for War Crimes in Kosovo and Metohija, through the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, after the analytical processing is performed.

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The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor shall endeavor to register and take over all the war crimes cases still pending before the domestic courts of general jurisdiction. The Republic Public Prosecutor will monitor and enable the transfer of cases from the prosecutors’ offices of general jurisdiction.



Update, June 2019:

The obtaining information from prosecution services of general jurisdiction about subsequently registered war crimes cases is underway for the purpose of its referral to the OWCP and ending said activity.

Update, March 2019:

All war crimes cases were taken over from general prosecution services and duly registered. In the upcoming period, this activity will be completed with a final checkup of any war crimes cases subsequently registered in general prosecution services and due for referral to the OWCP.


In this reporting period, the OWCP continued the takeover of war crimes cases from prosecution services of general jurisdiction. Since the beginning of the takeover process, i.e. February 2016 until the reporting date, the OWCP took over a total 2,853 cases – including those from the Higher Prosecutor's Offices in Niš, Vranje, Leskovac and Požarevac, as well as those from the District Courts in Priština, Peć and Prizren. The cases were duly registered, and following their detailed processing and analysis, the OWCP retained 2,030 cases, whereas the remaining ones were referred back to the prosecutions of general jurisdiction.

Update, September 2018:

In the course of the reporting period, the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor (OWCP) took over additional 89 cases from prosecutions of general jurisdiction. These cases were entered into the OWCP KTN and KTR registers and are now being allocated to particular case administrators for further processing.

Update, June 2018:

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From February 2016 to 04 July 2018, in accordance with the National Strategy for the Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes, the OWCP took over 1,920 cases from the prosecution services of general jurisdiction.

Update, March 2018:

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor continued to take over cases originally addressed by the prosecution services of general jurisdiction throughout Serbia, which cases, in terms of the criminal offences involved, fall within the OWCP scope of competence.

From the previous report up to 16 April 2018, a total of 952 cases were taken over from the Offices of the Priština, Peć and Prizren Public Prosecutors and duly filed in the OWCP registers.

By 16 April 2018, following the referral of a number of cases to courts of general jurisdiction, a total of 810 cases had remained for the processing by the OWCP (KTN register – reports against FNU LNU perpetrators).

From February 2016 to 16 April 2018, in line with the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy, the OWCP took over 1578 cases from general public prosecutions.

Initial report:

The Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor continued to take over cases originally addressed by the prosecution services of general jurisdiction throughout Serbia, which cases, in terms of the criminal offences involved, fall within the OWCP scope of competence. As many as 768 such cases have been taken over since February 2016. All of those cases have been duly entered into relevant registers and assigned to individual officers for further processing.

Objective 3: The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor applies the measures to increase its working efficiency.

Activities:

With the aim of increasing working efficiency, the War Crimes Prosecutor should undertake the following activities:

- Use the existing capacity in line with the above stated prosecution priorities to be defined in the prosecutorial strategy;

- Apply, whenever appropriate, the legal institution of plea agreement referred to in Articles 313-320 of the Criminal Procedure Code;

- Ensure full confidentiality of the investigation process;

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- Examine during the investigation whether the suspect holds any assets acquired through war crime and if yes, to submit to the court the relevant procedural request in that regard pursuant to the Law on Criminal Asset Recovery.1

Time limit: Continuously.

Activity is being successfully implemented.

Update, June 2019:

The OWCP continued to implement measures to increase its overall efficiency.

The OWCP filed two indictments, one of which was taken over from the competent BH prosecution services.

The War Crimes Prosecutor participated in the meeting of the Working Group for Monitoring of the Implementation of the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy held on 19 June 2019.

On 24 June 2019, WCPO representative took part in a public debate following the presentation of the draft of the Judicial Reform Strategy (2019-2024) organized by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia.

Deputy war crimes prosecutors attended the 9th session of Commission on Missing Persons held on 11 June 2019 and the meeting of the Expert Group for Resolving the Cases of Missing Persons on the territory of the Former SFRY, organized by CMP on 21 June 2019.

In the context of preparation for the 2nd Global Summit on the Prevention of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict, the War Crimes Prosecutor held the meeting with Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, the UK Prime Minister`s Special Envoy on 17 June 2019.

The actting deputy war crimes prosecutors continued to applay measures to increase their work efficiency examining in each individual case within the OWCP jurisdiction, weather the suspect possesses proceeds of crime. During this quarter no legal conditions were met for filling a request under the `Law on Seizure of the Proceeds from Crime `.

In each concrete case, at various stages of criminal proceedings the competent deputy prosecutor examines the existence of relevant legal conditions that might justify the settlement of the particular criminal case through the conclusion of a guilty plea agreement.

Cooperation with international human rights bodies continued during this quarter, through national competent institutions, in the concrete case through the Serbian Government`s Office for Human and Minority Rights. The OWCP, within its jurisdiction participated in preparing response to the questionnaire from the Office of the UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide to draw up the report of the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of the 1 Law on Criminal Asset Recovery (RS Official Gazette, No. 32/2013)

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Human Rights Council's resolution on Genocide Prevention (HRC / RES / 37/26) presented by the UN Secretary – General on the 41st session of the Human Rights Council.

Update, March 2019:

On 06 February 2019, the OWCP representatives took part in a public debate following the presentation of the first draft Revised Action Plan for Chapter 23. The debate was organized by the Serbian Justice Ministry, and supported by the project Capacity Building at the Ministry of Justice in line with the requirements of Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU. On 08 February 2019, comments and suggestions on the first draft Revised Action Plan for Chapter 23 were put forward to the Ministry of Justice.

On 28 March 2019, the War Crimes Prosecutor took part in the meeting of the working body in charge of monitoring the implementation of the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy.

In this reporting period, one indictment was raised and confirmed. Furthermore, the court confirmed two indictments raised in the previous reporting period.

During this quarter, one person concluded a guilty plea agreement with the OWCP, and the same was accepted by the court. Aware of the importance of this legal concept in terms of operational effectiveness, the OWCP will continue to insist on its implementation whenever legally envisaged conditions permit so.

Activities related to cooperation with state authorities involved in war crimes investigation and prosecution were carried on through the OWCP representatives’ participation in mixed working bodies.

In compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act, the OWCP remained consistent in the implementation of data protection measures against unauthorized access, publishing or any other abuse. All of the newly recruited OWCP staff received the binding instruction on the protection and preservation of secret and confidential data, whereupon they signed the statement on the preservation of secret and confidential data within the meaning of the Data Secrecy Act and other legal / by-legal documents. With a view to consistent compliance with the obligations related to the secrecy and confidentiality of data, the War Crimes Prosecutor and first Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor supervise the implementation of the laws and by-laws governing this area.

In the course of the reporting period, no legal conditions were met for instituting legal action for permanent or temporary seizure of crime proceeds in cases covered by the OWCP scope of competence.

In March 2019, the OWCP passed the Rules of Personal Data Anonymization in OWCP Indictments.

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In this reporting period, the OWCP made contributions for the regular quarterly report on the implementation of the National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis Communautaire (NPAA), which outlines measures and activities aimed at the inception / strengthening of the OWCP institutional structure and administrative capacities.


In the course of the reporting period, investigation was ordered in three cases against four persons, and six indictments were raised against six individuals, two of which were confirmed. Furthermore, four indictments were taken over from the competent BH prosecution services.

Due to the absence of relevant legal conditions, no guilty plea agreements under articles 313-320 of the Criminal Procedure Code were concluded during the past quarter.

In each investigation case, the OWCP checked whether the suspects had any possessions obtained through criminal activity. Like in the previous reporting period, no legal requirements were satisfied for instituting financial investigations or proceedings for permanent/temporary seizure of crime proceeds in cases covered by the OWCP scope of competence.

In compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act, this Office continued the implementation of the data protection measures against unauthorized access, publishing or any other abuse. All of the deputy war crimes prosecutors who took office in the reporting period received the binding instruction on the protection and preservation of secret and confidential data, whereupon they signed the statement on the preservation of secret and confidential data within the meaning of the Data Secrecy Act and other legal / by-legal documents. With a view to consistent compliance with the obligations related to the secrecy and confidentiality of data, the War Crimes Prosecutor and first Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor supervise the implementation of the laws and by-laws governing this area.

On 30 October 2018, the OWCP hosted a presentation addressing the strategy of relations with the media. The presentation was delivered by media expert Joan Boyd and her associate, both of whom were engaged within the framework of the WINPRO III project. This activity was carried out in accordance with the measures for the improvement of the overall work efficiency of this Office, and in line with the screening report reccomendation regarding the confidentiality of investigations and witness interviews.

The Serbian Government’s Commission on Missing Persons (CMP) continued to update the OWCP on its activities and developments in the context of the search for missing persons at the national and international levels, wherever such activities and developments might bear relevance to the investigation and prosecution of the criminal offences covered by the OWCP competence. Such developments and activities are mainly related to the following: identifications performed; handover of death remains to families; identification of missing persons in other countries in the

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region, as well as in Kosovo-Metohija; developments of particular importance for the CMP cooperation with regional agencies dealing with the missing persons issues, including those in Kosovo-Metohija.


One OWCP indictment against five individuals was confirmed in the reporting period. Likewise, the OWCP opened two investigations and raised indictments against three persons.

Since the previous report, no conditions have been met for the conclusion of guilty plea agreements under articles 313-320 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Similarly, no legal requirements have been satisfied for instituting financial investigations or proceedings for permanent/temporary seizure of crime proceeds in cases covered by the OWCP scope of competence.

In compliance with the aforementioned measures for the improvement of its overall work efficiency, and in line with the screening report reccomendation regarding the confidentiality of investigations and witness interviews (item 1.4.5.1., Action Plan for Chapter 23), the OWCP organized the lecture Basics of Communication with the Media, an interactive event for the staff of the War Crimes Identification Service (WCIS) and Protection Unit (PU). The event took place in Belgrade on 25 September 2018.

Update, June 2018:

During the reporting period, the guilty plea agreement under articles 313 through 320 of the Srebian Criminal Procedure Code was concluded with one accused person. In its future work, the OWCP will remain consistant in its efforts to resort to this concept whenever it is legally applicable and deemed appropriate to the resolution of particular criminal cases.

In compliance with the Act on Personal Data Protection, the OWCP has been taking continuous measures for the protection of data against unauthorized access, publishing or any other abuse. The assistant prosecutors newly employed by the OWCP during the reporting period received a binding instruction on the protection and preservation of secret / confidential information, whereupon they signed the statement on the preservation of secret and confidential data within the meaning of the Data Secrecy Act and other legal / by-legal documents.

Legal conditions for the opening of financial investigations, i.e. of proceedings aimed at permanent or temporary seizure of crime proceeds in cases covered by the OWCP scope of competence, were not fulfilled in the reporting period.

Тhe War Crimes Prosecutor and the President of the Serbian Government’s Commission on Missing Persons (CMP) agreed about the need for the improvement of mutual cooperation, specifically through the following: securing continuous exchange of data / information;

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coordination of activities; and determination of procedures that would provide a basis for further cooperation. The accomplishment of the said goal should be ensured through the Memorandum of Cooperation, which was jointly prepared by the OWCP and CMP. At a meeting held in Belgrade on 12 June 2018, the Memorandum was signed by the War Crimes Prosecutor and the President of the Commission on Missing Persons.

The OWCP pursued its activities towards the enhancement of cooperation between the state authorities involved in war crimes investigations and prosecutons. Alongside the officials of other state authorities involved in war crimes investigations and prosecutions, the OWCP representatives took part in joint training programmes, round table conferences and in mixed working bodies.

The OWCP and other state agencies were jointly engaged in the foundation of the Expert Group for the Clarification of Cases of Persons Missing from the Former SFRY Territory. Through its representatives, the OWCP has been actively involved in the work of the Expert Group, whose basic tasks are the collection, processing and exchange of information about missing persons – the activities expected to result in the resolution of concrete cases. On 02 July 2018, at a working meeting held in Belgrade between the Serbian CMP and the Croatian Commission on Detained and Missing Persons, an OWCP representative took part as a member of the Expert Group’s delegation.

Update, March 2018:

In the course of the reporting period, the OWCP did not apply the legal concept envisaged by articles 313 – 320 of the Criminal Procedure Code, namely the guilty plea agreement. In its future work, the OWCP will try to resort to this concept wherever there are legal grounds for its application, and where the conclusion of such an agreement appears appropriate in terms of resolving a criminal case.

In compliance with the Act on Personal Data Protection, the OWCP has taken measures for the protection of data against unauthorized access, publishing or any other abuse.

All members of the OWCP staff have signed the statement on the preservation of secret and confidential data within the meaning of the Data Secrecy Act and other legal / by-legal documents. A binding instruction on the protection and preservation of secret / confidential information, which is included in this statement, has been handed in to all employees. The instruction includes the overview of the applicable substantive regulations concerning the handling of secret / confidential data, obligation of the protection / preservation of such data, and the list of the criminal law provisions concerning the conduct of elected, appointed and employed staff members in contravention of their legally prescribed obligations.

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In order to secure consistent compliance with the obligation of confidence on the part of each OWCP staff member, the War Crimes Prosecutor and First Deputy Prosecutor closely supervise the implementation of the laws and by-laws relevant to this area.

In the course of the reporting period, no legal conditions were met for launching financial investigations, i.e. for permanent or temporary seizure of crime proceeds in cases within the OWCP competence.

Initial report:

Right at the beginning of her mandate, the War Crimes Prosecutor made the allocation of cases in accordance with the existing OWCP capacities and with a view to improving the overall performance of her Office. In the framework of general efforts towards raising the OWCP operational effectiveness, the archives of the Committee for the Collection of Evidence about Crimes against Humanity and International Law, originally situated in the building of the one-time Federal Executive Council (SIV), have been moved to the OWCP seat. Currently under way is the classification of cases based on the territorial principle (Croatia, BH and KM).

The transfer and subsequent classification of the archive materials have already yielded remarkable results, especially in terms of regional cooperation. In response to the BH Prosecutor’s request for assistance, the OWCP identified relevant documentation in the Committee’s archives. The documentation was duly sent to the BH Prosecutor’s Office and subsequently used as evidence in a case handled by the same.

In the course of the reporting period, the OWCP did not apply the legal concept envisaged by articles 313 – 320 of the Criminal Procedure Code, namely guilty plea agreement . The War Crimes Prosecutor’s position – which will be more closely defined within the Prosecution Strategy – is that in its future work, the OWCP will try to resort to this concept whenever there are legal grounds for its application, with a view to raising the effectiveness and economy of criminal proceedings. The OWCP will initiate a request for permanent or temporary seizure of proceeds associated with the commission of crimes against humanity and other assets protected by international law, in any of the situations prescribed by article 2 of the Act on the Seizure of Crime Proceeds. Objective 4: Enhanced capacity of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor. Activities:

The number of deputy prosecutors and other staff of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will increase in line with the time frame envisaged in the Action Plan for Chapter 23, as well

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as in accordance with the recommendations on the required experience in international criminal law of future employees.


Activity is being implemented successfully.

Update, June 2019:

In the upcoming period, the OWCP will hire psychologist who will work with victims and witnesses which will significantly contribute to the stregthening of the capacity of the Support and Information Service.

Update, March 2019:

In order to further enhance its operational efficiency, the OWCP strengthened its administrative capacities in the reporting period. Thus, in line with the Action Plan for Chapter 23, two full-time employees joined the OWCP staff during the first quarter of 2019. Upon a publicly conducted selection procedure, one of them was engaged at the position of assistant prosecutor, whereas the other was hired as registry officer pursuant to the takeover agreement with the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office. Due to an increased workload, the OWCP recruited two additional employees on a part-time basis, namely an archivist and a clerk. The procedure for hiring a professional psychologist is under way.


Five new deputy war crimes prosecutors took office in the reporting period. At the Serbian National Assembly session of 9 November 2018, Mr. Vasilije Seratlić was elected as Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor and subsquently took office on 23 November 2018. Elected as Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor at the State Prosecutorial Council’s session of 22 October 2018, Ms. Gordana Jekić Bradajić took office on 20 November 2018. At the State Prosecutorial Council’s session of 4 December 2018, Ms. Ljubica Veselinović and Mr. Ognjen Đukić – both of whom had previously been assigned to the OWCP – were elected Deputy War Crimes Prosecutors and took office on 24 December 2018. Ms. Snežana Pavlović Pejić was elected Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor on 4 December 2018 and took office on 28 December 2018.

In order to further enhance its operational efficiency, the OWCP recruited two additional staff members in the reporting period. On 1 November 2018, it engaged an experienced military expert responsible for providing professional assistance in war crimes cases. On 11 December 2018, this Office engaged a new employee whose duty is to assist – under the supervision of the War Crimes Prosecutor and her deputies, and further to their instructions – in the creation of proposals and opinions concerning the preparation of submissions in the process of obtaining evidence, data and information relevant to the OWCP ongoing cases. Following the relevant Justice Minister’s

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approval obtained during the previous period, the procedure for hiring a professional psychologist is now under way.

On 12 December 2018, following the Justice Minister’s approval for new employment, the OWCP advertized a vacancy for one assistant prosecutor.


The election procedure for five deputy war crimes prosecutors is under way. Two of them are being elected further to the advertisement of 22 September 2017, and the remaining three further to that of 15 June 2018, both published by the Prosecutorial State Council (PSC).

Pursuant to the PSC decision on the numbers of deputy public prosecutors, which took effect in early September 2018 (RS Official Gazette, nos. 106/2013, 94/2015, 114/2015, 80/2016, 39/2018, 68/2018), the OWCP, in addition to the War Crimes Prosecutor, has eleven (11) deputy war crimes prosecutors.

In consideration of the increased workload and on the basis of the War Crimes Prosecutor's proposal, the Republic's Public Prosecutor assigned two deputy prosecutors from the Office of the Higher Public Prosecutor in Belgrade to the OWCP, effective as of 01 October 2018.

The secretary general position in the OWCP was filled on the basis of an employee takeover agreement between the Higher Court President and the War Crimes Prosecutor.

The War Crimes Prosecutor obtained the Justice Minister’s approval for new employment and the procedure for hiring a professional psychologist is under way.

Update, June 2018:

At the OWCP Management Board’s solemn session of 16 April 2018, Mr. Svetislav Rabrenović took office as Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor.

The Prosecutorial State Council (PSC) advertised three vacant positions for deputy war crimes prosecutors. The adverisement was published in the RS Official Gazette no. 46/18 of 15 June 2018. Further to the PSC advertisement of 22 September 2017, the election procedure for two additional deputy prosecutors is now under way.

In accordance with the National Strategy for the Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes 2016-2010, the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions in the Republic of Serbia 2018-2023, the OWCP modified its jobs systematization act, thereby providing for an increased number of assistant prosecutors and introducing a psychologist position as well. Upon the Serbian Justice Minister’s approval, the

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modified Regulations of the OWCP Internal Organization and Jobs Systematization came into effect on 29 May 2018.

Since the adoption of the modified Regulations, two additional assistant prosecutors have joined the OWCP team.

The War Crimes Prosecutor filed a submission with the Justice Minister, requesting the Minister’s approval for new employment. Once the approval has been granted, the employment procedure for a professional psychologist will be carried out.

Update, March 2018:

At its session of 22 March 2018, the Serbian National Assembly elected Mr. Svetislav Rabrenović as Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor. Having taken his solemn oath before the National Assembly Speaker on 12 April 2018, Mr. Rabrenović took up office as Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor at the OWCP management board’s solemn session of 16 April 2018.

Further to the State Prosecutorial Council’s advertisment published on 22 March 2017, the election of additional two deputy war crimes prosecutors is under way.

Initial report:

At its session of 15 May 2017, the Serbian National Assembly elected Ms. Snežana Stanojković as War Crimes Prosecutor. Following an oath before the National Assembly Speaker, the Prosecutor took office on 31 May 2017.

On 22 September 2017, the State Prosecutorial Council advertised two vacancies for Deputy War Crimes Prosecutors. A previous advertisement for these two positions had been annulled pursuant to the Constitutional Court’s decision. Including an additional vacancy advertised on 08 April 2016, the election procedure for three Deputy War Crimes Prosecutors is now under way. Continuing training on international humanitarian, international criminal law and investigative techniques will be provided to the present and newly employed / newly appointed staff and deputy public prosecutors in the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor as envisaged in the Action Plan for Chapter 23, as well as appropriate training relating to the approach to victims and witnesses to avoid the risk of secondary victimization. Special attention will also be devoted to the organization of training in the field of strategic planning, information technologies and project management, enabling the streamlining of internal processes and use of resources, and improving the planning process and obtaining project support.

Time limit: Continuously

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Update, June 2019:

The OWCP capacity continues to grow owing to trainings, in fields foreseen in this strategy, which are continuously attended by deputy war crimes prosecutors and other WCPO stuff.

From 8 to 12 April 2019 deputy war crimes prosecutors and assistant prosecutors participated in intensive five - day training course on ` Investigation and Prosecution of Conflict – Related sexual violence as a International Crime` organized by IRMCT and Judicial Academy.

On 31 May 2019, the deputy war crimes prosecutors participated in a roundtable discussion on `Deciding on injured party`s property right request within judgments in war crime cases` organized by Judicial Academy in cooperation with the OSCE within project Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II).

On 07 June 2019, the Deputy war crimes prosecutor participated in a conference `Detention –Regional criminal legislation, experience in implementation and measures of improvement` organized by OSCE Mission to Serbia in order to exchange experiences and knowledge among law practitioners from the region.

On 07 June, the OWCP employees attended the seminar `Continuous Professional Development of Certified Internal Auditors in the Public Sector and Key Innovations in Financial Management and Control` organized by the Ministry of Finance, the Central Harmonization Unit and German Development Project Public Finance Reform - financing the 2030 Agenda.

Update, March 2019:

OWCP deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors continued to upgrade their professional competence through participation in round-table conferences. On 21 February 2019, in the organization of the Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia, the round-table conference Treatment of Victims and Witnesses in War Crimes Cases was held in Belgrade. Beside the relevant OWCP staf members, the event was attended by representatives of the Higher Court in Belgrade and War Crimes Identification Unit – part of the Ministry of the Interior (MoI). The lecturers were Dr. Aleksandar Filadžić from the Investigations and Witness Support Section operating within the BH Prosecutor’s Office, and Ms. Alma Taso Deljković from the BH Court’s Witness Support Department. With a view to maintaining good operational effectiveness, the OWCP and MoI Protection Unit carried on the implementation of their joint activities.


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The deputy war crimes prosecutors and other members of the OWCP staff continued to attend training sessions in the areas of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, as well as relevant training programmes relating to communication with victims and witnesses.

In October 2018, the deputy war crimes prosecutors took part in the workshop entitled Forensic DNA Analysis, organized by the Office of the Republic’s Public Prosecutor.

In the framework of the WINPRO III project, the SIS coordinator and members, as well as other OWCP staff members involved in communication with victims and witnesses, took part in the theoretical exercise entitled Cooperation in the Criminal Justice System in the Witness Support and Protection Area, which took place in Podgorica from 7 to 10 October. The OWCP was also represented by its SIS officers at the WINPRO conferences on this topic, held again in Podgorica in the course of November and December. At the final WINPRO conference held in Podgorica on 21 December, the WINPRO team launched its publication entitled Guidelines on Witness Protection and Comparative Analysis of National Legislations Across the Region. Alongside the previously obtained materials, this publication has been included into the OWCP reference literature, primarily intended to further improve the SIS performance.

The SIS Coordinator represented this Prosecutor's Office in the Conference on Witness Support, which was organized by the Serbian Justice Ministry and World Bank in Belgrade on 18 December 2017.

On 14 and 15 December 2018, the deputy war crimes prosecutors and assistant prosecutors attended a training session, i.e. two-day workshop in the areas of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, entitled The Crime against Humanity and Command Responsibility and Co-Perpetration, organized by the Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia.

On 7 December 2018, upon the invitation of the Public Prosecutors’ Association, the OWCP assistant prosecutors participated in the conference entitled Prosecution Independence – European Standards and Progress towards the Action Plan for Chapter 23.

In December 2018, the OWCP deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors attended the Kopaonik School of Natural Law.


The OWCP deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors, alongside the War Crimes Identification Service (WCIS) officers, attended a seminar on conducting investigations in war crimes cases. The seminar, which took place on 26 and 27 September 2018, was organized by the Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia.

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Update, June 2018:

Deputy war crimes prosecutors and assistant prosecutors attended a two days’ training programme in international humanitarian law, which was organized by the Judicial Academy and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

In accordance with article 25 of Directive 2012/29/ЕU and with item 3.7.1.19 of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the OWCP staff members involved in communication with victims regularly attend general and specialized training programmes envisaged to enable them to treat victims in an unbiased, cautious and professional manner.

In the framework of the WINPRO III (IPA 2015) project, members of the OWCP Support and Information Service (SIS) regularly attend expert conferences and training programmes addressing the area of witness support and protection.

Update, March 2018:

Members of the Support and Information Service (SIS) regularly participate in national and international expert meetings / training programmes on providing information and support to victims and witnesses.

In the framework of the WINPRO III project, the SIS members took part in the training programme Advanced Witness Evaluation Training (Sarajevo, 29 January – 02 February 2018), in the seminar Completion Strategies (Podgorica, 13 – 15 March 2018), and in the Judicial Conference (Tirana, 21 March 2018).

Initial report:

All of the OWCP case administrators – Deputy Prosecutors and Assistant Prosecutors – took part in the designing of educational/training programs in the area of International Criminal Law, through the completion of the detailed questionnaires concerning the needs in this area, which were provided by the Judicial Academy and the Belgrade Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Pursuant to the Ruling on the Inception of the Service for Informing and Support of Witnesses and Victims (SIS), three OWCP staff members (a coordinator and two members) were assigned to the Service. During the reporting period, the SIS members attended training courses in the witness support area, organized by domestic and international institutions and organizations. The OWCP web page provides the relevant stakeholders and other visitors with timely updates on developments in this area, specifically relating to the SIS inception, its members and their contact details, information for victims/witnesses, as well as the relevant brochure issued by the Office of

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the Republic’s Public Prosecutor. The SIS keeps an electronic record of all victims contacted, as well as of all information/support services provided. In order to ensure the proper functioning of the Service, its members hold periodical meetings and submit quarterly reports about the War Crimes Prosecutor’s activities.

In line with its obligations envisaged by the National Strategy, the OWCP continued the implementation of activities towards the improvement of its cooperation with the Witness Protection Unit (WPU).

Joint OWCP – WPU teams were established, and their representatives hold regular meetings. Such an operational methodology is expected to ensure that all of the three organs discharge their respective duties with optimal working effectiveness. Pursuant to the War Crimes Prosecutor’s decision, aimed at further improvement of cooperation between the OWCP and WPU, two contact persons – who are also members of the Victim/Witness Support Service – were assigned to maintain regular communication with victims and witnesses.

Objective 5: Improved status and efficiency of the War Crimes Investigation Service.

Activities:

The defining of specific measures to be undertaken for the purpose of improving the status and operations of the War Crimes Investigation Service requires that the Ministry of the Interior prepares an analysis (report) on the legal and factual situation and needs of the War Crimes Investigation Service within the Ministry of the Interior, aimed at determining the need for the Service reform. Special attention should be devoted to the following issues:

- status of the War Crimes Investigation Service within the organizational structure of the Ministry of Interior;

- if the hiring process should be reformed, considering the need to have competent and highly motivated professionals and staff assigned to the War Crimes Investigation Service, based on clear and transparent criteria, as well as potential influence of prior participation of a candidate in the conflicts that took place in the territory of former Yugoslavia;

- if incentives should be introduced for the purpose of attracting professional staff;

- if the War Crimes Investigation Service has a sufficient number of investigators and analysts and if it applies appropriate methodology;

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- establishment of joint investigative teams and working procedures between the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the War Crimes Investigation Service.



Update, June 2019:

In the second quarter of 2019, War Crimes Prosecutor and acting deputy prosecutors held regular meetings and consultations with members of the Service in order to continue investigation of war crimes.

Update, March 2019:

In the first quarter of 2019, War Crimes Prosecutor and acting deputy prosecutors held regular meetings and consultations with members of the Service in order to continue investigation of war crimes.


Unchanged.


In the third quarter of 2018, regular meetings and consultations were held between the members of the Service and War Crimes Prosecutor and acting deputy prosecutors, in order to continue investigation of war crimes.

Update, June 2018:

In the second quarter of 2018, regular meetings were held between the War Crime Prosecutor, acting deputy prosecutors, and representatives of the Service in order to investigate war crimes, identify perpetrators and deprive them of liberty, as well as collect and systematize of material and other evidence.

Update, March 2018:

The War Crimes Prosecutor's Office formed joint investigation teams with members of the War Crime Investigation Service, having introduced a new methodology in the work. The joint teams hold regular meetings for the purpose of efficient operational treatment. The Prosecutor's Office

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established working procedures between the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office and the Service, which are necessary for the purpose of harmonizing activities during the procedure in each case.

Initial report:

Тhe Analysis (Report) of the Legal and Factual Situation and Needs of the Service was prepared and submitted to the Police Directorate and the Sector for International Cooperation, EU Affairs and Planning of the Ministry. Special attention was given to the following issues:

Status of the War Crimes Investigation Service within the organisational structure of the Ministry of Interior:

The War Crimes Investigation Service is a specialized sub-organizational unit dealing with the investigation of war crimes committed in the territory of the former SFRY, during the war in the period from 1991 to 1999. It conducts its activities in cooperation with other organizational units of the Ministry of Interior, the competent national authorities, as well as international institutions. The Service belongs to the Criminal Police Department - an organizational unit within the Police Directorate, of the Ministry of Interior, of the Republic of Serbia. In the previous period the proposal for separation of the Service from its organizational unit, the Criminal Police Department was made, due to the specific nature of its activities, with the idea to place it directly under the authority of the Police Directorate. However, many years of experience have shown that the Service can only successfully operate under the Criminal Police Department, through direct communication with other services/units of the Department, and direct engagement of additional number of police officers and material resources available to the Department. These advantages contribute to the coordination and effective operational activities. Therefore, the opinion that the Service should not be placed under the direct authority of the Police Directorate and should not be extracted from the organizational unit to which it belongs was supported by the Service, Department and the Ministry as well.

The Service performs its activities in cooperation with other organizational units within the Ministry, as well as with other state authorities of the Republic of Serbia: the Ministry of Justice, the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, the Higher Court in Belgrade - the War Crimes Chamber, Court of Appeal in Belgrade - the War Crimes Chamber , the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses within the Higher Court in Belgrade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Military Intelligence Agency, the Security Information Agency, the Military Security Agency, and the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

International cooperation in general relates to the cooperation with the ICTY for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991, and to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) - the legal successor of the ICTY, through the Ministry of Justice.

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Through the Coordination Department for Kosovo and Metohija, the Service realizes the cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and EULEX - Mission to Kosovo and Metohija. The cooperation between the Service and other international organizations takes place through the Cabinet of the Minister and the Sector for International Cooperation, EU Affairs and Planning of the Ministry.

The Service participates in the work of the following working bodies: The Working Group for Compilation of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of

Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohija, within the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia,

The Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, with the mandate to deal with issues of missing persons in the armed conflicts in the territory of former Yugoslavia,

The Working Group for Drafting War Crimes Prosecution Strategy 2016/2026, The Working Body for Monitoring the Implementation of the National War Crimes

Strategy.

As a representative of the Ministry the head of the Service is a member of all four working bodies.

The Service prepares its reports on activities envisaged by the Action Plan for Chapter 23 "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights", and participates in the preparation of documents related to war crimes area that the Republic of Serbia prepares upon requests of international organizations.

The Service consists of two divisions, each composed by two sections:1. The Division for Discovering Crimes against Humanity and International Law and Searching for Missing Persons which consist of the Section for Discovering Crimes against Humanity and International Law, and the Section for Searching for Missing Persons. Police officers of the Division are investigating war crimes and acting upon requests of the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, related to following actions:

finding injured, conducting interviews with witnesses and victims, collecting evidence, deprivation of freedom of perpetrators, searching for missing persons in armed conflicts on the territory of former

Yugoslavia, including discovery of mass graves.

2. The Division for Cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, Operational Analytics, Logistics and Documenting composed of the Section for Cooperation with The Hague Tribunal and the Section for Operational Analytics, Logistics and Documenting. Police officers of the Division take the following activities:

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act upon request of the ICTY, take measures to protect witnesses and their families whose safety could be

endangered during and after testifying before the ICTY, provide conditions for testifying and providing technical assistance to witnesses, supervise persons who are temporarily released by the ICTY in accordance with the

guarantees of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, form a database of war crimes in physical and electronic form.

If the hiring process should be reformed, considering the need to have competent and highly motivated professionals and staff assigned to the War Crimes Investigation Service, based on clear and transparent criteria, as well as potential influence of prior participation of a candidate in the conflicts that took place in the territory of former Yugoslavia?

When it comes to hiring new police officers in the Service, the Regulations on Implementation of an Internal Selection of the Employees of the Ministry of Interior is being applied ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no. 73/2016), that regulates the election procedure, the work of the Candidates Selection Committee, the manner of evaluation and ranking of candidates, and the Regulation on Competences of the Employees in the Ministry of Interior ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no. 52/2016), both adopted on the basis of the Law on Police ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no. 6/16 ). According to the above mentioned three candidates met all the criteria and conditions for admission to the Service.

With such an electoral procedure there is no possibility of working engagement in the Service for those candidates who were in any way in contact with persons, units and /or locations related to war crimes that were committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, and for those candidates who do not meet criteria in terms of education, work experience required for the specific work position, knowledge and skills.

According to the current employment factual situation, none of the members of the Service were involved in the armed conflicts that happened in the former Yugoslavia (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Metohija).

If incentives should be introduced for the purpose of attracting professional staff? The standpoint of the Service is that new skilled staff and retaining the existing ones should be attracted by incentives, since there is a basis in the Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Procedure ("Official Gazette of RS", no. 67/2003, 135/2004, 61/2005, 101/2007 and 104/2009). It should also be noted that over 50 % out of the total number of the Service members spent more than 10 years working in the police (in the range of over 10 to 25 years), and about 6 % out of all members of the Service spent more than 25 years working in the police. Police officers possess the necessary knowledge and skills needed for

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discovering crimes against humanity and international law and solving missing person’s cases, and operational analytics. The working skills are acquired during many years in performing police activities, as well as through the regular and periodic training courses and assessment tests that are conducted at the level of the Ministry of Interior, in accordance with the Professional Development Program of the police officers, and through the specific training courses that were being conducted in cooperation with other international organizations and agencies.

If the War Crimes Investigation Service has a sufficient number of investigators and analysts and if it applies appropriate methodology? The organization, number of employees, job titles and job descriptions in the Service are regulated by the By-law on Internal Organization and Job Classification in the Ministry of Interior, which are determined by the Minister, in accordance with the Law on Police. The service has a satisfactory number of employees who conduct investigations, as well as operational analytical tasks. Depending on the financial capacity of the Ministry, there is a possibility of increasing the number of job positions in the Service with the new By-law on Internal Organization and Job Classification in the Ministry of Interior.

In order to create a new Regulations on the Internal Organization and Job Classification in the Ministry of Interior and acting upon request of the Criminal Police Department, the Service has provided the Department with its opinion on description of typical and individual job positions, as well as the titles of the individual job positions that should be included in the Catalogue of Job Positions. The Service has also provided the Department with job descriptions of the Service, its departments and divisions.

In accordance to the request of the Strategic Management and Development Department of the Sector for International Cooperation, EU affairs and Planning, the Service has prepared its annual work program for the purpose of making the Ministry's Work Program for 2018.The work of the Service encompasses the following legislative acts:

1. The Law on Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings ("Official Gazette", no. 67/2003, 135/2004, 61/2005, 101/2007 and 104/2009),

2. The Criminal Code Procedure ("Official Gazette of RS", no. 72/11, 101/11, 121/12, 32/13, 45/13 and 55/14),

3. The Criminal Code ("Official Gazette of RS", no. 121/12),4. The Law on Police ("Official Gazette of RS", no. 6/2016),5. The Law on Cooperation of Serbia and Montenegro with the International Tribunal for the

Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 ("Official Gazette of the FRY", no. 18/02).

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In accordance with the Article 2 of the Law on Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings, the Service is authorized for submitting the criminal complaints to the War Crimes Prosecution for the following crimes:

The criminal offences related to the Art. 370 to 386 of the Criminal Code, Serious violations of international humanitarian law committed on the territory of the

former Yugoslavia since January 1, 1991, in accordance with the Statute of the ICTY, The criminal offence related to the Art. 333 of the Criminal Code - Assisting an offender

upon the offense is committed, and if related to the Items 1 and 2, of the Art. 2, of the Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings.

The Data Secrecy Law ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no. 104/2009) is always applied during the activities of the Service. Accordingly, the Criminal Police Department received the list of chiefs of the Service in order to be issued individual decisions to access classified information, in accordance with the Law on Police and the Decree on the Manner and Procedure of Marking the Confidentiality of Data or Documents ("Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia", no. 8/2011).

Two members of the Service were appointed by the Minister to act upon requests for exercising the right of protection of personal data in accordance with the Law on Protection of Personal Data ("Official Gazette of RS", no. 97/2008 104/2009, 68/2012 - decision of the Constitutional Court and 107/2012), and for requests to access information of public importance - The Law on Free Access to Information of Public Importance ("Official Gazette of RS", no.120/2004, 54/2007, 104/2009, 36/2010).

Establishment of joint investigative teams and working procedures between the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the War Crimes Investigation Service:

In addition to acting upon the requests of the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia, in their daily work police officers of the Service on their own initiative conduct activities to take information and data from witnesses and the damaged persons, analyze the available evidence material and inform the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office about the results. On the basis of these information the Prosecutor decides about further steps, in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Serbia. Depending on the complexity of the war crime case, its scope and urgency, a group of two, three or four members of the Service are formed who are accountable to one prosecutor. During the work on the case, contacts and consultations are realized on daily basis between operational team / teams and the competent prosecutor. The working procedures that are applied during those operative activities are regulated by the Criminal Procedure Code.

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On the basis of the above analysis, the Ministry of the Interior will urgently undertake measures to ensure the optimal status and capacity of the War Crimes Investigation Service, which will contribute to the improvement and efficiency of police investigations of war crimes as provided for in the Action Plan for Chapter 23.

Time limit: Continuously, commencing from Quarter 2 of 2016


Update, June 2019:

In the second quarter of 2019 the Analytical Team, which was established on the initiative of the Working Group of the Board for Kosovo and Metohija, held several meetings. The Team is responsible for documents processing on war crimes committed by members of the so-called "KLA" in the territory of Kosovo and Metohiјa. One member of the Service participated in meetings.

On 17th of April the Service prepared its replies to the questions 5,7,10 and 14 of the Inquiry of the Office of the UN Special Adviser on prevention of genocide. The Inquiry was submitted to the Service by the Office for Human and Minority Rights of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. Replies are requested for the purpose of compiling the Report on Implementation of the Resolution of the Human Rights Council “Prevention of Genocide” which will be presented by GS UN on 41st Session in June 2019.

On 19th of April 2019 one member of the Service participated in the training “Personal Data Protection – innovation in legislation” which was organized by the National Academy of Public Administration (former Human Resource Management Service of the Government of Republic of Serbia).

On the initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, an interdepartmental meeting „Sexual and gender-based violence in conflicts - Harmonization of the Activities of the Republic of Serbia on the International Plane“ was held on 30th of May 2019. The meeting was organized on the occasion of the visit of the UK Special Envoy on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflicts, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, on 17th and 18th of June 2019 to Serbia.

On 11th of June 2019 the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia held a session in which the head of the Service took part. In that session the members of the Commission got acquainted with the Commission Report on the Work, which relates to the

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period from 1st of January till 31st of December 2018. Also, the members got acquainted with Activities Plan of the Commission and responsible ministries during 2019.

On 19th of June 2019 the Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes held a meeting in order to adopt the Report for the period from 1st of January till 30th of March 2019 (the secong quаrter of 2019) on activities provided by the Strategy. Head of the Service took part in the meeting.

Оn 21st of June 2019 the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia organized a meeting with the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on the Territory of the Former SFRY. The main purpose of the meeting was to gather available information and documentation which are owned by the relevant state authorities in order to search for missing persons. Head of the Section in the Service, as a member of the Expert Group, took part in the meeting.

On 26th of June 2019 the National Academy of Public Administration organized the Expert Meeting on Personal Data Protection subject in the Security Sector. One member of the Service participated in the Session.

On 27th of June 2019 the second interdepartmental meeting was held in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, in order to inform relevant state authorities of Serbia on the results of visit of the UK Special Envoy on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflicts, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon to Serbia, as well as to agree on further steps in this area. One chief in the Service took part in the meeting.

Update, March 2019:

On 16 January and 6 March 2019 the Working Group for Collection of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo/Metohia of the Committee on Kosovo/Metohija of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held two sessions. The head of the Service took part in the sessions.

On 28 March 2019, in the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia the Working Group for Monitoring of the Implementation of the National Strategy for War Crimes Prosecution held a meeting in order to adopt the report on activities provided by the Strategy, for the fourth quarter of 2018. Head of the Service took part in the meeting.

The Service prepared information on the implementation of planned measures and activities regarding establishing or strengthening institutional and administrative capacities in the 1st quarter of 2019, for the preparation of the Report on Implementation of the National Program for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA) for the Chapter 23.

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In the first quarter of 2019, The Analytical Team held three meetings. The Team was formed on the initiative of the Working Group of the Committee on Kosovo/Metohiјa, and is responsible for documents processing on war crimes committed by members of the so-called "KLA" in the Kosovo/Metohiјa territory. One member of the Service participated to meetings.


In the reporting period the Service acquired five new official vehicles which will enable the Service to perform its regular activities faster and more efficiently, and as well as to respond promptly to the increasing number of requests of the War Crime Prosecutor Office and the Superior Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Department.

On 3 and 24 October, and 5 December 2018, and 16 January 2019, meetings of the Working Group for Collection of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohija, at the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, were held. The Head of the Service participated to the meetings. The Government of the Republic of Serbia issued a decision on forming a Commission for the consideration of facts that have arisen during investigations conducted on the occasion of murder of journalists, including murders that were committed during the armed conflict in former Yugoslavia in the period from 1991 until 1995, and murders that were committed in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija in the period from 01 January 1998 until 31 December 2000. Among representatives of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, one head in the Service was appointed in the Commission as its member.

On 21 November 2018, a meeting of the Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes was held, in order to adopt the forth report on activities provided of the Strategy. Head of the Service took part in the meeting.

On the initiative of the Negotiating Group for chapter 23 (“Justice and Fundamental Rights”) a meeting was organized regarding the upcoming revision of the Action Plan on the Implementation of аctivities for chаpter 23. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice end the Ministry of Interior among which one member of the Service participated in the meeting that took place on 21 November 2018.

In the forth quarter of 2018, The Analytical Team held several meetings. The Team is responsible for documents processing on war crimes committed by members of the so-called "KLA" in the territory of Kosovo and Metohiјa. One member of the Service participated in meetings.

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On 16 October 2018 two members of the Service attended the basic training course “Right to Access to Information of Public Importance”, organised by the Human Resources Management Service of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

Five members of the Service attended the interactive training course "Financial Fraud and Illicit Trafficking Detection on the Internet and Dark Web”, that took place in Belgrade, from 30 October untill 2 November 2018. The training course was organised by the Embassy of the French Republic, and led by Benjamin Rauch, member of the National Directorate for Intelligence and Customs Investigations of the French Republic.

In the period from 3 until 17 November, one member of the Service participated in the course "Capacity Building in the Field of Law Enforcement", which took place in Fuzhou, in China. The goal of the course for the participants was to get acquainted with the Chinese culture, police system in China, police training courses, concept of the use of force, standardization of police work, implementation of anti-terrorist activities, methods of crimes investigation, processes of digitalization of the police, as well as psychological prevention.

Update, September 2018:In the reporting period, the Service acquired three new official vehicles which will enable the Service to respond promptly to the increasing number of requests of the War Crime Prosecutor Office and the Superior Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Department. Those requests generally relate to conducting interviews with witnesses or victims of war crimes whose residence is on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, or Montenegro.

The Service prepared information on the implementation of planned measures and activities regarding establishing or strengthening institutional and administrative capacities in the 3rd quarter of 2018, for the preparation of the Report on Implementation of the National Program for the Adoption of the Acquis (NPAA) for the Chapter 23.

In the third quarter of 2018, The Analytical Team held several meetings which was formed on the initiative of the Working Group of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohiјa. The Analytical Team is responsible for documents processing on war crimes committed by members of the so-called "KLA" in the territory of Kosovo and Metohiјa. One member of the Service participated to meetings.

The Working Group for Collection of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohia, at the Committee for Kosovo and Metohia of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, held a meeting on 3 of July 2018. The Head of the Service participated to the meeting.

The Working Group for Collection of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohia held the 15th session on 20 of July 2018. The Head of the Service participated to the session.

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On 11 of September 2018, the head of Division of the Service took part to the meeting in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The topic of the meeting was sexual violence in conflicts– harmonization of the activities of the Republic of Serbia at an international level.

On 12 of September 2018, the representatives of the Service held the meeting with the representatives of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Srpska - Deparment for Countering Terrorism and Extremism. The meeting was held on the initiative of the Service in order to investigate war crimes committed against persons of Serbian nationality in the area of Hrasnica, in Bosnia and Hercegovina, in the period from July to October 1992.

On 13 of September 2018, the Working Body for Monitoring the Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy held the forth meeting on which the Second Report on Implementation of the National War Crimes Strategy was adopted. The Head of the Service participated to the meeting.

The Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia organised a meeting with the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on the Territory of the Former SFRY on 24 of September 2018. The meeting was a preparation for the upcoming bilateral meeting with the representatives of the competent govermental bodies for tracing missing persons of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia. Head of the Section in the Service, as a member of the Expert Group, took part in the meeting.

The Working Group for Collection of Facts and Evidence of Crimes against Persons of the Serbian Nationality and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohia of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohiјa held the 16th session on 3 of October 2018. The Head of the Service participated to the session.

Update, June 2018:

In accordance with the agreement reached at the meeting of the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on the Territory of the Former SFRY, held on March 15 and 16, 2018 in Vrdnik, the Commission on Missing Persons organised the Expert Group meeting held on April 27. That meeting was also a preparation for a bilateral meeting between the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Commission on Detained and Missing Persons of the Republic of Croatia, held on May 8, 2018 in Zagreb. One member of the Service attended the meeting.

On 12th of June 2018, the Working Group of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohiјa of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia held a meeting. The Head of the Service attended the meeting.

On 26 of June 2018, the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia organised a meeting with the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on

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the Territory of the Former SFRY. The meeting was held in the goal of preparation for the next meeting with representatives of Commission on detained and missing persons of the Republic of Croatia, scheduled for 2nd of July 2018. One member of the Service attended the meeting.

2nd of July 2018 the Commission on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia organised a meeting with the Commission on detained and missing persons of the Republic of Croatia. At the same meeting were present representatives of the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on the Territory of the Former SFRY. One member of the Service, as a member of the Expert Group, took part in the meeting. On that occasion the meeting minutes on the bilateral meeting that took place in Zagreb, on 8th of May 2018 was signed, and it was agreed to continue the cooperation and joint activities. One member of the Service attended the meeting.

In the second quarter of 2018, The Analytical Team which has been formed on the initiative of the Working Group of the Committee on Kosovo and Metohiјa held several meetings. The Analytical Team is responsible for documents processing on war crimes committed by members of the so-called "KLA" in the territory of Kosovo and Metohiјa. Тhe Service prepared and submitted to the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office available documents on war crimes committed in Kosovo and Metohiјa. One member of the Service participated in meetings.

In May 2018 the third meeting of the Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes was held, which was established upon the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. At the same meeting, draft of the second report on the Working Group activities was adopted. The Head of the Service participated in the meeting.

In May 2018, the Human Resources Management Service of the Government of the Republic of Serbia submitted to the Service three Training Certificates for following training courses attended by three members of the Service in 2017: State Protocol with Business Protocol Elements, Protection of Classified Information, Protection of Whistleblower - Training for Authorized Persons.

Update, March 2018:

The Service is relocated to new building in 2 Obilicev Venac Street, Belgrade. As a result, the Service received adequate accommodation facilities - more working premises and adequate space for storing files in the physical form.

In accordance with the Law on Police and the Regulation on the Evaluation of Police Officers and Other Employees in the Ministry of Interior, the second cycle of the evaluation of the members of the Service has been carried out. The Evaluation refers to the second half of 2017.

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One member of the Service participated in the seminar "Raising Awareness on the Protection Program among All Stakeholders" - Cooperation in the judiciary in criminal proceedings: Strengthening Witness Protection in the Fight against Organized Crime, Terrorism and Corruption (WINPRO III). The seminar was organized by the representatives of the NI-CO (Northern Ireland Organization for International Cooperation) and the Project Team WINPRO III, in cooperation with the Protection Unit of the Ministry, and under the patronage of the IPA 2015 Program.

In January 2018 the second meeting of the Working Group for Monitoring the Implementation of the National Strategy for the Prosecution of War Crimes was held, which was established upon the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. Head of Service took part in the meeting.Within the Project "Support to Strategic Management and Development of Integration Capacities of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia" two members of the Service attended the advanced training course “EU Functioning”, in January 2018. The course was financed by the Kingdom of Sweden, in support of strengthening the capacity building in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia in the field of managing the EU process.

In February 2018 two members of the Service attended the training course “Processing upon Requests on Free Access to Information of Public Importance”, and in March 2018 one member of the Service attended the training course “Implementation of the Law on Protection of Personal Information“.

On 8th of March 2018 the meeting was held in the Ministry of Interior with participation of all representatives of the organizational units of the Ministry in order to prepare reports on the upcoming revision of the Action Plan on the Implementation of the Activities for the Chapter 23 “Justice and Fundamental Rights”. One member of the Service participated in the meeting.

On the initiative of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office an expert meeting was held in March 2018, in order to present the Prosecutor's Strategy for Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes in the Republic of Serbia 2018-2023. The meeting was attended by the Head of the Service. In connection with above mentioned, the Service submitted to the Prosecutor's Office its commentary on the preliminary version of the Strategy.

In accordance with the objective defined in item 5 of the National Strategy of Prosecution of War Crimes, and article 13 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission on Missing Persons, the Expert Group for Solving the Cases of Missing Persons on the Territory of the Former SFRY was established. In connection with the above mentioned, the Expert Group held two interdepartmental meetings: the first from 30th of November until 1st of December 2017, and the second from 15th until 16th of March 2018. Meetings were held in organisation of the Commission

33

on Missing Persons with support of the UNDP. The representatives of the Service were participated in the meetings besides the representatives of other relevant state authorities.

Two members of the Service participated in the Workshop “Strengthen the Analytical Skills of Managers in Conducting Investigations” which was implemented within the Project "Official Development Cooperation between Slovenia and Serbia". The Workshop took place in March 2018, in Orasac, the Republic of Serbia.

One member of the Service attended the Fourth Course within the Project “Strengthening the Capacities of the Serbian Police in the Fight against Corruption”, organized by the OSCE-Mission to Serbia.

Initial report:

In the previous period the new members of the Service management were appointed: the Head of the Service, Deputy Head of the Service, Head of the Division for Discovering Crimes against Humanity and International Law and Searching for Missing Persons, Head of the Division of Operational Analytics, Logistics and Documenting. All of them have a long-term police experience, and the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out their functions.

In accordance with the Law on Police and the Regulation on the Evaluation of Police Officers and Other Employees in the Ministry of Interior, each year in two cycles, the evaluation of the members of the Service are carried out. The elements of the employee evaluation system, evaluation criteria and method of evaluation are provided by the Regulation. The evaluation is the basis for monitoring and improving the results of employees' work in the Ministry, career development and promotion, in order to achieve the strategic goals and plans of the Ministry and the Service. The evaluation process is public, the results of the process are confidential, and the evaluation is independent and impartial. In accordance with the Law on Police and the Regulation on the Evaluation of Police Officers and Other Employees in the Ministry of Interior, the first cycle of the evaluation of the members of the Service has been carried out.

Within the Project "Support to Strategic Management and Development of Integration Capacities of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia" two training courses were realized: “EU Functioning” and “EU Law”. The courses were financed by the Kingdom of Sweden, in support of strengthening the capacity building in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia in the field of managing the EU process. Two members of the Service attended the “EU Functioning” training course, and one member attended the “EU Law” training course.

Representatives of the Service are attending training courses which are organized by the Human Resources Management Service of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. That Service creates a general professional training program for civil servants, ministries, special organizations

34

and services of the Government, and organizes professional development in accordance with the Program. The program includes the training courses related to the activities of the War Crimes Investigation Service, such as: training courses for the authorized persons who provide information of public importance, training course on the classified information protection, training course on protection and improvement of human and minority rights, public relations, language courses, etc.

After the previous strategic document “The Development Strategy of the Ministry of Interior 2011-2016” ceased to be valid, the Ministry started the process of creating a new Development Strategy for the upcoming period 2018-2023. In order to create the Strategy of the Ministry and the Action Plan for its implementation the Service made the SWOT analysis and PESTLE environmental analysis. The Service also made the analysis of the strategic framework, the normative framework, the current situation (threats and risks), the possibilities for development and the current situation in the Service (strengths and weaknesses).

Within the work of the Working Group for Monitoring and Proposing Activities for the Work Improvement in the Ministry of Interior, the Service submits reports on preparation of strategic documents, international cooperation, projects and current working cases to the competent Department. This activity takes place on monthly basis.

The Service has improved technical and material capacities thanks to the donation of IT equipment which was donated to the Ministry of Interior – the Criminal Police Department – the Service by the US Department of Justice through ICITAP.

Within the Project "Support to the Development Capacities of the Strategic Management and European Integration in the Ministry of Interior", the Swedish Agency for International Development and Cooperation (SIDA) donated a server for the use in the Information Management Software "ZyLab".

The Service emphasizes the great significance of the donation which contributes to the implementation of the recommendations from the Screening Report 1.4.1 of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 - "Judiciary and Fundamental Rights".

In this regard, the Service is planning an adequate maintenance and improvement of the existing ZyLab archive server system in the future, as well as further training of its existing and new users.

When it comes to improvement of office accommodation capacities of the Service, it should be noted that the Government of the Republic of Serbia made a decision by which the Service will use the premises that are located in a part of the building in Obilicev Venac Street 2, in Belgrade. Accordingly, the Decision on forming a Commission for Performing Tasks of Takeover of

35

Business Premises was issued by the Minister of Interior, which will be used by the Service. Two members of the Service were appointed to the Commission. After the handover of premises was performed, a tender is announced for an adaptation of the office premises.

Adoption of joint internal operating rules of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the War Crimes Investigation Service, at the initiative of the War Crimes Prosecutor.



Update, March 2018:

Аt the initiative of the War Crimes Prosecutor, the Head of the War Crime Investigation Service and the War Crime Prosecutor adopted joint internal operating rules. Joint teams are formed to act on each individual case. They have regular meetings (on a weekly basis) in order to coordinate work activities.

Initial report:

The War Crimes Prosecutor initiated common internal rules of cooperation with the War Crimes Identification Service (WCIS). The internal operational rules defined between the War Crimes Prosecutor and WCIS Head Officer involve the creation of joint teams for each individual case, as well as regular weekly meetings aimed at effective coordination of work on each concrete case. By putting the new Criminal Procedure Code into effect in January 2012, the War Crimes Division of the Higher Court in Belgrade and the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office started with application of its provisions related to the investigation and war crimes prosecution. According to the Code pre-investigation proceedings and investigation are managed by the public prosecutor. In pre-investigation and investigation proceedings the public prosecutor entrusts the certain actions to the police, in accordance with the provisions of this Code.

Improving cooperation between the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the War Crimes Investigation Service through:

- Organization of joint trainings;

- Establishment of a joint strategic team to define guidelines and directions of acting in matters of common concern;

- Formation of joint operational teams;

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- Periodic mutual organization of round tables in order to exchange experiences and improve joint operation.



Update, June 2019:


In the first quartal 2019 the Joint Strategic Team and joint operative teams held regular meetings. The regular consultations were carried out by members of the Service and the War Crime Prosecutor.

The OSCE – Mission to Serbia continues with the project entitled “Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials” (phase II) and will last till 15 March 2020. The project has been implemented since 2017. It is foreseen that members of the Service participate in the activities commenced in the first part of the project, such as training courses, dialogues with other institutions of the Republic of Serbia. Also it is planned a study visit to the Hague branch of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) and the International Criminal Court in the Hague, for the period from 2nd till 6th of September 2019.

OWCP: In this quarter cooperation between WCPO and WCIS (War Crimes Identification Service) representatives continued, and is regularly enhanced by holding periodic meetings and consultation at the executive level and at the level of the case administrators and WCIS representatives.

Update, March 2019:

The OWCP activities with the joint strategic team and joint operational teams were carried on. Likewise, the War Crimes Prosecutor and deputy prosecutors in charge of particular cases held regular meetings/consultations with the WCIU. Composed of OWCP and WCIU representatives, the joint strategic team was established with a view to determining goals and making decisions in strategically relevant matters.

Within the project entitled “Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials”, the OSCE – Mission to Serbia organised training course „Dealing with Witnesses and Victims in War Crime Cases” for thirteen members of the Service, on 21 February 2019. The training course was attended also by members of the Protection Unit of the Ministry, War Crimes Prosecutor’s

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Office, Higher Court in Belgrade – War Crimes Division, Service for Victim and Witness Support of the Ministry of Justice. Lectures on the mentioned topic were carried out by Dr. Aleхandеr Faladzic from the Investigation and Witnesses Support Department of the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Alma Taso-Deljkovic, from the Witness Support Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.


The OWCP – WCIS (War Crimes Identification Service) joint teams carried on their activities throughout the reporting period. The War Crimes Prosecutor and case administrators held regular meetings and consultatons with WCIS representatives.


With expert and logistical support provided by the WINPRO team, the OWCP organized an interactive presentation for the WCIS and PU officers, entitled Basics of Communication with the Media. The event took place on 25 September 2018.

Seven members of the Service participated to the lectures, together with members of the War Crime Prosecutor Office and the Protection Unit.

Within the Project "Support to Monitoring of Domestic War Crimes Trials (Phase II)", the OSCE-Mission to the Republic of Serbia organized a training course "Investigations in War Crimes Cases" for ten members of the Service. The Training Course took place on 26 and 27 September 2018.

The Joint Strategic Team was formed in order to determine objectives and strategic decision-making on important common issues. It consists of the War Crimes Prosecutor and his deputies and members of the Service - the Head of the Service and the leading team of the Division for Detection of Crimes against Humanity and International Law and Search for Missing Persons. Meetings are held as required and according to the War Crimes Prosecutor's decision.

Јoint operational teams consisting of members of the Prosecutor's Office and the Service hold regular meetings in order to deal with war crime cases more effectively.

The War Crime Prosecutor and the Head of the War Crime Investigation Service hold regular meetings and consultations in order to determine priorities and course of activities.

Update, June 2018:

On 04 of June 2018 a meeting was held between representatives of the Service, the Protection Unit, the Division for Education and Science of the Ministry of Interior and representatives of the Results Oriented Monitoring /ROM/ - the external monitoring system of the European

38

Commission. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the importance of the Project, dynamics of Project implementation and results.

Within the project "Support to Monitoring of Domestic War Crimes Trials (Phase II)" ten members of the Service attended the International Humanitarian Law Training Course. The Training Course was organized by the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia, and it took place on 13th and 14th of June 2018.

The establishment of a Joint Strategic Team which should be consisted of the Service and the Prosecutor's Office is in progress.

The OWCP initiated a number of round-table conferences and lectures on the Basics of Communication with the Media, aimed specifically at the employees of the Protection Unit and War Crimes Identification Service. The aforementioned OWCP activities received support from the WINPRO III team, in terms of both logistics and international expertise in this area. Albeit expected in June, the implementation of this activity – due to unforeseen circumstances – had to be postponed for next September.

Update, March 2018:

The Prosecutor's Office initiated round tables and lectures for the members of the Ministry of Interior (the War Crime Investigation Service and the Protection Unit) on the subject of „Basic Communication with Media“. In relation to the above mentioned activities, the War Crimes Prosecutor held a meeting with the Head of the Service. Also, the Prosecutor provided the WINPRO team support for the realization of those activities.

The training and education program of the OSCE Project "Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II) has not yet been realized for employees of the Service.

Activity related to eestablishment of a joint strategic team will be realized in the upcoming period. Its eestablishment is provided by the Prosecutor's Strategy for Investigation and Prosecution of War Crimes which was adopted at the Prosecution's Collegium on 4th of April 2018. The activities of the joint strategic team will be focused on defining guidelines and directions of acting in matters of common concern.

Јoint operational teams of the Prosecutor's Office and the Service are formed at the initiative of the Prosecutor. In this regard, the representatives of the Prosecutor's Office hold regular meetings with the representatives of the Service in order to deal with war crime cases more effectively.

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The War Crime Prosecutor and the Head of the War Crime Investigation Service hold regular meetings/round tables in order to determine priority and course of activities, exchange experiences and improve joint operation.

Initial report:

A joint strategic team will be formed following the adoption of the Prosecution Strategy. The team activities will focus on defining the guidelines and directions for addressing matters of mutual interest.

Joint teams, which were formed for each individual case, regularly meet in order to discuss and harmonize their upcoming activities.

In the period ahead, the OWCP will initiate round table meetings dedicated to the exchange of experience and ideas regarding joint OWCP – WCIS activities.

Within the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia Project "Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II)", two meetings were held with representatives of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Interior: The Professional Development and Training Department, the War Crimes Investigation Service and the Protection Unit. The meetings were dedicated to the training and education program for employees of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, judges and court assistants of the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade and the War Crimes Department of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, as well as employees of the War Crimes Service and the Protection Unit. Representatives of the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia created a questionnaire with a 2018 training program, which could be filled in for the training courses needed for members of the Service. This activity is on-going.

The Draft of the Prosecutor’s Strategy for War Crimes Prosecution from 2016 to 2026, which is managed by the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Serbia, provides development of cooperation between the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office and the War Crimes Investigation Service. The Strategy also provides establishing of joint strategy team in order to define guidelines and directions of acting in matters of mutual interest, establishing joint operational teams together with the prosecutor as the head of procedure, as well as organizing of periodical mutual round tables in order to exchange experiences and improve their mutual activities.

1.2. Trials

Objective 1: Improved efficiency of trials for war crimes, by ensuring continuity in the composition of the judicial chambers.

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Activities:

Consistent application of Articles 10 and 10a of the Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings, in respect of the period for which judges are assigned to the War Crimes Chamber;



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

In order the case law of the war crimes trial chamber to be uniformed, by the decision of the president of the Higher Court in Belgrade number SU I – 2 193/17 the Department for the case law was established within the Higher Court in Belgrade with 10 judges. The president of the Department for war crimes I this court is the head od the Department for case law for war crimes.

Initial report:

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Determination of additional judges in cases in which there is a reasonable fear that due to the expiry of the term of the presiding judge instructed to the department for war crimes, the trial had to start over again.

6 judges are engaged in the Department for War Crimes of the Appellate Court in Belgrade for the period of 6 years. When deciding on complaints the Appellate court decides as 5 judges council and therefore given that there is 6 judges engaged, the work continuity is ensured.

Since 2010 when the Appellate Court was founded, three of six judges appointed to the Department for War Crimes of the Appellate Court in Belgrade were transferred to the Supreme Court of Cassation, other department of the Appellate Court, and one of them was retired. Instead of them, two new judges were appointed.

With respect to all mentioned before it is secured the Appellate court in Belgrade to act as the second instance court in war crimes cases.

By publishing the Annual report for acting of judges of the Higher court in Belgrade in 2018, the provisions of the Articles 10 and 10a of the Law on organization and jurisdiction of the state authorities in war crimes cases are fully implemented.

Objective 2: Harmonized jurisprudence of all war crimes courts and chambers in former Yugoslavia, through the establishment of a regional database.

Activities:

The War Crimes Prosecutor should start negotiations with his counterparts in neighboring states on the establishment of a regional database of war crimes case trials, which would be available electronically to all courts and parties to the proceedings, as well as the general public, provided personal data are protected, which would considerably contribute to harmonization of jurisprudence.



Update, June 2019:

At regional prosecutors` conference held in Belgrade in May, the OWCP representatives, the representatives of the competent prosecutions` services from region and Chief IRMCT Prosecutor exchanged their opinions, viewpoints and past experiences in the war crime cases with reference

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to prosecutorial and judicial practice and they pointed out to certain specificities that they have encountered within so far.

Update, March 2019:

During the reporting period, the War Crimes Prosecutor and her deputies continued intensive regional cooperation through regular meetings with their counterparts from the region. These activities are expected to result in the creation of a regional war crimes trials database. At the upcoming regional prosecutors’ conference dedicated to the continuation of the Palić-Brioni Process and due to be held in Belgrade later in May, the OWCP will renew its request to the relevant stakeholders to support the creation of a unified database of all war crimes trials before regional courts.


The situation remained unchanged. The OWCP continued its cooperation with the countries in the region, and took further steps towards its improvement. The organization of regional prosecutors’ consultations is expected in the upcoming period. Once again, the War Crimes Prosecutor will take that opportunity to highlight the necessity of the creation of a unified war crimes trials database.


In the course of the – fourth in a row – regional consultations held as part of the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019), the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor initiated the creation of a common regional register of war crimes cases opened through regional cooperation, which should ensure the monitoring of the overall cooperation effectiveness (see Fourth report, goal 2, item 7.1). The War Crimes Prosecutor invited her colleagues from the region to support the initiative for the creation of a unified database of all war crimes trials before regional courts.

Update, June 2018:

Given that the new Chief Prosecutor of the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office was not elected in the course of the reporting period, this activity could not be realized. In the course of the anticipated regional prosecutors' consultations - the timefarame of which is yet to be determined – the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the creation of a unified database that would include all war crimes cases addressed across the region. In compliance with the provisions governing the area of personal data protection, this database would be electronically available to all courts and parties to proceedings regionwide.

Update, March 2018:

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The regional consultations scheduled for March 2018 were not held. In the course of the forthcoming consultations between all regional prosecutors, the War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the creation of a unified regional database covering all war crimes trials, which would be electronically accessible to all courts and parties to proceedings, as well as to the general public, in compliance with the rules of personal data protection. The consultations will be held in the framework of the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019).

Initial report:

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor initiated a meeting with the Croatian State Prosecutor, as well as that with the BH Acting Prosecutor. The meetings were dedicated to the harmonization of attitudes towards further regional cooperation. On 27 October 2017, a UNDP-facilitated meeting of regional prosecutors was organized in Belgrade. The next meeting dedicated to the enhancement of regional cooperation, which has been scheduled for March 2018, could be an opportunity for the War Crimes Prosecutor to initiate steps towards the unification of judicial practices. While the War Crimes Prosecutor cannot initiate the creation of a unified regional database involving all trials addressing war crimes committed in the former Yugoslav territory (given that the creation of such a database should be linked to courts rather than to prosecution services), she will certainly engage in that process.

Objective 3: Improved conditions in courtrooms where war crimes trials are conducted.

Activities:

The Ministry of Justice shall endeavor, through the applications for IPA funds submitted to the EU, on the proposal of the High Judicial Council, to provide adequate technical equipment for the courtrooms in which war crimes trials are held.

Pursuant to Article 354 of the Criminal Procedure Code, presidents of the Higher and Appellate Court in Belgrade will strive to ensure the maintenance of hearings in adequate courtrooms in other courts through cooperation with the High Judicial Council. Activity is being successfully implemented.

Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.

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Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

In 2017, 3.5 millions dinars was dedicated in order court rooms of the Higher Court in Belgrade – the Special Department to be equipped with the appropriate system for audio and video recording.

Objective 4: Continuous improvement of expertise of the holders of judicial office and staff engaged in war crimes cases

Activities:

At the initiative of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor, Higher and Appellate Court in Belgrade, and in cooperation with the High Judicial Council, the State Prosecutorial Council and the Judicial Academy, a system of training and additional education will be established for judges, prosecutors, assistants, deputies and police investigators in the fields of international criminal and international humanitarian law, as well as case management, first through the development and adoption of special programs, followed by providing training. The training should be designed as initial (intended for the judges who are yet to be allocated to war crimes departments or express interest in this type of training) and continuous, intended for holders of judicial office, assistants, associates, advisors and police officers who are already engaged in war crimes investigations and proceedings.



Update, June 2019:

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Тhe Judicial Academy has been organized a roundtable discussion „Granting damages to victim as a part of a judgment in war crimes cases”

Topic: Granting damages to victim as a part of a judgment in war crimes cases

Funded by: EU –Project „Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II)“ and Judicial academy budget

Lecturers: Ms. Mira Smajlović, Judge, Court of BiH

Mr. Milanko Kajganić, prosecutor, Prosecutor's Office of BiH

Target group: judge and judge assistants from the war crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade, judge and judge assistants from the war crimes Department of the Appellate Court in Belgrade and deputy prosecutors and prosecutor associates from the Office of war crimes Prosecutor.

Methodology: lecture and case studies

Objective: increased knowledge on the Granting damages to victim as a part of a judgment in war crimes cases

Goals: the participants improved the level of knowledge and practical skills for the application Granting damages to victim as a part of a judgment in war crimes cases

Agenda:

- Damage claim in criminal proceedings – legal framework in BiH and Serbia – similarities and differences

- The prosecutor's role in relation to damage claims in the criminal proceedings

-The judge's role in relation to damage claims in the criminal proceedings

- Case law on granting damages as a part of a judgement in war crimes cases – chronological review and development of judicial practice

- Difficulties in practice and possible mechanisms for overcoming them, best practices and lessons learned

Date of training: 31 Мay 2018

Venue: Belgrade Art hotel

Number of training: one-day seminar

Participants: twelve participants attended the Training

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OWCP: The OWCP stuff continued to upgrade their professional competence through trainings session in the fields of international criminal law and international humanitarian law. In the period between 8 and 12 April the deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors participated in intensive Practical Training on the Investigation and Prosecution of Conflict – Related Sexual Violence as International Crime organized by the IRMCT and Judicial Academy. The training was delivered by IRMCT prosecutors, experienced in dealing with complex cases.

On 31 May 2019, the deputy war crimes prosecutors participated in a roundtable discussion on `Deciding on injured party`s property right request within judgments in war crime cases` organized by Judicial Academy in cooperation with the OSCE within project Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II).

On 07 June 2019, the Deputy war crimes prosecutor participated in a conference `Detention –Regional criminal legislation, experience in implementation and measures of improvement` organized by OSCE Mission to Serbia in order to exchange experiences and knowledge among law practitioners from the region.

SPC: The State Prosecutorial Council’s working group for education program, shall, together with the Judicial Academy, participate in the establishment of the system of professional advancement of public prosecutors, deputy public prosecutors and prosecutorial assistants, in different fields of law, including international criminal law and international humanitarian law.

Update, March 2019:

Throughout the reporting period, the OWCP deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors continued their participation in training sessions relevant to war crimes investigations and prosecutions. Thus, on 21 February 2019, they took part in the round-table conference Treatment of Victims and Witnesses in War Crimes Cases, which was held in Belgrade under the auspices of the Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia.

On 08 March 2019, in line with the Action Plan for Chapter 23, specifically with its part addressing the OWCP involvement in lectures on Basics of Communication with the Media, a war crimes deputy prosecutor attended a basic training course on communication and relations with the public, which was organized by the Judicial Academy. SPC: The State Prosecutorial Council’s working group for education program, shall, together with the Judicial Academy, participate in the establishment of the system of professional advancement of public prosecutors, deputy public prosecutors and prosecutorial assistants, in different fields of law, including international criminal law and international humanitarian law.

Update, December 2018:Тhe Judicial Academy has been organized a two round table discussion „ Command Responsibility as a mode of liability and Crime against humanity as a criminal offence and their

47

application in relation to armed conflict in former Yugoslavia“ and „ Co-Perpetration in war Crimes Cases“.


Topic: „ Command Responsibility as a mode of liability and Crime against humanity as a criminal offence and their application in relation to armed conflict in former Yugoslavia“ and „ Co-Perpetration in war Crimes Cases“.

Funded by: EU –Project „Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II)“.

Lecturers: Ms. Liljana Mijović, professor of International Law and former judge of the European Court of Human Rights and Mr. Ivan Jovanović, legal expert.


Objective: increased knowledge on the Command Responsibility as a mode of liability and Crime against humanity as a criminal offence and their application in relation to armed conflict in former Yugoslavia and Co-Perpetration in war Crimes Cases.

Goals: the participants improved the level of knowledge and practical skills for the application Command Responsibility as a mode of liability and Crime against humanity as a criminal offence and their application in relation to armed conflict in former Yugoslavia and Co-Perpetration in war Crimes Cases.

Agenda: -Command Responsibility as a mode of liability and their application in relation to armed conflict in former Yugoslavia -Crime against humanity as a criminal offence - Co-Perpetration in war Crimes CasesMethodology: round tableDate of training: 14-15 December, 2018Venue: Hotel „Crowne Plaza“, BelgradeNumber of training: two-day seminarParticipants: fouteen participants attended the Training.

OWCP: Throughout this reporting period, the OWCP deputy prosecutors, assistant prosecutors and advisers continued their involvement in the preparation of the professional training schemes, as well as in training sessions relevant to war crimes investigations and prosecutions.

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All case administrators, deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors took part in the designing of an educational programme in the criminal law area by answering a detailed questionnaire – received from the Judicial Academy – regarding the needs in this particular area.

On 14 and 15 December 2018, the OWCP assistant prosecutors and other staff members attended a round table, i.e. two-day workshop in the areas of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, entitled The Crime against Humanity and Command Responsibility and Co-Perpetration, organized by the Judicial Academy and OSCE Mission to Serbia.

The OWCP deputy war crimes prosecutors and assistant prosecutors also upgraded their expert knowledge through participation in the Kopaonik School of Natural Law, and in the conference entitled Prosecution Independence – European Standards and Progress Towards the Action Plan.


Тhe Judicial Academy has been realized a two training seminar on „ Interanational Humanitarian law and it’s application in the war crimes trials in the Republic of Serbia“ and „ Investigation in war crimes cases“

1.topic: „ Interanational Humanitarian law and it’s appliacation in the war crimes trials in the Republic of Serbia“

Funded by: EU –Project „Support to Monitoring of National War Crimes Trials (Phase II)“

Lecturers: Neda Dojcinovic,Legal advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross(ICRC)Ivan Jovanovic, consultant in the OSCE Mission to Serbia


Objective: increased knowledge on the Interanational Humanitarian law and it’s application in the war crimes trials in Serbia.

Goals: the participants improved the level of knowledge and practical skills for the application Interanational Humanitarian law in the war crimes proceedings.

Agenda: -sources of the Interanational Humanitarian law(IHL)-establishment of the existence and the clssification of the armed conflict, selection of the applicable IHL definition-nexus-connection between the crime and the armed conflict as element of the war crime-protected person status as a war crime element

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-underlying acts of war crime


Date of training: 15-16 June, 2018

Venue: Hotel „Park“, Belgrade

Number of training: two-day seminar

Participants: twenty two participants attended the Training.

2.topic: „Investigation in war crimes cases“


Lecturers: Piter Mekloski,former prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Novak Lukic, lawyer

Tomislav Visnjic, lawyer

Aleksandar Layarevic, lawyer

Target group: deputy prosecutors and prosecutor associates from the Office of war crimes Prosecutor.

Objective: increased knowledge about Investigation in war crimes cases.

Goals: the participants improved the level of knowledge and practical skills in handling war crimes cases.

Agenda:-Organization, management and supervision in the conduct of investigations;

-Preparing of an investigation strategy;

-Sources of evidence and confirmation of the authenticity of evidence;

-Examination of witnesses;

-Examination of defendant;

-Evaluation and results of the investigation.


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Date of training: 26-27 September, 2018

Venue: Hotel „Falkensteiner“, Belgrade

Number of training: two-day seminar

Participants: six participants attended the Training.


Update, June 2018:

The War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office adopted the Prosecutorial strategy for investigation and criminal prosecution of war crimes in the Republic of Serbia 2018- 2023, which envisions, as a separate area of activities, professional advancement for existing and newly employed employees and deputy prosecutors in the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office.

At its sixth regular session held on 7th of May 2018 the State Prosecutorial Council made a decision to establish a work group for for educational programs in line with the provision of Article 21 of the Regulation on work of the State Prosecutorial Council. The work group is composed of three members as follows: a member of the State Prosecutorial Council, a deputy public prosecutor at the First Basic Prosecution Office in Belgrade and a deputy public prosecutor in the Appellate Public Prosecution Office in Belgrade.

This working group shall, within the competences of the State Prosecutorial Council set by law, in cooperation with the Judicial Academy, participate in developing a system of training and additional education for public prosecutors, deputy public prosecutors, and prosecutorial assistants in various fields of law, including international criminal and international humanitarian law.

Deputy war crimes prosecutors and assistant prosecutors attended a two days’ training programme in international humanitarian law, which was organized by the Judicial Academy and the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

Update, March 2018:

At the High Judicial Council session, held on January 30, 2018 the Council has given approval to the Program of continuous training for judges and court staff for 2018.

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In the first quarter 2018 the draft Prosecutorial strategy for investigation and criminal prosecution of war crimes in the Republic of Serbia 2018- 2023 was drafted, which envisions, as a separate area of activities, professional advancement for existing and newly employed employees and deputy prosecutors in the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. When the Prosecutorial Strategy is adopted, training will be organized in cooperation with the Judicial Academy, the Republic Public Prosecutor’s Office and the State Prosecutorial Council, with the support of international partners.

All the OWCP case administrators, deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors took part in the creation of training / educational programmes in the area of international criminal law. Specifically, all of them answered a detailed questionnaire about the needs in this area, provided by the Judicial Academy and the Belgrade Office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). The realization of such training / educational programmes is expected within the determined timeframes.

Initial report:

In March 2017, a Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor took part in a panel discussion within the framework of the seminar entitled “The ICTY Heritage and Nuremberg Principles“. The seminar provided an opportunity for the OWCP to present its operational practice as an example of domestic judicial practices, as well as to highlight the importance of the ICTY Liaison Officers project, which facilitates the exchange of data/evidence and the applicability of such materials in cases before national courts. Finally, it was pointed out that the OWCP remained determined in its commitment to the prevention of impunity for war crimes and provision of justice for victims, while at all times observing the accused persons’ rights, confidentiality of investigation and general right to defense.

The Higher court in Belgrade has delivered to the Judicial Academy a list of judges that are interested to participate in seminars as well as a list of judges assistants in the Department for War Crimes of the Higher Court in Belgrade.

The Working Group for the drafting of the National Strategy defined a roadmap for the establishment of the system for training and education, not only in the area of international criminal law, but also in other relevant areas. The Draft of the Strategy defines the main areas of training, as well as the main steps for establishing the system. Trainings within the framework of international criminal law are held continuously in accordance with the previously accepted program for judges and prosecutors, as an integral part of the training program.

Also, at a session held on 23rd March 2017, the State Prosecutorial Council adopted the new Regulation of work of the State Prosecutorial Council (“Official gazette of the Republic of Serbia”, No. 29/17), provisions of which are regulating establishment of a work group for education program that shall be established by the Council by a decision, as ad-hoc work body, in charge of, among other things, decision-making on mandatory continuous education in cases of election for a public prosecution office of a higher rank, changes of specialization, significant changes in legislation, introduction of new techniques of work or elimination of flaws in work noticed during performance evaluation.

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Provisions of the new Regulation of work of the State Prosecutorial Council regulate that the work group for education program has three members – one of which is the Council elective member, two are prosecutorial position holders, as well as that the work group members are elected by the Council to a three-year term and they can be reelected, except for the Council elective member, whose term lasts until the expiration of the tenure as the Council member. Finally, an obligation of the work group for education program to submit an annual report on work to the State Prosecutorial Council is defined. The State Prosecutorial Council shall thus ensure continuity in work, related to determination of criteria for referring the prosecutorial position holders to additional education, based on the performance evaluation results, as well as evaluation results from previous educations, including referring the holders of prosecutorial function for additional education.

This working group of the State Prosecutorial Council will include in its work, in cooperation with other competent institutions, the issue of specialized training in the area of international criminal law and international humanitarian law, as well as the management of cases in the competent public prosecutor's offices.

The High Judicial Council gives approval to the Program of continuous training of the Judicial Academy .

As one of the bearers of this activity, the High Judicial Council will actively participate in undertaking activities related to the education for judges, in order to achieve the stated result.

2. PROTECTION OF WITNESSES AND VICTIMS

Objective 1: Improved normative framework for effective functioning of the witness protection system in war crimes proceedings in Serbia.

Activities:

Inter-sectorial Working group of the Ministry of Justice will prepare an analysis of court practice in the implementation of Article 102 of the CPC as well as the analysis of the provisions and results of the implementation of the Law on the program of protection of participants in criminal proceedings and formulate conclusions and recommendations on the needs of any amendment to this law or the accompanying bylaws in order to improve the protection system, with the aim of establishing the need for the amendments to the law to improve witness and victim protection.

Time limit: Quarter 1 - 4 of 2016


Initial report:

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The analysis have been finished as a part of comprehensive analysis that is related to the alignment of the normative and institutional framework of the Republic of Serbia with the relevant EU acquis in the field of support to witnesses and victims.

Objective 2: Enhanced institutional capacity for witness protection in war crimes proceedings.

Activities:

The Ministry of the Interior will initiate and, in cooperation with the Commission for the Implementation of the Protection Programme for Participants in Criminal Proceedings, prepare the analysis of the status and needs of the Protection Unit, with special emphasis on:

A) process of hiring staff bearing in mind the potential impact of prior participation of candidates in the conflicts in former Yugoslavia;

B) implementation of an appropriate work methodology and existence of the appropriate technical capacity;

V) determining the sufficient number of employees and allocation to this Unit of competent highly motivated professionals, including a psychologist, and other staff.



Initial report:

The Commission for implementation of witness protection Program made decision to start assessment on October 12th 2015. Within a period October-December 2015 three meetings of the Commission aimed drafting the assessment has been held with an aim to implement the assessment and make a conclusion of this Analysis. The Commission had look over the documentation, procedures and the way of work of the Protection Unit.

After receiving a feedback from the WCPO, the Commission successfully finalized the Analysis on the February 1st, 2016.

The results of the analysis showed that the activities which were defined in the Action Plan are in accordance with the conclusion of analysis, and in the next period all recommendations from the conclusion will be implemented.

On the basis of the above analysis, the Ministry of the Interior will urgently undertake measures to ensure the optimal status and capacity of the Protection Unit.

Time limit: Commencing from Quarter 2 of 2016

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Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

From January 1st 2019, Protection Unit has received eight police officers in order to be engaged in providing the Protection Program.


In the period from October – December, 2018 within the EU Grant Project WINPRO III, “Co-operation in Criminal Justice: Strengthening Witness Protection in the Fight against Organized Crime, Terrorism and Corruption has been held several activities:

Final exercise for the witness protection, in period 11-12.10.2018, in Nis. Debriefing of final exercise for the witness protection, in period 19.10.2018 in Podgorica,

Montenegro. Balkan Network Meeting which was held in Novi Sad, in period 31.10- 01.11.2012 Final WINPRO III Conference Meeting, in Podgorica, Montenegro was held in November

21, 2018.

Within the EU twinning Project “Fight against people trafficking”, the workshop was organized in the period 14-15.2018. Also we would like to inform you that 45 Witness protection Unit members has passed the first and second training level of gun and revolver training, foreseen by the Program of Professional training of Police officers in shooting with firearms.


In the frame of the EU Grant Project WINPRO III, Co- operation in Criminal Justice: Strengthening Witness Protection in the fight against Organized Crime, Terrorism and Corruption, one member of the WPU within the Ministry of Interior had participated in Exchange programe with one of the EU countries, in the period from 1-7, July 2018 in Romania.

Within the same EU Project, in August 2018, it was held the Exchange program in Belgrade, where one member of the EU country had visited the Serbian WPU in 20-24 August, 2018.

In September within the same Project, it was held the following tannings:

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- “Witness assessment” in Podgorica (3-7.09.2018)

- “Close protection” held in Belgrade (17-18.09.2018)

- “Regional Conference” in Skoplje (12.09.2018)

- Round table on subject: “Good and bad examples in practice” in Belgrade (24.09.2018.)

- And Seminar on Subject: “Basic communication with the media” in Belgrade (25.09.2018)

Update, June 2018:

By adopting a Regulations of special Units within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the position was improved and method of filling vacancies was established.

Within the EU Grant Project WINPRO III – Cooperation in Criminal Justice: Strengthening Witness Protection in the Fight against Organized Crime, Terrorism and Corruption, in the month of April 2018, the following activates had been held:

- Personal security training was held in Podgorica, Montenegro in the period from 04-05 April, 2018. Two members of the WPU were present.

- Balkan Network meeting was held in Sarajevo in April 17, 2018, as well as the ICC Conference in period 18-19 April, 2018 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Two members of the WPU were present on these events.

- Workshop within the Judicial Academy was held in period from 23-26 April, 2018 in Belgrade, a member of the WPU was present as presenter.

- The training of open sources information was held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina in period from 24-26 April, 2018, two members of the WPU were present on this event.

- Within the Witness protection Unit from Romania, in period 19-20, April 2018. Salzburg Forum was held in Bucharest, one member of the WPU were present.

In May 2018, within the mentioned EU Grant Project it was held the next following activities:

- Activities, “making a program for training the beginners of the witness protection” in period from 07-11.05.2018 in Drac, R. of Albania, one member of the Serbian WPU was present.

- The training “Leadership and development” was held in Skoplje in Macedonia from 17-18. May, 2018. One member of Serbian WPU was present.

- The Conference of Human recourse managing was held in Podgorica, The Republic of Montenegro in period from 29 -31. May, 2018, on which one member of the Serbian Protection Unit was participating.

In June 2018, the following activities were held within the WINPRO III Project:

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- Preparing for training course “surveillance and contra surveillance” in Skoplje, Macedonia from 18-22 June, 2018, one member of the Serbian WPU were present.

- The meeting “developing of teaching program on subject witness protection”, was held in Belgrade in June 14, 2018. Two members of the witness protection program were present.

- Seminar and workshop with collaborators of Justice were held in Belgrade, in June 19, 2018 in Belgrade. Two WPU members were present on this event.

- Seminar was held in Belgrade in period from 20 -21 June, 2018 and three members of the Serbian witness protection Unit were present.

Witness Protection unit got new premises which was given by the General Police Directorate, which have been adapted and equipped for the needs of Protection Unit.

Update, March 2018:

By adopting of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Police, the Protection Unit got the status of a special unit within the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Apart from the positive influence on the improvement of the position of the Unit, the change will also enable capacity building, through the adoption of a special regulation that will regulate the method of selection of personnel for work in the Unit, the manner of their receipt in the Unit and their transfer.

Three members of the Unit participated in the training titled "Threat and risk assessment", held in the period from February 05 - 09, 2018 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Two members of the Unit participated in a media workshop titled "Developing a communication strategy, media influence; awareness of social media, rules and practices ", held in the period from February 12 - 13, 2018. in Belgrade.

Two members of the Unit participated in training titled "Training of trainers", held in the period from February 19 – March 02, 2018 in Tirana, the Republic of Albania.

Two members of the Unit participated in the training titled "Children legend building course", held in the period from February 27 until March 1st ,2018in Belgrade.

One member of the Unit participated in a seminar titled "Exit Strategy", held in the period from February 13 - 15, 2018. in Podgorica, Republic of Montenegro.

The Protection Unit moved to a new office space, assigned by the Police Directorate.The adaptation and equipping of rooms is in progress in order to meet the needs of the Unit.

Initial report:

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During the mentioned period, the Ministry of Interior allocated significant funds for equipping the Protection Unit. Regarding with this, Protection unit was supplied with tactical equipment, IT equipment, specialized vehicles with and certain level of protection, devices of communications and in the next period it is expected to receive other technical tools.

During this period in accordance with the plan of the MOI, the shooting training within the Department for education and tanning were held, as well as the tanning how to use fire weapon, course of shooting, and other operative police skills for Police members of the Protection Unit.

Also through the EU Project WINPRO III, several training were held too, on which members of the Protection Unit had participated.

Objective 3: Improved position of witnesses and victims during the criminal proceedings through consistent application of procedural disciplinary measures.

Activities:

Criminal law chambers consistently apply the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code regulating the sanctioning of participants in the procedure who violate procedural discipline, particularly if they attack the integrity of the witnesses or victims2.



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.2 Articles 102, and 369-374 of the Criminal Procedure Code

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Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

As before the provisions of the article 102 and articles 369-374 of the Law on Criminal Procedure that regulate sanctioning of the participants in the proceedings that break discipline during the procedure are fully implemented especially in cases when some of participants attack integrity of the victims and witnesses.

Competent public prosecutors, the State Prosecutorial Council and the competent bar association regularly notify the court about the measures undertaken with regard to the caution referred to in Article 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code.



Update, June 2019:

In the reporting period the State Council of Prosecutors did not receive information from the president of a trial chamber about the warning upon the Art. 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code, about the untimely or inadequate conduct of the public prosecutor or the person who substitutes him, which causes the prolongation of the proceedings.At the conference held on 27th of June 2019 was presented a work text of draft of the Action Plan for the first three years of implementation of the National Strategy for realization of rights of victims and witnesses of crime. At the conference was presented the Action Plan for implementation of the National Strategy for realization of rights of victims and witnesses of crime for the period between 2019 and 2025.

Update, March 2019:

In the reporting period the State Council of Prosecutors did not receive information from the president of a trial chamber about the warning upon the Art. 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code, about the untimely or inadequate conduct of the public prosecutor or the person who substitutes him, which causes the prolongation of the proceedings.

In respect of protection of witnesses and victims and improvement of their position, in the fourth quarter of 2018, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives continued to participate at the meetings of the Steering Committee of the project “Support to victims and witnesses of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia” and of the Working Group for drafting National strategy for enforcement of victims and witnesses’ rights.

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In respect of protection of witnesses and victims and improvement of their position, in the fourth quarter of 2018, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives continued to participate at the meetings of the Steering Committee of the project “Support to victims and witnesses of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia” and of the Working Group for drafting National strategy for enforcement of victims and witnesses’ rights. Also, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives participated at the Annual Conference of the Victimology Society of Serbia:” New and old forms of victimization”, held on 29-30.11.2018. in Belgrade.



In respect of protection of witnesses and victims and improvement of their position, in the third quarter of 2018, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives participated at the Steering Committee meeting of the project “Support to victims and witnesses of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia” held on 2.7.2018 in Belgrade, at the occasion of which the first meeting of the Working Group for drafting National strategy for enforcement of victims and witnesses rights was held.

Update, June 2018:


In respect of protection of witnesses and victims and improvement of their position, in the second quarter of 2018, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives participated at the meeting of the project “Support to victims and witnesses of criminal offences in the Republic of Serbia” Steering Committee, as well as at the launching conference of the project, held on 1st of June 2018 in Belgrade.

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In addition to that, the State Prosecutorial Council representatives participated at the regional meeting devoted to the support to the crime victims, organized on 30th of May 2018 in Belgrade by the Victimology Society of Serbia, where were presented results of the project “Raising awareness on the victim’s rights in Serbia” and presented manuals “Guidelines through the criminal legal system” and “Guidelines through organizations for assistance and support to the victims in Serbia”. At the same meeting the interactive map of the organizations for the victims in Serbia that includes a list of all organizations and institutions that provide help and support to the victims of the crimes in the Republic of Serbia was presented, and it is available on http://www.victimservices.eu/.

Update, March 2018:


In respect of protection of witnesses and victims and improvement of their position, in the first quarter 2018 the State Prosecutorial Council received invitation from the OSCE Mission to the Republic of Serbia to take part in the project “Support to the victims and witnesses of crime in the Republic of Serbia”, whose implementation started in this quarter. The State Prosecutorial Council accepted the invitation and appointed its representative the project’s Steering Committee.

Bar Association of Serbia have never been informed about any warning that was pronounced to the defense lawyer due to the delay of the court proceedings under Article 374 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Initial report:

There is no measures issued by the court under the Article 374 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Objective 4: Enhanced cooperation of state bodies involved in the witness protection system.

Activities:

Improvement of rules of procedure by the Commission for the Implementation of the Protection Programme and the Protection Unit fully respecting the interests of the criminal proceedings in which the protected person is placed under protective measures



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http://www.victimservices.eu/

Update, June 2019:

The report is the same as the next one.

Update, March 2019:






Update, June 2018:


Update, March 2018:


Initial report:


Improvement of cooperation between the Protection Unit and the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor, through:

- Signing of the Cooperation Protocol;

- Organization of joint trainings;

- Establishment of a joint strategic team to define guidelines and directions of acting in matters of common concern;

- Formation of joint operational teams;

- Periodic mutual organization of round tables in order to exchange experiences and improve joint operation.



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Update, June 2019:

The OWCP representative participated on the meetings of the Working Group on Drafting the National Strategy on the Rights of Victims and Witnesses, held on 08 and 27 May 2019.

The implementation of joint WCPO – PU (Protection Unit) activities continued. The joint teams` representative maintained active cooperation and held regular meetings aimed to the enhancement of the protection of victims and witnesses.

Update, March 2019:

On 25 March 2019, the OWCP was represented – through its Support and Information Service (SIS) coordinator – at the meeting of the working group for the creation of the National Strategy for the Enforcement of Victims and Witnesses’ Rights.

Throughout this quarter, the OWCP and Protection Unit continued their joint activities. Representatives of joint operational teams actively cooperated and held regular meetings aiming to improve the protection of participants in criminal proceedings. The quality of mutual cooperation between the OWCP and Protection Unit, as well as their more comprehensive approach to the protection of participants in criminal proceedings, were certainly improved through their joint participation – including the exchange of experience, good practices and viewpoints – in the round-table conference Treatment of Victims and Witnesses, which was organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia and Judicial Academy.


Joint OWCP – PU (Protection Unit) activities were successfully carried on. The joint teams’ representatives maintained active cooperation and held regular meetings aimed at the enhancement of the protection of participants in criminal proceedings.

Тhe OWCP continued its efforts to secure the topmost professional competence and integrity of all its employees involved in communication with victims and witnesses. In the context of the WINPRO III project, the SIS coordinator and members, as well as other OWCP employees who get in touch with victims and witnesses, took part in the theoretical exercise entitled Cooperation in the Criminal Justice System in the Witness Support and Protection Area, which took place in Podgorica from 7 to 10 October. The OWCP was also represented by its SIS officers at the WINPRO conferences on this topic, held again in Podgorica in the course of November and December. On 18 December 2018, the SIS Coordinator represented this Prosecutor's Office in the Witness Support Conference, which was organized in Belgrade by the Serbian Justice Ministry and World

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Bank. On 26 December 2018, an OWCP representative participted – in member capacity – at the meeting of the working group for the preparation of the National Strategy for the Enforcement of Victims and Witnesses' Rights.

On December 20, 2018 the Round table was held between War Crime Prosecution Office members and members of the Witness Protection Unit on the subject: “Harmonization of the Proposal for Amendments on the Law on the Protection Program of Participants in Criminal Proceedings ", Belgrade.


On 24 September 2018, in compliance with the National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy and the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigations and Prosecutions, a round-table conference was held for the OWCP and PU representatives, with a view to promoting joint work through the exchange of experience (see Fourth report, goal 5, item 1.1.).

Officers of the OWCP Service in charge of support/assistance to victims and witnesses, as well as other employees involved in communication with the same, regularly attend expert meetings and training programmes in the witness support/protection area, organized within the WINPRO III (IPA 2015) project. In the course of the reporting period, the relevant staff members attended the course entitled Witness Assessment (Podgorica, 3 – 7 September 2018), as well as the training Personal Safety (Belgrade, 17-18 September 2018). The Support and Information Service (SIS) coordinator attended the regional conference on witness protection (Skopje, 12 September 2018).

Within the EU project WINPRO III and in cooperation with the Prosecution for war crimes have meetings on 24th and 25th of September, 2018. The Round table on subject: “Good and bad examples in practice” and Seminar on Subject: “Basic communication with the media” in Belgrade. On the round table the members will participate from Prosecutor office of war crimes, Witness Protection member, and Service War crime detections.

Update, June 2018:

In accordance with article 25 of Directive 2012/29/ЕU and with item 3.7.1.19 of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the OWCP staff members involved in communication with victims continually attend general and specialized training programmes envisaged to enable them to treat victims in an unbiased, cautious and professional manner.

In the framework of the WINPRO III (IPA 2015) project, members of the OWCP Support and Information Service (SIS) regularly attend expert conferences and training programmes addressing the witness support and protection matters. Likewise, the OWCP official appointed as SIS Coordinator took part in the conference Support to Crimes Victims and Witnesses in Serbia, held on 01 June 2018 in Belgrade and organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

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The OWCP staff members involved in communication with witnesses attended the WINPRO III training in personal safety (Podgorica, 4 – 5 April), as well as the seminar on justice collaborators (19 June) alongside the subsequent two days' workshop (20 – 21 June, Belgrade).

The OWCP initiated a number of round-table conferences and lectures on the Basics of Communication with the Media, aimed specifically at the employees of the Protection Unit and War Crimes Identification Service. The aforementioned OWCP activities received support from the WINPRO III team, in terms of both logistics and international expertise in this area. Initially planned for June, the realization of these activities – due to unforeseen circumstances – had to be put off for next September.

Update, March 2018:

Members of the Protection Unit, together with War Crimes Prosecutors, have been continuously participating in training sessions, workshops and seminars in the field of witness protection organized by the EU grant project WINPROIII - "Criminal Justice Cooperation: Strengthening Witness Protection in the Fight Against Organized Crime, Terrorism and corruption ".

The OWCP initiated a number of round-table conferences and lectures on the Basics of Communication with the Media, intended specifically for the employees of the Protection Unit and War Crimes Identification Service. The aforementioned OWCP activities received support from the WINPRO III team, in terms of both logistics and international expertise in this area. The OWCP and the Protection Unit (PU) established joint teams which now regularly meet to look into the ways of raising their overall operational effectiveness, which in turn should secure better protection for participants in criminal proceedings.The OWCP does its best to upgrade the professional competence of its employees engaged in communication with victims and witnesses, and primarily of those assigned to the Victim/Witness Support Service.Since February 2018, information about activities of the Support and Information Service (SIS), which operates within the OWCP, has also been available on the Interactive Map of the victim support services / institutions in the Republic of Serbia. Created on the basis of the research conducted by the organization Victim Support Europe and the Serban Victimology Society, this Map offers a list of contact details of the organizations, services and agencies which provide assistance and support to victims of criminal acts in the Republic of Serbia. In terms of the enhancement of the overall victim support concept, the Map has dual importance. In addition to being a referential database of victim support services for the OWCP employees who come into contact with victims (SIS members in the first place), this Interactive Map facilitates access to information of relevance to those concerned. The OWCP and PU representatives jointly participate in training programmes and seminars addressing the witness protection issues. Organized as part of the WINPRO III project, such programmes are realized through IPA 2015/370-989. The OWCP fully supports the PU activities, specifically through active participation in seminars organized by this unit, which are aimed at raising the awareness of the imoprtance of protection programmes among the relevant authorities in the Republic of Serbia. In the period ahead, the OWCP will initiate round table meetings dedicated to the exchange of experience and harmonization of joint OWCP – PU activities.

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Initial report:

A series of consultative meetings resulted in the harmonized version of the Protocol of Cooperation with the Witness Protection Unit (WPU). Consequently, on 06 July 2017, the War Crimes Prosecutor and the Minister of the Interior signed the Protocol on Cooperation in the Witness Protection Area. The Protocol is intended to promote cooperation between the OWCP and WPU – part of the Ministry of the Interior, as well as to facilitate their joint work and mutual relations.

On 03 April 2017, pursuant to the Republic’s Public Prosecutor’s Compulsory Instruction of 05 December 2016, the Service for Informing and Support of Victims and Witnesses (SIS) was established within the OWCP. The manner of the SIS functioning, alongside its goals, operational principles and appointment of contact persons, have been governed by the Rules of the SIS Operations, enacted on 29 March 2017.

Pursuant to the relevant War Crimes Prosecutor’s Ruling, and with a view to ensuring effective OWCP – SIS cooperation, two OWCP staff members (who are also members of the Victim/Witness Support Service) were appointed as persons responsible for communication with victims and witnesses. During the mentioned period through the European Commission WINPRO III project “Criminal Justice Cooperation: Witness Protection in the fight against serious crime and corruption”. Three trainings were held in which members of the Prosecutor's Office and the Protection Unit took part together.

3. SUPPORT TO VICTIMS AND WITNESSES

Objective 1: Improvement of the normative framework regulating the status of victim and witness.

Activities:

The Ministry of Justice will perform an analysis of the level of harmonization of the normative framework with recommendations for the purpose of effective adoption of the minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims in accordance with Directive 2012/29/EU3, in order to set the direction of changes of the normative framework and incorporate certain victims’ rights (such as the right to understand and be understood, rights of victims when making a complaint, right to receive information, right to interpretation and translation, right to access victim support services, rights relating to victim protection and recognition of their specific protection needs, including individual assessment).

3 Directive 2012/29/EU establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime

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Update, June 2019:

In the reporting period the ninth and tenth meeting of the Working Group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes were held on May 8th and May 27th. Moreover, on June 12th the newest version of the draft of the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes for the period 2019-2025, as well as the draft of the Action Plan for the first three years of the Strategy implementation were published on the web page of the Ministry of Justice and the web page of the Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society in order of gathering of comments in the scope of the new consultative process. The deadline for providing the comments is July 2nd.

Update, March 2019:

In the reporting period the sixst, seventh and eighth meeting of the Working Group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes were held on February 4th, March 4th and March 25th. Moreover, the first draft of the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes for the period 2019-2025 was finalized in February 2019 and it was published on the web page of the Ministry of Justice as well as on the web page of the Office for cooperation with the civil society in order of gathering of comments in the scope of consultative process. After the mentioned on February 22nd the conference related to the European day of victims as well as presentation of the first draft of the Strategy was held.

After the publishing of the Draft of the Strategy and after the conference was held, the Working Group analyzed the comments provided by the interested institutions and organizations of the civil society and some of comments are adopted so the first draft of the Strategy was revised. Along with that, the Working Group started drafting the first Draft of the Action Plan for the first three years of implementation of the Strategy.


In the reporting period the third, fourth and fifth meeting of the Working Group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes were held on 18 th

October, 26th November and 26th December 2018. Nevertheless, the members of the Working Group participated at the study visit in Sweden in the period from 5 th until 8th December 2018 in order to get familiar with one of the best model of the system of support to the victims and in order to exchange the experiences that contributed to work on the future strategy.

At the third meeting of the Working Group that was held on 18th October, the Project Team presented to the Working Group the existing models of the systems for support to victims in the

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European Union, and at the second part of the meeting the work on the draft of the future strategy was continued. At the forth and fifth meeting held on 26th November and 26th December, the members of the Working Group continued their work on the draft of the future strategy.


The Ministry of Justice has established the Working group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes. The implementation of the Project „Support to vitness and wetneeses of crimes in Serbia“ that is financed from the IPA 2016, EU funds and implemented by the OSCE Mission in Serbia has began back on February. The first meeting of the board of the Project was held on April 11th 2018 and all comments on the initial report and annexes were adopted so the initial report was adopted. On June 1 st the initial conference was organized in Belgrade. The second meeting of the board and the first meeting of the Working group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes was held on July 2nd 2018. In this meeting the needs for the expert assistance was defined as well as dynamic of the future work. The third meeting of the board and the second meeting of the Working group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes was held on September 25 th 2018. On this meeting the expert from Croatia has presented the model on how the support to the victims and witnesses functions in Croatia, and the domestic expert has presented main findings of the analysis of needs for the alignment with the Directive 2012/29/EU, and the basic structure of the Strategy as well as its parts were adopted.

Initial report:

The expert hired within the MDTF-JSS submitted to the Ministry of Justice the Final Analysis on the alignment of the Serbian legal framework with the Victims Directive, as well as best comparative practices in 5 EU states in June 2016. Moreover, the local expert conducted an analysis “The position of the victim of the criminal act/damaged by the criminal act in the criminal system of the Republic of Serbia” that includes analysis on alignment of the provisions of the Law on Criminal Proceedings with the Directive of the European Union on victims and analysis of the alignment of the Law on Juveniles with the relevant acquis on victims. Based on the performed analyses, Recommendations for establishment of high quality and sustainable network of support services for victims and witnesses at national level have been developed and submitted to the Ministry of Justice. The key aspects of the analysis are the following: Basic principles of organization and functioning of the network of support services for victims and witnesses

I AVAILABILITY

The key principle that should be followed when establishing a network of support services at the national level is the high level of availability of services through: o maximum territorial coverage; o a uniform structure of services throughout the territory; o development of a precise

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plan for the gradual improvement of network availability, both geographically and in terms of the variety of services offered.

II MAXIMUM UTILIZATION OF AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Bearing in mind the need of a prompt establishment of a network of support services for victims and witnesses, as well as the limited material and human resources, it is necessary to work on the maximum utilization of existing resources by: o mapping of existing service providers; o mapping available services; o networking of existing providers that meet clear, objective and previously established criteria, including from among the institutions of the Republic of Serbia, as well as civil society organizations.

III SUSTAINABILITY

Although project support will be provided for the initial establishment of the network services, one of the key challenges will be to ensure its sustainability through balancing the need to provide a sustainable source of funding of the providers and restrictive budgetary policy of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. In this regard, it will be necessary to:

- establish a Fund for periodic allocation of funds to service providers; - identify sources of inflow of funds into the Fund (gambling, seized proceeds from crime,

funds raised by applying the principle of opportunity of criminal prosecution, fines, etc.). - establish a system of specialized training with the emphasis on training of trainers (ToT);

During II quarter of 2017, three reports that will be used for the preparation of Victim support Strategy in the second half of 2018 have been submitted to the Ministry of Justice:

- 1) Overview of existing victim support services in Serbia that includes recommendations for further work on establishment of the system for victims support in Serbia;

- 2) Comparative analysis on the experiences of Finland, France and the United Kingdom on securing funding for victim support services;

- 3) Report on Finish and French experience in organizing comprehensive support services at the national level.

- In addition Analysis of legislation, policy documents and practice guidelines relevant to the responsibilities of Serbian police when dealing with victims of crime has also been prepared. The necessary funds for the development of the Strategy and accompanying activities have been secured through IPA 2016. The project is implemented by the OSCE mission to Serbia.

The Minister of Justice will establish a working group to propose amendments to the normative framework with the aim of harmonization with the notion of victim in international human rights treaties, and of effective application of minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime/injured parties in order to harmonize with the Directive 2012/29/EU in accordance with the gap analysis.

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Update, June 2019:

In the reporting period the ninth and tenth meeting of the Working Group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes were held on May 8th and May 27th. Moreover, on June 12th the newest version of the draft of the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes for the period 2019-2025, as well as the draft of the Action Plan for the first three years of the Strategy implementation were published on the web page of the Ministry of Justice and the web page of the Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society in order of gathering of comments in the scope of the new consultative process. The deadline for providing the comments is July 2nd.

Update, March 2019:






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At the third meeting of the Working Group that was held on 18th October, the Project Team presented to the Working Group the existing models of the systems for support to victims in the European Union, and at the second part of the meeting the work on the draft of the future strategy was continued. At the forth and fifth meeting held on 26th November and 26th December, the members of the Working Group continued their work on the draft of the future strategy.



The Law on Criminal Procedure as well as the Criminal Code will be amended after the Strategy is adopted.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

By the decision of the minister of justice number: 119-01-00016/2018-06 issued on 17 th April 2018, the working group for drafting the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code was established in accordance with the Action Plan for Chapter 23. By implementing the measures prescribed by the Action Plan for Chapter 23 the system of procedural guarantees that provides equal access to justice by all citizens, better protection of victims and witnesses will be established.

Also, by the decision of the minister of justice number: 119-01-00017/2018-06 issued on 8 th

March 2018, the working group for drafting of amendments to the Criminal Code was

71

established. The amendments to the Criminal Code will be conducted on the basis of alignment with the Directive 2012/29/EU that prescribes minimal standards on rights, support and protection of those who were victims in criminal actions.

Initial report:

The working group has not been established during the period this report is related on.

The Ministry of Justice will issue a bylaw regulating the mandatory provision of information to victims on all aspects of the criminal proceedings of interest to them in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 2012/29/EU.


Activity is not implemented.

Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

The relevant bylaw will be drafted after the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code are adopted.

Initial report:

With the support of IPA2016, implemented by OSCE, the amendments of the normative framework shall be performed in line with the Action plan and therefore the bylaw that regulates

72

providing of information to the victims related to the all aspects of the criminal proceedings they have interests in is to be adopted in accordance with the Article 6. of the Directive 2012/29/EU, after changing the normative framework.

The Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with civil society organizations, will create and distribute a brochure containing the information about victims’ rights (legal aid, psychological support, protection, etc.) in accordance with Article 4 of the Directive 2012/29/ EU.



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Two guidelines that are important for informing the victims on their rights and available support, that could be used at the same time by those who work in practice, i.e. all relevant subjects who come in touch with the victims during their activities, are printed. Those guidelines are: Guideline for the victims through the criminal system of the Republic of Serbia, and Guideline through the organizations for help and support to the victims in the Republic of Serbia.

Guideline for the victims through the criminal system of the Republic of Serbia gives the basic information on the status of victims in the criminal system and gives directions on how to report the crime, what are the rights and obligations of the victim and what the victim can expect when he/she is wetness on the court. This guideline can be find on http://www.vds.rs/File/VodicZaKrivicnopravniSistem.pdf.

73

http://www.vds.rs/File/VodicZaKrivicnopravniSistem.pdf

Guideline through the organizations for help and support to the victims in the Republic of Serbia is for those who come in touch or can come in touch with the victims (police, employees at the social centers, prosecution offices, courts, hospitals, NGO sector) and for the victims. It has information on existing services for the victims in the Republic of Serbia, available help and support offered by these services and contact information that include information on the working hours. The guideline is a printed version of the part of the interactive map of the services for the victims in the Republic of Serbia, so the information contained in the map could be used by those who do not have internet access. This guideline is available on: http://www.vds.rs/File/VodicZaOrganizacijeZaPomoc.pdf .

Both guidelines are distributed in printed versions at the regional meetings related to the support to the victims of the crimes that were, in organization of the Victimology Society of the Republic of Serbia, realized during May and June 2018 in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, Užice, Kragujevac, Zaječar and Šabac. All participants at these meetings such as representatives of judiciary, police, prosecution offices, systems for the social protection, organizations of the civil society have received the electronic versions of the guidelines in order to distribute them further and publish on their web pages. These activities have been realized by the Victimology Society of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the MDTF-JSS as a part of the project “Raising of awareness on the rights of the victims in the Republic of Serbia”.

The representative of the Service for witnesses at the special department of the Higher Court in Belgrade have participated at the regional meeting that was dedicated to the support of the victims of the crimes in the Republic of Serbia that was held in Belgrade. In addition, during this reporting period, the distribution of the previous brochures is continued. This material was distributed at the regional meetings dedicated to the support to the victims of crimes in the Republic of Serbia, organized by the Victimology Society of the Republic of Serbia during the May and June 2018, in Belgrade, Niš, Zaječar, Novi Sad, Užice, Kragujevac and Šabac.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

This activity will be implemented within the IPA 2016 project „Support to victims and witnesses of crime“, implemented by the OSCE mission to Serbia-а, including the media campaign on the rights of victims/injured parties and witnesses.

In adition, some progress was achived in the reporting period. Namely, in 2017, Victimology Society of Serbia has conducted a research of the organisations and institutions that provide help and support to victims in the teritorry of the Republic of Serbia. The reseach was a part of the project named „Services for support to the victims in Serbia“ that was realised by the World

74

Bank and Multidonor Trust Fond for Support to the Justice Sector (MDTF - JSS) in cooperation with Victim Support Europe. The main goal of the research was maping of the organizations and institutions that provide aid and support to victims and gathering of basic data on every organisation i.e. institions that work with victims, gathering of information related to the available aid models, target groups as well as possible ways based on which the victims can get aid and support. The practical result of this activity is data base of all institutions and organizations in the teritorry of the Republic of Serbia that provide aid and support to victim, which has a model of interactive map that can be used either by victims or by everyone who is providing aid and support to victims. The interactive map, which is updating regulary, has basic data on services that are part of the state authorities and organisations of the civil society that provide aid to the victims in Serbia and this map is available on https://www.victimservices.eu.

In the second half of 2017, organisation Victim Support Europe together with the World Bank and MDTF-JSS, in cooperation with Transcendent Media Capital and Victimology Society of Serbia has realizated a campaign named „Help Exist“. The main goal of the campaign was raising of awairness and informing of victims, citizens and employees of the state authorities, institutions and organizations of the civil society on rights of victims and existing services for victims. As a part of the campaign brochures with information on concequences of the victimization to the victims, needs of the victims, aid and protection models, as well as contact information of the organizations are made. Posters were made as well. Both, posters and brochures, were distributed during conferences organized by the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia and World Bank (Steptember 19th 2017) in Belgrade, (October 25th 2017) in Niš, (October 26th 2017) in Novi Sad. Above mentioned distribution has been conducted continioulsly by the Victimology Society of Serbia.

In addition, during November and December 2017, the national media campaign named “Help Exist” was in progress on the National Television of the Republic of Serbia. As a part of the campaign two videos were shown on the national television in order of raising of awareness on different models of victimization and the existing help. Mentioned media campaign was conducted on social networks as well.

Objective 2: Enhancing the capacity of the bodies providing support to the witnesses of war crimes during all phases of the criminal proceedings, such as: the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses within the Higher Court in Belgrade, the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the Ministry of the Interior Protection Unit.

Activities:

The Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses within the Higher Court in Belgrade will hire an expert for the provision of psycho-social support.



75

Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

There is a full time employed psychologist Ljubinka Marković in the Higher Court in Belgrade and bearing in mind a scope of her duties she can be engaged with the Service for assistance and protection of victims and witnesses in the Department for war crimes of the Higher Court in Belgrade with the previous consent od the competent authority.

The Protection Unit of the Ministry of the Interior through the changes in job classification act will enable the engagement of professional staff for the provision of psycho-social support.


Report:


Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

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Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


In the forthcoming period, the job positions proposed in the new systematization will be filled.

Update, June 2018:

The rules of internal organization and job classification were adopted on June 15, 2018, which allowed opening working positions for social worker and psychologist. In the next period internal job application will be open in order to fulfill mentioned working places.

Update, March 2018:

The unit has initiated the procedure of an internal competition for admission to the work of psychologists and social workers, however, due to the adoption of the Law on Amendments to the Law on Police, the competition is currently suspended until the new buy-law on job sistematization is adopted.

Initial report:

Approvals were obtained for amending the Ordinance on Internal Organization and Systematization of the Employment Unit's workplaces, which refers to the systematization of specific jobs: psychology and social specialists, as well as IT expert. The above mentioned jobs were systematized and an internal competition for the admission of the mentioned IT expert was announced.

To meet the needs of the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses staff, the Higher Court in Belgrade and the Judicial Academy, with the support of the High Judicial Council and the Ministry of Justice, and in cooperation with the academic community and civil society organizations, will occasionally organize additional training and encourage the participation in professional conferences, to ensure continuous enhancement of their professional capabilities.



Update, June 2019:

77

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Тhe Judicial Academy has been organized a two training seminar on „ Treatment of a witnesses and victims in war Crimes Cases“ and „ Prosecution of the crime of sexual violence within the jurisdiction of the ICTY“ The second one has been organized in cooperation with the UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Court.

1.topic: „ Treatment of a witnesses and victims in war Crimes Cases“


Lecturers:

Aleksandar Filadzić – Investigation and Support to Witnesses Departmnt of the Prosecutor's Office in BiH

Alma Taso Deljković -Witnesses Support Department of the Court in BiH

Miroljub Vitorović - representative of the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses within the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor

Slavica Peković - representative of the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses within the Higher Court in Belgrade


Agenda:

- Significance of treatment of a victims and other witnesses in war Crimes Cases;

- Initial contact, assessment of the personality of witnesses, conditions and circumstances for the application of protective measures;

- Communication with the witness during the investigation

Challenges in practice and examples of good practice in dealing with particularly sensitive witnesses and protected witnesses

- Dealing with sensitive witnesses and protected witnesses

- Dealing with sensitive witnesses during the trial

78

- Measures to support witnesses

Date of training: 21 February 2019.

Venue: Hotel „Moskva“, Belgrade

Number of training: one-day seminar

Participants: 33 participants attended the Training.

2.topic: „Prosecution of the crime of sexual violence within the jurisdiction of the ICTY“

Lecturers:

Laurel Baig, UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Court

Naiva Nabiti, UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Court

Kevin Hughes, UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Court

Douglas Stringer, UN Mechanism for the International Criminal Court

Target group: deputy prosecutors and prosecutor associates from the Office of war crimes Prosecutor.

Agenda:

- International criminal offenses

-Prosecution for crimes of sexual violence

-Investigation and prosecution of sexual violence

-Overcoming challenges in the courtroom and defense

- Protection of victims and witnesses

Date of training: 08-12 April 2019.

Venue: Hotel „Moskva“, Belgrade

Number of training: five-day seminar


79

Preparation of the seminar on "Treatment to witnesses and injured party in War Crimes Cases", round table discussions on"Deciding on the property claim of the injured party"and seminar on "Investigations and trials in sexual violence in war"is under way, which is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2019.


Preparation of the seminar "Sexual violence in war" is under way, which is scheduled to take place in the second quarter of 2019

Topics of the seminar:

1. An introduction to sexual violence

2.The position of the injured party in the criminal proceedings

3.Evidence, special evidence and evaluation of evidence

4.Tehnology of hearing the defendant and examination of the witness

Target group: judges, prosecutors, witness support staff

Number of participants: 25-30

Duration: 1 day

Objective: increasing of knowledge and skills for processing of war crimes cases

Methodology: lecture and workshop

Lecturers: international and domestic lecturers

Update, June 2018:

Within the Witness protection Unit from Romania, in period 19-20, April 2018. Salzburg Forum was held in Bucharest, one member of the WPU was present.

In adition, the training “making a program for training the beginners of the witness protection” was held in the period from 07-11.05.2018 in Drac, R. of Albania and one member of the Serbian WPU was present.

The meeting “developing of teaching program on subject witness protection”, was held in Belgrade in June 14, 2018. Two members of the witness protection program were present.

In accordance with article 25 of Directive 2012/29/ЕU and with item 3.7.1.19 of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the OWCP staff members involved in communication with victims continually

80

attend general and specialized training programmes envisaged to enable them to treat victims in an unbiased, cautious and professional manner.

In the framework of the WINPRO III (IPA 2015) project, members of the OWCP Support and Information Service (SIS) regularly attend expert conferences and training programmes addressing the witness support and protection matters. Likewise, the OWCP official appointed as SIS Coordinator took part in the conference Support to Crimes Victims and Witnesses in Serbia, held on 01 June 2018 in Belgrade and organized by the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

In the second quarter of 2018, the representatives of all relevant institutions have participated at the board meeting of the project „Support to Crimes Victims and Witnesses in Serbia“, as well as at the first conference in Belgrade that was held on 1st June 2018 in Belgrade. A number of trainings are to be organized in the scope of mentioned project.

In addition, the representatives of the State Prosecution Council have participated at the regional meeting dedicated to the support to the victims of the crimes, organized by the Victimology Society of the Republic of Serbia on 30th May 2018 in Belgrade. At the mentioned meeting the results of the project “Raising of awareness on the rights of the victims in the Republic of Serbia” as well as Guideline through the criminal system and Guideline through the organization for help and support to the victims in the Republic of Serbia were presented.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

Employees engaged with the Service for assistance and protection of victims and witnesses have participated in the seminar “Workshop” on 30.05.2016. and in the regional conference “Cooperation in Criminal Justice” on 07.09.2016 (organized by the OSCE and EU Project NI-COWINPRO3).


To meet the needs of the Protection Unit staff, the Training Centre of the Ministry of the Interior, in cooperation with the academic community and civil society organizations, will occasionally organize additional training and encourage the participation in professional conferences, to ensure continuous enhancement of their professional capabilities, particularly in the field of victims’ rights, their protection and prevention of secondary victimization.


81


Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

The rules of internal organization and job classification were adopted on June 15, 2018, which allowed opening working positions for social worker and psychologist. In the next period internal job application will be open in order to fulfill mentioned working places.

Update, March 2018:

In accordance with the Training Program for the Police Officers of the Ministry of Interior for 2018, Protection Units members, independently or with the support of the Department for Vocational Education and Training, organize trainings related to operational police skills and training in firing and handling firearms.

Initial report:

No changes. Improvement of infrastructural and technical capacity of the services for assistance and support to victims and witnesses.



Update, June 2019:

82

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:Realization of this activity is a part of the IPA 2016 Project. Dinamic of realization of this activity depends on dinamic of implementation of the Project.


Realization of this activity is a part of the IPA 2016 Project. Dinamic of realization of this activity depends on dinamic of implementation of the Project.


Realization of this activity is a part of the IPA 2016 Project. Dinamic of realization of this activity depends on dinamic of implementation of the Project.

Update, June 2018:


Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:


Objective 3: Establishment of the national network of services for assistance and support to victims and witnesses and integration of the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses of the Higher Court in Belgrade, taking into consideration the specificities of war crimes proceedings and the need for the witnesses for the defense to receive the same treatment by the Service for Assistance and Support to Victims and Witnesses as the witnesses for the prosecution.

Activities:

Establishment of a countrywide network of services for assistance and support to victims and witnesses during the investigation and all stages of the criminal proceedings, in accordance with a comprehensive analysis, including:

83

- normative aspect (current normative framework, best comparative solutions, international standards);

- financial assessment (sustainable financing, adequacy of premises and staff, need training needs);

- access to support services (network coverage, distance, mobile support teams).

Time limit: for the analysis – Quarter 1 of 2016; for the network establishment - continuous commencing from 2018


Update, June 2019:In the reporting period the ninth and tenth meeting of the Working Group for drafting the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes were held on May 8th and May 27th. Moreover, on June 12th the newest version of the draft of the National Strategy for improvement of rights of victims and witnesses of crimes for the period 2019-2025, as well as the draft of the Action Plan for the first three years of the Strategy implementation were published on the web page of the Ministry of Justice and the web page of the Office for Cooperation with the Civil Society in order of gathering of comments in the scope of the new consultative process. The deadline for providing the comments is July 2nd.

Update, March 2019:



84




At the third meeting of the Working Group that was held on 18th October, the Project Team presented to the Working Group the existing models of the systems for support to victims in the European Union, and at the second part of the meeting the work on the draft of the future strategy was continued. At the forth and fifth meeting held on 26th November and 26th December, the members of the Working Group continued their work on the draft of the future strategy.



Update, June 2018:


85

By the decision of the Minister of Justice number: 119-01-00092/2018-06 dated on 28th May 2018, the Working group for drafting of the National Strategy for achieving the rights of victims and witnesses was established.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

In terms of protecting witnesses and victims and improving their position, during the fourth quarter of 2016 the work group composed of representatives of the Republic Public Prosecution Office and the State Prosecutorial Council, with support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, finalized the text of the General mandatory instruction on method of conduct of the Victim Witness Information and Support Services in public prosecution offices, signed by the Republic Public Prosecutor, which was submitted to the public prosecution offices.

Based on this General mandatory instruction, as of 1st February 2017 the Victim Witness Information and Support Services started to work in all Higher Public Prosecution Offices in the Republic of Serbia, the Prosecution Office for Organized Crime and from 3.4.2017. in the War Crimes Prosecution Office, which have strengthened the enforcement of the rights of witnesses and victims in criminal proceedings and improved their position.

The State Prosecutorial Council, jointly with the Republic Public Prosecution Office and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, has continued to build capacities of public prosecution offices in the area of providing information and support to the injured parties and witnesses and, with reference to that, prepared a new brochure on the Victim Witness Information and Support Services that contains basic information and contact data of all Services in public prosecution offices, and at the same time it participated at drafting of the Communication manual for public prosecution offices on communication with the witnesses and the injured parties. In addition to that, education on providing information and support to the injured parties and to the witnesses was conducted, both for persons working at the Services and for prosecutorial office holders, and the following seminars were delivered: 27-28 February 2017 in Nis, 13-14 March 2017 in Kragujevac, 20-21 March 2017 in Novi Sad, and on 3-4 April 2017 in Belgrade. After that, on 24th of April 2017, with support of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, a seminar was delivered in Belgrade for representatives of all court and prosecutorial services for support to the injured parties and witnesses of criminal offences, where the representatives of prosecutorial services were given posters and additional copies of brochures and communication manual. Moreover, on 29th of May 2017 in Belgrade, with support of the civil society organization “Astra”, a seminar was delivered “Support to services for assistance to the injured parties and witnesses”, where representatives of the services in public prosecution offices participated. Finally, on 27-28 of November 2017, in Belgrade a new seminar “Support to services for assistance to the injured parties and witnesses” was held, where, in addition to mutual exchange of experiences, the participants from the public prosecutors' offices and courts had the opportunity to hear the experiences of similar services in the countries of the region and the Netherlands.

86

This activity will be fully implemented within the IPA 2016 project „Support to victims and witnesses of crime“, implemented by the OSCE mission to Serbia-а, including the media campaign on the rights of victims/injured parties and witnesses.

Objective 4: Improved regional cooperation in the field of providing support to victims and witnesses.

Activities:

The Ministry of Justice will initiate a regional conference on the improvement of cooperation in the provision of support to victims and witnesses, to discuss past cooperation and possibilities of its improvement through the signing of regional and bilateral cooperation agreements, regional experience sharing programmes, and the training of persons engaged in support services.



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

In the reporting period, a meeting between the representatives of the Ministry of Justice and representatives of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation was held. Discussion was related to the subject of the conference as well as to the possible attendants to the conference. The official

87

confirmation of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation on support to the organization of the regional conference is to be provided.

Initial report:

There is a ongoing process of consultations between the Ministry of Justice and the Embassy of Switzerland related to the providing of support to the organization of conference.

4. DEFENCE OF THE ACCUSED

Objective 1: Increasing the quality of (court) appointed and selected defense attorneys in war crimes proceedings. Activities:

Developing a program of initial and continuous training in international humanitarian and international criminal law for the lawyers representing defendants in war crimes cases, in cooperation between the Serbian Bar Association, the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor, the War Crimes Department of the Higher Court in Belgrade, and the Judicial Academy Time limit: Quarter 3 of 2016


Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

88

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

It has not been started with the implementation of the activity.

Implementation of the continuous training in the fields of international humanitarian and international criminal law for the lawyers representing defendants in war crimes cases, in cooperation between the Serbian Bar Association and the Judicial Academy



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

89

The implementation of the subject activity depends on the initial implementation of the previous activity.

Objective 2: Improved system of financing the costs of the (court) appointed defense attorneys in war crimes cases.

Activities:

The working group established by the Minister of Justice will prepare an analysis of the provisions and results of the application of the Rulebook on the Remuneration for (Court) Appointed Attorneys in war crimes cases, including the recommendations for any changes thereof.



Initial report:

By the decision of the Minister of Justice number: 119-01-00249/2017-06 the working group for analysis of the provisions and results of the application of the Rulebook on the Remuneration for (Court) Appointed Attorneys in war crimes cases has been established. The main conclusion on the meeting of the working group was that provisions of the Rulebook on the Remuneration for (Court) Appointed Attorneys in war crimes cases are not to be changed. Given that all regulations related to attorneys are to be changed during 2018, as a part of Chapter 3 obligations, the official standpoint of the working group is that eventual changes of the Rulebook should be made in the unified procedure of changes of regulations related to attorneys.

5. WAR CRIMES TRIALS AND THE ISSUE OF MISSING PERSONS

Objective 1: Improved normative framework of relevance for determining the fate of missing persons.

Activities:

The Republic of Serbia will continuously work on fulfilling the recommendations of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances and notify the Committee on achieved results.



90

Update, June 2019:

On April 15th and 16th, 2019, the second meeting of Operational Group for solving unidentified cases (NNOG) took place in Zagreb, in organization of International Commission on Missing Persons (MKNL).During the two-days meeting currently strategies and protocols were presented and they were related to solving questions of unidentified mortal remains and competent authorities for tracing missing persons. Availble information of unidentified mortal remains exhumated from concrete locations, previously suggested by representatives of NNOG, were presented in order to exchange data with other members of this Group. In that regard, members of NNOG presented the main facts of still unidentified mortal remains, circumstances of exhumation, as well as proposals for analysis of all available documentation in order to solve certain number of this cases trough team work.Meeting ended with discussion of further steps which should be taken developing the pilot project which eneble solving problems of identification for 4 000 mortal remains in morgues.During the second day of meeting, visit of a common grave for unidentified victims from war in Croatia was organized at the Mirogoj cemetery and condition of unidentified cases in Republic of Croatia was presented to members of NNOG. After that, members of NNOG visited „Voice of croatian victim“ memorial in Mirogoj city cemetery in Zagreb.

The second meeting of the Missing Persons Group (GNL) which was formed in order to implement activities planned by the Framework Plan for solving issues of missing persons from conflicts in former Yugoslavia, was held on April, 17th, 2019 in Zagreb, in organization of International Commission on Missing Persons (MKNL).Leaders of authorities incharge for tracing missing persons from Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia and so-called Kosovo attended the meeting of GNL. At the meeting also was present representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Affairs of Government of the Commonwealth of United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In her seech she gave support to solving issues of missing persons process.Future steps in order to publish active cases of missing persons from former Yugoslavia territory database and locations of potential graves were suggested, which would be the subject of teamwork in the upcoming period.The second meeting of GNL before Berlin Process Summit, was held on July, 4th, 2019 in Poznan, Poland in order to determine achieved results and prepare report of activities in tracing missing persons in region. Other activities relevant for tracing missing persons were discussed. On this occasion, MKNL evaluated collaboration of representatives domestic institutions as successeful. They accentuated mutual confidence as an essential thing for solving cases of 12 000 missing persons in region, and that all parts should collaborate on accelerating of process.

On demand of Directorate for Detainees and Missing Persons of the Ministry of Croatian Veterans Affairs, on May, 29th, 2019 working meeting of representatives of Commission on Missing Persons, Government of Republic of Serbia, Commission for Detaineened and Missing Persons, Governement of Republic of Croatia took place in Vukovar. The meeting was another effort to exchange information and the aim was to solve remain cases of missing persons, considering the issue of missing persons as one of the key unsolved question in bilateral relations between Serbia and Croatia.

91

During the meeting, accent was put on permanent demands directed from the beginning of collaboration in 1995 and intensive engagement in searching existing archival material, checking available information and primary sources of knowledge as well as delation data about locations of primary and secondary graves on the territory of Croatia, with special accent on Croatian Podunavlje. Republic of Croatia will continue with realization of fieldwork research locations with reasonable doubt that there were buried mortal remains. In future, intensive activities in gathering information in accordance with open questions and demands, considering positive results, acting of both sides will be presented at the next meeting of relevant bodies for tracing missing persons, with aim to contribute faster and successful solving missing persons issue.During the meeting, accent also was put on mechanisms in tracing missing persons process that were realized trough teamwork, in accordance with that it was agreed to enforce the activities through joint fieldwork research of locations of potential places of individual and mass graves, as well as cooperation with organization of final identifications of mortal remains. Also, collaboration on preparation the fifth edition of the Book of missing persons on the territory of Republic of Croatia was agreed, and new edition is expected by the end of 2019. Considering the multilateral collaboration between Commission on Missing Persons and Commission for Detaineed and Missing Persons and their enforce regulation of Framework Plan for solving issue of missing persons on the territory of former Yugoslavia. During the meeting conclusions about methodology of updating active cases of missing persons in conflicts database were agreed.

The third meeting of Missing Persons Group (GNL), with aim to enforce activities of Framework Plan for solving issues of persons missing on the territory of former Yugoslavia was held on June 14th, 2019, in Podgorica, in organization of Inrenational Commission on Missing Persons (MKNL). The leaders of relevant Government bodies for tracing missing persons of Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Croatia and so-called Kosovo attended GNL’s meeting. Representative of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Affairs of Government of the Commonwealth of United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland also attended meeting.Meeting was organized with aim of summing so far results in the process of tracing missing persons within enforce of Framework Plan and the manner of reporting achieved improvement of upcoming Berlin Process Summit, held on July, 4th, 2019 in Poznan, Poland.Participants of meeting pointed that the mechanism of multilateral collaboration, trough enforce of activities planned by the Frameworka Plan, was high-quality, but bilateral collaboration was irreplaceable key mechanism in tracing missing persons process.

On Juny, 17th, 2019 at the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistic of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, the Republic of Croatia in the presence of family members, the mortal remains of eleven victims of Serbian nationality, which were killed during the conflicts in Former Yugoslavia 1991-1995, on the territory of the Republic of Croatia were identified. Mortal remains were exhumated in Gornje Selište(2), Petrinja(2), Glina(1), Šaša(1), Šibenik(1), Vrbovljani(1), Vodoteč(1), Gračac(1) and Vukovar(1).All mortal remains of eleven persons were identified with DNA analysis. Their funeral will be performed in accordance with family members wishes.According to Commission’s information, through this process during the period from 2001 to 2019 more than 1 400 victims of Serbian nationality killed in conflicts on the territory of

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Republic of Croatia were exhumated from individual and mass graves. More than 980 mortal remains of victims were identified and handovered to families.

GNL’s meetin took place on magins of Berlin Process Summit on July, 4th, 2019 in Poznan, Poland. Report of implemented activities in accordance with regulation of Framework Plan and achieved improvement from November 2018 to July 2019 was presented.On GNL’s meeting reperesentativesof relevant Government bodies for tracing missing persons from Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Republic of Croatia and so-called Kosovo were present. To support work of GNL, there were also representatives of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Affairs of Government of the Commonwealth of United Kingdome Great Britain, as well as representatives of Regional Coordination of families of missing persons associations. Meeting was held in organization of International Commission on Missing Persons (MKNL).

On the April, 23th, 2019, at the administrative crossing point of Merdare afterward identified parts of one person’s mortal remains (reassociation) were taken over from Pristina delegation. On May, 14th and 15th on demand of Pristina delegation, Belgrade delegation attended field checking of two locations (Kišnica and Ugljare) as an observer. Both of locations were marked as a potential mass graves after geo-radar checking. These checks didn’t result in finding of mortal remains. On May, 23th 2019 at the meeting in Priština, Belgrade delegation gave Pristina delegation all collected relevant documentation and additional information. They are related to field asanation that could indicate existence of mortal remains in Pusto selo and Rakoš, and were necessary for analyse and preparation for field check and exhumation.

Update, March 2019:

First meeting of Operational Group for missing persons active cases from conflicts in the former Yugoslavia database, in organization of ICMP, took place in Belgrade, on February 21th, 2019. The group consists of representatives of institutions responsible for missing persons issues in Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo4.The aim of first Operational Group meeting was to prepare database of active missing persons cases from the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and their publishing.After rewiew of conclusions from Missing Persons Group meeting in Podgorica, on May 2018, topic of conversation was the functional rules for updating database. That was the occasion to rewiew procedures for closing double entries, closing cases with reports of matching DNA analysis, published by ICMP, and other cases that can be closed.Subject of meeting also were the differences between entered data about cases which have same territory of missing and differences in categories of data for double entries. In order of implementation regulations of Framework plan for solving questions of missing persons from conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, on March 12th and 13th, 2019 in Sarajevo, in

4 This term is not involved in issue of Kosovo status and it is in accordance with Resolution 1244/1999 of UN Security Council and opinion of International Court of Justice.

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ICMP’s organization, first meeting of Operational Group for solving unidentified cases took place.Operational Group was originally founded by Missing Persons Group in 2008, in order to define situation of unidentified mortal remains located in morgues on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Operational Group consists of representatives of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo on technical level.

The representatives of institutions responsible for missing persons presented basic facts about exhumated mortal remains which still haven’t been identified, circumstances of exhumations, and possible reasons those cases could not be identified.

Case-study of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which was implemented 2013-2018. was presented through project of rewiews unidentified mortal remains that are located in 12 morgues. To present procedure of rewiew unidentified mortal remains, ICMP has organized visit of morgue JKP „Gradska groblja“ in Visoko.

Meeting was ended with discussion about next procedures in development pilot project which will eneble resolving problems of identification mortal remains in morgues. Also, concrete suggestions were presented for the future work of Operational Group, which are related to analyzing relevant documentation for concrete locations of unidentified exhumated mortal remains.


In the period from October 09-10. 2018. in the area of Lika-Senj County, compentent authorities of the Republic of Croatia, carried out the process of exhumation, from the remaining registered grave sites, on which the remains of the victims of Serb ethnicity were killed in the action of the Croatian army and the police "Storm". The process of exhumation in this area lasted 2 business days and the remains of 9 persons were exhumated at the Orthodox cemetery in Vodotec (3), The Municipal cemetery in Otocac-the orthodox part (1), the City (orthodox) cemetery in Dolane (2) and the City cemetery in Rudopol (1). Of all exhumated mortal remains, samples were taken for identification by DNA analysis method. By conducting exhumations, the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia, after a two-year break, continue the process of exhumation of grave sites where the victims of dead were buried in the action of the Croatian army and police "Storm",which started in 2001. According to the Commission's data, 240 people have been exhumed in the region so far: on cemetery in Gracac 155, Korenica 27, and after that the process were continued only in October 2006, with

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exhumation mortal remains of 58 victims on location Zitnik near Gospic. In this region of the total number of exhumed 177 persons were identified and handed over to families.

The continuation of exhumations is of particular importance to the families of the missing persons, who for years have been trying to find and buried dignified the mortal remains of their loved ones.

In accordance with signed inter-state documents with the Republic of Croatia and on the basis of reached agreements, exhumations were attended by representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons as observers.

In the period from October 16 to 23, 2018, in the area of the Karlovac County, the competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia, carried out the process of exhumations, from the remaining registered grave sites, where the remains of the victims of Serbian nationality who were killed in the action of the Croatian army and police "Storm".

The 15 victims of "Storm" were exhumed in the territory of the Karlovac County.

The exhumation process in this area lasted 6 working days and the remains of 15 people were exhumed on City cemetery in Licka Jesenica (5), cemetery of St. Petar in Duga Resa (1), City cemetery Bozic in Podgorje Krnjacko (1) and on City cemetery in Tusilovic (1). According to the preliminary data 5 bodies were female, 8 bodies were male, and for two bodies it was not possible to determine sex.

All exhumed remains were transported to the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics at the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, where samples will be taken to identify the DNA analysis method, and then perform their identification.

It was found that at the City (orthodox) cemetery in Plaska in the previous period, after the individual requests of the family, the remains of 2 persons were exhumed, based on a pre-determined identity.

Carring out of exhumation by competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia, continued the exhumation of grave sites where the victims were killed in the operation of the Croatian army and police "Storm".

In accordance with signed interstate documents with the Republic of Croatia and on the basis of reached agreements, exhumations are attended by representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons as observers.

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On the basis of the received positive DNA reports from the International Commission on Missing Persons, on November 19, 2018, the Commission for Missing Persons exhumed the remains of one person from the city cemetery in Kovin, whose final identification was carried out at the VMA in Belgrade on November 20, 2018 year exhumed the remains of two people from the Nova Bezanija grave and handed it to the BiH Missing Persons Institute for final identification.

On the basis of the information obtained from Rekom, as well as the request of the Pristina delegation, and pursuant to the order of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, during the period from October 15-17 2018 on the theritory of Municipal Medvedja, near the vilage of Medevce, field check was performed to determine the accuracy of information about the possibility of a mass grave.

Apart from the representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons, the MIA War Crimes Detaining Service, Leskovac Police Station, PS Medvedja, JKP Medvedja, representatives of the Prishtina Delegation, the International Committee of the Red Cross and EULEX have been provided with these activities.

The above activities did not result in the finding of mortal remains.

Also, based on the information received from the Pristina delegation about the possibility of a mass grave, on the 18 October 2018 warrant issued by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, on the site of Karadak, Raska municipality, a check of the terrain was carried out.

Apart from the representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons, MUP - War Crimes Detaining Service, PU Kraljevo, PS Raska, the aforementioned activities were attended by representatives of the Pristina delegation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, EULEX.Neither this test resulted in the invention of mortal remains.

On October 24, 2018, the representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons and the Special Envoy of the President of the Republic of Serbia for resolving the issue of missing persons with the Republic of Croatia, held a meeting with Serge Brammer, Chief Prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, as part of his three-day visit to the Republic of Serbia.The President of the Commission for Missing Persons, informed the interlocutor of all the activities that the Republic of Serbia is undertaking in order to find the remains of missing persons and their identification, with the aim of providing families with the fate of their loved ones. He underlined that the Republic of Serbia responsibly approached and implemented the requests that were sent to it by all the participants in this process. He said that the current resolution of the two requests made by the Republic of Croatia at the last bilateral meeting was a top priority.In this regard, he stressed that he expects the same efforts by all competents for searching for missing persons, as well as full coordination, both on a regional and international level. In this

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process, in addition to the cooperation of the competents, assistance from relevant international organizations is also needed, especially those that had and still have their presence in the region. As one of the key priorities access to the archives is separated, both national and archives of international organizations.

The Special Envoy of the President of the Republic for solving the issue of missing persons with the Republic of Croatia , emphasized that the depoliticization of the process of searching for missing persons and its resolution is essential for achieving a comprehensive reconciliation and stabilization of relations in the region.

Serge Brammertz stressed that no further assurance is required of the importance of a specific issue, which, in addition to its complexity and sensitivity, has a tendency towards politicization. It expressed the view that it should be appealed to the general public to provide information that would contribute to resolving specific cases of missing persons.

He noted that the Hague Tribunal, in the focus of its mandate, had investigations and prosecutions of those who are responsible for the crimes committed. Now, when it is in the transition phase of the Prosecutor's Office, it has the ability that through the capacity of the Residual Mechanism provide additional assistance for resolving issue of missing persons and in that way be part of a positive development in the region. He assessed as important steps in this regard the adoption of the Declaration of Missing Persons at the London Summit, as well as the forthcoming signing of the Framework Plan in The Hague. He expressed his readiness to promote direct cooperation and access to relevants for the search for missing persons by archives of the Hague Tribunal. He said that the importance of providing political support and financial assistance to this process had already been discussed with the highest representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Belgrade.

Veljko Odalovic emphasized that the establishment of Specialized Councils and the Special Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes in Kosovo and Metohija was of utmost importance and it was communicated to the interlocutor that the Republic of Serbia daily collects evidence in order to prosecute and prosecute all those responsible. Serge Brammertz agreed with the importance of the functioning of specific bodies and stressed that he is in constant communication with the relevant representatives.

At the end of the conversation, Veljko Odalovic handed over to the interlocutor a publication titled "Help to Find out the Truth about the Yellow House" and urged that the issue of all victims linked to the "Yellow House" finally gets its epilogue.

On October 26, 2018 in Belgrade, a meeting of the Working Group for Missing Persons was held where procedures were adopted by the Belgrade and Pristina Delegations for the repatriation and handover of mortal remains. Also, it was agreed that the document related to the goals and tasks

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of the Analysis Team be included in the project tasks of the Working Subgroup for Forensic Issues. The proposal of the Belgrade delegation was to invite the representatives of the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office of both sides at the next meeting.

On November 6, 2018, at the headquarters of the International Commission on Missing Persons in The Hague, the Framework Plan for the resolution of the issue of missing persons from the conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia was signed.The signatories of the Framework Plan are representatives of domestic institutions in charge of searching for missing persons, in connection with armed conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the Republic of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Croatia and so on. Kosovo.The signing of the Framework Plan is foreseen in the Declaration on Missing Persons signed by the Member States of the European Union and participants in the Berlin Process for the Western Balkans region, on 10 July 2018 at the London Summit.The Framework Plan aims to accelerate the process and intensify multilateral cooperation in order to find and identify 12,000 persons still missing as a result of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and remove obstacles to solving as many cases of missing persons over the next five years.

The Framework Plan consists of five basic activities that include activities in solving about 4,000 unidentified mortal remains throughout the former Yugoslavia, exchange of data on missing persons cases among domestic institutions and families of missing persons through the "Database of active cases of missing persons due to armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s ", exchange of information on possible locations of hidden graves and participation in exhumations of the common interest of stakeholders, involvement of families of missings and organization of joint commemorations on the International Day of the Missing Persons.The President of the Commission stated on that occasion, that the Framework Plan would accelerate the multilateral cooperation of domestic institutions in charge of finding missing persons, and that through this cooperation, given the nature of the conflict in the 1990s, it will be certain that there will be progress in resolving specific cases of missing persons. On that occasion, he appealed to the international community and international institutions and organizations that had information about the tombs to deliver them to domestic institutions to put them in the search for missing persons.He also stressed that the rest of the work will be difficult, but it is very important that through this framework plan we have strengthened our forces and that its implementation should show that we have the same attitude towards all victims.

On 23 November 2018 in Pristina, a session of the Working Subgroup for Forensic Issues was held, a common approach was adopted in the process of identifying and informing families about the final identification, as well as an agreement on the implementation of the Procedure for the Repatriation and Handover of Mortal Remains.

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In the period from 3 - 4 December 2018, the first meeting of the Missing Persons Group (GNL) was held in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, organized by the International Commission on Missing Persons (MKNL). GNL was formed on the basis of the Framework Plan, signed in November 2018 by the representatives of domestic institutions in charge of searching for missing persons in the Republic of Serbia, the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and so on. Kosovo with the aim of monitoring the work on the activities envisaged by this plan.At the GNL meeting, the next steps to address as many as 12,000 unresolved missing persons cases were identified. The text of the Working Rules and Procedures of the GNOA was adopted, as well as the framework work plan for the next two years. In this sense, two operational groups will be formed by experts for the purpose of working on the unidentified mortal remains found in the morgues throughout the region, the database of active cases of missing persons in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, procedures for the exchange of data on missing persons and possible the locations of the tombs, as well as participation in the eschumations of the common interest.The representatives of the competent national institutions have confirmed their commitment to solving this sensitive issue, as well as the commitment to future joint work.

On December 18, 2018, in the Institute of Forensic Medicine and Criminalistics of the Faculty of Medicine in Zagreb, the Republic of Croatia, with the presence of family members, identified the remains of nine victims of Serbian nationality, who were killed during armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia. 1995, on the territory of the Republic of Croatia. The remains were exhumed in Zadar (3), Glina (1), Knin (1), Petrinja (2), Siroka Kula (1) and Gornja Obrijeza (1).From the very beginning of the process of exhumation and identification of mortal remains that were carried out on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, according to commonly established methodology, our side was enabled to monitor and this time the identification team was also monitored by the monitoring team of the Commission for Missing Persons.With this process is continued with the identification of victims of Serbian nationality, who died in the actions of "Flash" and "Storm" during 1995, whose families live in the Republic of Serbia, which is of particular importance to families of missing persons, who for years have been trying to find and dignified burial posthumous the remains of their loved ones.


On 2 July 2018, in Belgrade, in accordance with the agreement reached at the negotiations held on 08 May 2018 in Zagreb, a working meeting of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia and the Croatian Government Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, with UNDP support.

Purpose of the meeting was work on the exchanged information from both sides and gather new knowledges with the intensification of joint work on solving issues, for the final resolution of the issue of missing persons.

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In this regard, on the meeting was attended, in addition to representatives of the competent bodies for Missing Persons also representatives of the professional services of these bodies as well as members of the Expert Group for resolving the cases of missing persons in the former Yugoslavia established by the Commission for Missing Persons in December 2017. The subject this meeting were collected knowledge and information representing the results of the work of this group.

Analyzed were information on cases of missing persons that were exchanged during the bilateral meeting of the Commission and the Committee and it was agreed that progress has been made in this regard, but in order to achieve concrete results is necessary to continue the maintenance of the thematic working sessions.

It was discussed about open issues and requirements of both parties and agreed on the specific activities in the future which will be implemented after gathering additional information on specific cases in cooperation with the prosecutor's offices of the two countries responsible for the detection of war crimes. It will be then accessed to agreed, joint activities.

It was agreed that work on the harmonization of the new legal framework on the bilateral level bee continued, which will be the basis for a future work and until then activities should carried out on the basis of existing international agreements and the agreed cooperation mechanisms.

It was also agreed that the next bilateral meeting will hold in Zagreb by the end of September this year and to this meeting will preceded a working meeting, in the meantime will be continued the work on collecting information in relation to the issues and requirements.

On 10 July 2018, in London, the European Union countries and Western Balkans Summit participants signed a joint declaration on missing persons, which is a key document, because it supports the rights of families of missing persons to truth, justice and compensation.

Prime Ministers of the Republic of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, the so-called Kosovo, Albania, Croatia, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Slovenia and the Poland have signed a joint declaration on missing persons, which emphasized support for efforts to find 12,000 people who are still listed as missing as a result of armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

Before the Prime Ministers have signed the joint declaration, representatives of the relevant institutions for missing persons (hereinafter referred to as the competent authorities) – of R Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, so-called Kosovo and Croatia, met at the Ministry for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with the Minister for Europe and America of the United Kingdom, Sir Alan Duncan and Ms. Kathryne Bomberger, chief director of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), in order to agree on future cooperation in the harmonization of the Framework plan for resolving the issue of missing persons from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia (Framework plan).

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The delegation of the Commission for Missing Persons was led by the President of the Commission, Mr. Veljko Odalovic.

The issue of missing persons at the fifth session of the Berlin Summit process in London was one of the most important topics.

Bearing in mind that the European Union and the United Kingdom provide funds to enable the implementation of the plan, ICMP will work intensively with all relevant bodies to coordinate plan in the near future.

Framework Plan aims to accelerate the process and to intensify multilateral cooperation for the purpose of tracing and identifying the 12,000 persons which are still listed as missing from the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and to remove obstacles to solve a greater number of cases of missing persons in the next five years.

In accordance with the plan, competent body will resolve the issue of the cases of unidentified human remains that were placed in the morgue. In addition, they will update records and delete duplicate entries from the databases of active cases of missing persons as a result of armed conflicts in the 1990s, and to ensure the functioning of the Operational Working Group which was established in order to carry out a review of cases in the database.

The competent authorities shall endeavor to obtain information that could be related to finding and exhuming of hidden graves within its archives and other sources, and shall report regularly about what was achieved.

The competent bodies shall submit regular updates on their joint efforts in meetings with representatives of associations of the families of missing persons. Regional coordination of associations of families of missing persons in the former Yugoslavia, civil society organizations, which brings together representatives of various associations of families of missing persons, will follow the plan.

Participants will present an annual report on the implementation of the plan in the framework of the Berlin Process for the Western Balkans.

Berlin process, which was launched in 2014 by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is a multilateral mechanism created in order to assist in the preparation for future membership in the EU, with a focus on the key challenges.

On the same day, His Royal Highness Prince of Wales met with the representatives of associations of families of missing persons and representatives of the competent bodies on a reception at the Palace of St. James. The event was coordinated by the ICMP in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Affairs.

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The Pristina delegation is in the framework of the Working Group on Missing Persons continued to insist, for a specific location on the territory of the Republic of Serbia to be checkd, as the Belgrade delegation insisted on the specific locations in Kosovo and Metohija, also by UNMIK, for easier and more precise checks, in conjunction with the letter of the Special envoy of the Secretary-general, Mr. Zahir Tannin, made available to the Working Group, a special radar to penetrate into the ground.

Bearing in mind that the use of GPR - radar was facilitated search field, as reflected in the quality, speed, volume and significantly contribute to reducing the costs arising from these actions, on the orders of the War Crimes Prosecutor, GPR survey was conducted in the period from 06 to 10 August, 2018 in the municipality of Raska and is handled with the same qualified person from UN global service center, who will submit us a report on the searching results in the next period. On that occasion was searched two sites nominated by Belgrade delegation (Kizevak and Jaloviste).

Also, during the period from 13 - 17 August 2018 with GPR - radar was searched two locations in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, which was nominated by Pristina delegation (Kacanik and Ugljare). After receiving the report by an expert of the UN global service center, certain activities will be taken.

On 14 September 2018, in Banja Luka, was held a working meeting of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia and Republic Research Center of the war, war crimes and finding missing persons of Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Srpska.

The aim of the meeting was to reach an agreement concerning the improvement of the legal framework of cooperation in the exchange of available pieces of information and documentation with the intensification of joint work on resolving the issue of missing persons.

On that occasion was agreed on concrete mechanisms for future cooperation with the aim of resolving issues of common interest.

Both sides emphasized the importance of opening the archives, bearing in mind that for the further progress in finding the missing is necessary that all parties in the region as well as international organizations open their archives as Serbia did it, because there is a delay in the process caused by the lack of information about possible places of graves and archives undoubtedly have a huge documentation that may contribute to resolving this serious humanitarian issues.

At the meeting, President of the Commission for Missing Persons, has informed and closely acquainted the participants with the activities which the Government of the Republic of Serbia has undertaken in the field of solving the problem of missing persons, cooperation, problems and the current situation in resolving this issue, and presented data on the number of persons who are still registrated as missing in the official records of the Commission in connection with the armed

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conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, in the period 1991 - 1995, with proposals for improving cooperation between the Commission and the Republican center in this area.

Update, June 2018:

On 19 June 2018 in Pristina, there was a session of the sub-working group on forensic issues, where the main topic was determining the procedure for the transfer of remains in order to facilitate repatriation procedures and respect for the rights of families to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing family members. It's was made a proposal that was not conformd but it is agreed that after the Working Group meeting proposal of the procedures harmonize in the coming period and signed by the heads of delegations of Belgrade and Pristina.

On June 20, 2018 in Pristina, held one meeting of the Working Group on Missing Persons, where they exchanged information and documentation which was collected in the period between the two sessions. The Belgrade delegation handed over to the Pristina delegation a copy of the Books of protocol from the morgue in Kosovska Mitrovica and reports of the Institution for execution of criminal sanctions about a lists of prisoners who were removed from prisons in Kosovo and Metohija in correctional institutions in Central Serbia. The Belgrade delegation has asked the Pristina delegation to find a film that was displayed on 09th April 2018 at INDEKSONLINE site in Pristina and where can be seen how the KLA (clearly recognizable faces) armed stand next to the bodies of three members of the Army of Yugoslavia and buried that persons. From Pristina delegation is expected to find that film, to recognize members of the KLA and in conversation with them, find out the location of the burial of soldiers how they could be exhumed, identified and handed over to the families for burial. Also, the working group presented the proposal of the procedure for the handover of the remains.

On 08 May 2018, in Zagreb, a meeting of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia, led by Commission President Veljko Odalovic and Croatian Government Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, led by the President of the Commission - Assistant of the Minister for Croatian defenders Stjepan Sučić with the presence of Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in the Republic of Croatia, HE Mira Nikolić.

The meeting was attended by representatives of international organizations dealing with the issue of missing persons - the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and the UNDP.

Topics of the meeting were the improvement of the legal framework of cooperation and consideration of other issues that are of importance to interstate cooperation.Representatives of relevant government bodies for tracing missing persons of the two countries, stressed their commitment to solving the issue of missing persons as a priority humanitarian issue of particular importance for the families of missing persons as well as inter-state relations. In

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order to improve mutual relations in the issue of missing persons, the Croatian Government Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, initiated the adoption of a new legal framework for cooperation adapted to the present time and context of content.During the meeting, representatives of the Commission and the Commission (Croatia) presented the current status of the issue of missing persons, discuss the responsibilities and standards for their recording and agreed on the need for the new edition of the "Book of missing persons on the territory of the Republic Croatia", which should be published by the end of the year.

Also, both sides have reported on the activities undertaken in relation to the commitments made at the last meeting, a special attention was paid to the open issues and requirements for solving the cases of missing persons. In terms of outstanding issues, which are the essence of relations between government bodies for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Croatia, the parties have agreed on the need to intensify work on solving them. In this regard, they agreed on concrete mechanisms for future cooperation with the aim of resolving outstanding issues and exchanged the information available which will in the coming period will be subject of checks.

It were agreed also upcoming activities, a joint survey and identification of remains of missing persons, and to intensify work on the collection of information, the next meeting will be held by the end of June this year in Belgrade.

In the period from 16 April to 16 May 2018 at a location in Djakovica, were exhumed mortal remains, and there is a reasonable suspicion that in the matter is persons of Serbian and non-Albanian ethnicity. On those activities attended representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons and forensic expert. From exhumed remains were taken bone samples, to make an analysis of DNA and on the basis of that, final identification.Taken that due to the long period of time was carried out activities on the site of the mine Kizevak, Municipality of Raska, which did not give results, by UNMIK, in conjunction with the letter of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General, Mr. Zahir Tannin, the Working Group has been placed at the disposal a special radar to penetrate into the ground, for easier and more precise checks. In accordance with the above, according to commands of the OWCP for a period of 19 - 22 June 2018 was carried out excavation and handling material at the location of the mine Kizevak, Raška municipality, in the preparation of the field prior to use geo-radar.

On June 22th 2018 was carried out a field survey, in order to verify the allegations in the request of the Croatian Government Commission for Detained and Missing Persons, which refers to the persons killed during armed conflicts and whose mortal remains could be located in the former wool mill in Bogojevo, as well as local cemetery in Bogojevo. The results of these checks will be presented to the Croatian side in the upcoming working meeting which will be held in early July

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in Belgrade and on this occasion they will be presented to a joint survey of the site in cooperation with the Office of the War Crimes Chamber.

On 29 June 2018, in Belgrade, held a bilateral meeting of the Commission for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia and the Institute for Missing Persons of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in which both sides stressed the commitment of resolving the issue of missing persons as a humanitarian issue of particular importance for the families of the missing persons and intergovernmental relations. The meeting was held with the support of UNDP.

On behalf of the Commission for Missing Persons negotiations led Commission President Veljko Odalovic, while on the other side in front of the Institute for Missing Persons negotiations led chairman of Board of Directors Marko Jurisic, and present were the other members of the Board of Directors Amor Masovic and Nikola Perisic.

On the basis of the Protocol on cooperation on the search for missing persons between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Hercegovina, signed on 5 November 2015 in Sarajevo, in order to improve mutual relations in the field of tracing missing persons was discussed and agreed the text of the Running rules and procedures for the implementation of the Protocol cooperation. These operating rules and procedures shall be regulated by mutual relations, duties and way of working together between competent bodies for Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.Both parties gave support to the project "Database of active cases of missing persons in the former Yugoslavia" and discussed the need and potential sub-project of the base which would comprehensively dealt with the cases of persons killed in armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia that have been identified with classic judicial methods and through exchange with other parties during the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia, in the period from 1991 - 1995, handed over to families for burial. In the further course of the meeting, was agreed on concrete mechanisms for future cooperation with the aim of resolving outstanding issues and it was exchanged information available that will be subject to checks in the coming period. Also was agreed an upcoming activities as well as joint reconnaissance.It was agreed that the next meeting be held in Sarajevo by the end of this year when it will be sign the Operating rules and procedures and in the meantime to be continued work on collecting information.

Update, March 2018:

In the period December 2017 - March 2018, was held one meeting of the Working Group on Missing Persons (February 27, 2018 in Belgrade) and one session of the sub-working group on forensic issues (23 February 2018 in Belgrade) and one meeting of the Team for analysis (on 22 February 2018 in Prishtina).

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On 23 January 2018, in The Hague, Netherlands, was held a meeting of representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons with Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) attended was also Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia in The Hague, Mr. Petar Vico

The introductory part of the meeting was held with the Prosecutor of the MICT, in order to familiarize him with the objectives of the visit. As the main purpose of the visit was highlighted desire to find a mutually acceptable way to gain access to the archives of the Prosecutor's Office / MICT to representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons in order to find any information that would help to locate individual and mass graves where was buried missing persons.

The meeting was continued in the context of reaching an agreement about the future form of cooperation between the Commission for Missing Persons and MICT within which was presented the scope of work of the Commission through the presentation of the mandate, the legal framework for international and regional cooperation, the number of missing persons, phase of the process during the examination location, check of the terrain, exhumation , identification and handover of the remains as well as the challenges and plans for future work.

In the final part of the meeting was talked about the modalities of the future cooperation with the willingness expressed by the MICT that allowed until then to Commission for Missing Persons to receive available and MICT-Documentary from the archive through the existing mechanism, in the form of requires information.

Mr. Brammertz was decided that the MICT and the Commission for Missing Persons have the same goal when it comes to missing persons in armed conflicts in the former SFRY and that is to help the families of the missing persons, adding in that occasion that the archive of MICT contains about 10 million pages that certainly contain information relevant to solving the problem of missing persons and that he is ready to cooperate with the Commission.

Initial report:

In accordance with obligations assumed, the Republic of Serbia in the 8 th session of the Committee on Enforced Disappearance, on February 4th and 5th, 2015 in Geneva presented the Initial Report of the Republic of Serbia on the Application of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, adopted by the Government on January 15th, 2015 (Conclusion 05 number: 337-12/2015-1). The Report contains information relating to Art. 1 through 25 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance indicating the situation, issues and difficulties in specific sectors of the application of the Convention, as well as the measures, both legislative and those within the current policy in specific areas, which influenced the weaknesses noted. The Initial Report of the Republic of Serbia on the Application of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was presented and discussed of by the delegation of the Republic of Serbia headed by Veljko Odalović, Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Committee on Missing Persons of the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

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The Human Rights Committee, within the Concluding Observations concerning the Initial Report of the Republic of Serbia on the Application of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, relating to the issue of missing persons, expressed its concerns that more than 1,650 person from the Kosovo conflict were still missing, that many of them, perhaps, were victims of enforced disappearance, and it gave a recommendation to the Republic of Serbia to continue and enhance its efforts within the Working Group on Missing Persons aimed to achieve a further progress in the search of missing persons and, in case of death, to identify their remains.

In line with the recommendation of the Committee, the Commission undertook the following steps:

In 2016 were held three sessions of the Working Group on Missing Persons (on March 25 in Belgrade, June 8th in Bečići, and September 2nd in Priština) and three sessions of the Working Sub-Group on Forensic Issues (on March 4th in Priština, June 7th in Bečići, and November 10th in Belgrade).

In the session of the Working Group held on September 2nd, 2016 in Priština, under the Working Group on Forensic Issues was created the Analysis Team (composed of: 1 member from each of the following - the Belgrade delegation, Priština delegation, ICRC and EULEX), with the basic task to analyse all the existing information relevant to a specific case or event, with the only aim to help resolve the fait of the missing persons.

During 2017 were held two sessions of the Working Group on Missing Persons (on March 1st in Belgrade, May 16th in Priština), one session of the Working Sub-Group on Forensic Issues (on September 7th in Priština) and four meetings of the Analysis Team (on February 27 th in Belgrade, March 20th 2017 in Priština, July 19th in Belgrade, September 7th in Priština and December 5th in Belgrade).

In the period June 28th – 30th, 2017 in the Swiss Confederation, Geneva, organized by the International Committee of Red Cross and the Joint Office for Human Rights of UNMIK, was held the Round Table on Missing Persons – Belgrade and Priština, which meetings were attended, besides representatives of the Belgrade and Priština delegations of the Working Group, also by representatives of the associations of families of Serbian and Albanian missing persons.

The concluding observations and recommendations and challenges were clearly identified, namely:

1. Lack of new information2. Issue of wrong identification of remains3. Need for the Working Group on Missing Persons to develop a framework for the strategy

before the end of 2017, with clear priorities for the next two years.

As ordered by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, on November 9 th, 2015 an investigation stared in the Kiževak mine site, Municipality of Raška, for the purpose of establishing the activities necessary to precise the exact location of the possible mass grave. The investigation

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was interrupted on June 20th, 2017, since these activities failed to result in discovery of remains, and will be continued as soon as precise information about the location of burial are received. Duration of the works done in this location lasted a total of 148 working days, and approximately 130,000 m3 of the solid mass was excavated. During this period, the investigation used to be interrupted several times temporarily, due to bad weather conditions and due to the lack of funds.

The representatives of the Belgrade delegation of the Working Group on Missing Persons and the Working Sub-Group on Forensic Issues in the period from 13-14.07.2016 and 27-28.07.2017 attended the search of the location near the Church of Christ the Savior in Priština, as a suspected site where, according to statements of several witnesses, in June 1999 were buried the remains of persons of Albanian nationality. On this occasion, no remains were found.

By the Resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations, number: 61/177 dated on 6 th

February 2007 the International Convention on protection of all persons from enforced disappearances has been adopted, open for signing , ratification and access. By the adoption of the Law on Confirmation of the International Convention on protection of all persons from enforced disappearances, the Republic of Serbia is obliged to align its legal system with the International Convention on protection of all persons from enforced disappearances that was adopted on 20th December 2006 at the session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. The standpoint of the Republic of Serbia is that Republic of Serbia has implemented enforced disappearances through regulations of the criminal offences against freedom and rights of humans, i.e. unlawful deprivation of liberty prescribed in the Article 132 of the Criminal Code, criminal offence abdication prescribed in the Article 134 of the Criminal Code as well as criminal offence crime against humanity prescribed in the Article 371 and criminal offence war crimes against civilian population prescribed in the Article 372 of the Criminal Code.

By adoption od the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes in February 2016, for the first time the commitment of the Republic of Serbia to fully align with the Convention was shown in a strategical document, so the Section 5 of the Strategy prescribes that Serbia will continuously work on fulfillment of recommendations of the Committee for enforced disappearances and will submit reports on results achieved to the Committee. Enforced disappearances are explicitly mentioned in the Serbian Criminal Code, after the last changes of the Criminal Code that happened in November 2016. Namely, the legislator decided to make changes with an intervention within the Article 371 of the Criminal Code as follows: Whoever in violation of the rules of international law, as part of a wider and systematic attack against civilian population orders> murder, inflicts on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its complete or partial extermination, enslavement, deportation, torture, rape, forcing to prostitution, forcing pregnancy or sterilization aimed the ethnic balance of the population, persecution on political, racial, national, ethical, sexual or other grounds, enforced disappearance, detention or abduction of persons without disclosing information on such acts in order to deny such person legal protection, oppression of a racial group of establishing domination of one group over another, or other similar inhumane acts that intentionally cause serious suffering or serious endangering of health, or whoever commits any of the above mentioned offences shall be punished with imprisonment of minimum five years or imprisonment of thirty to forty years. In the explanation of the proposal for the amendments of the Criminal Code that was submitted to the National Assembly, it is stated that relevant changes of the law are consequences of the alignment of the Criminal Code with international agreements in a way that criminal offence

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crimes against humanity (Article 371 of the Criminal Code) is expanded to enforced disappearances by which the alignment with the International Convention on protection of all persons from enforced disappearances was fulfilled.

Objective 2: Enhanced institutional and administrative capacities of the state bodies involved in the process of determining the fate of missing persons, and their mutual cooperation.

Activities:

Perform the analysis of the organizational structure and status of the support service (persons permanently engaged in the Commission’s work) with the aim of improving efficiency and sustainability in the context of volume and specificity of tasks within the Commission’s purview.


Activity is almost completely implemented.

Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Considering extent, complexity and specifity of affairs of Commissariat for Refugees and Migration for needs of Commission for Missing Persons, in order of comprehensive, professional and systematic approach in resolving this issue it has been enforced analyze of organization structure and position of expert service (persons permanently egaged in Commission’s work). In accordance with that, the amendments on Rulebook on Internal Job Organisation and systematization of jobs have been made (becomes effective on April 10 th, 2019) and instead of Section for Missing Persons which was part of Sector for acceptance, care, readmission and permanent solutions, Department for Missing Persons has been formed with two narrow internal organizational units: Group for Missing Persons on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija and Group for Missing Persons on the territory of former Yugoslavia. Department for Missing Persons consists of 9 workplaces. Considering to increasing number of employees, next step is to provide financial funds with Budget Law for new employment and legal conditions for implementation of employment competition.


In the period from September 1 to December 31, 2018, in accordance with the conclusions of the Commission for approval for new employment and further engagement in public funds, we hired three persons under the contract of temporary part-time jobs.

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Also, the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration are preparing amendments to the Ordinance on internal organization and jobs, where it is provided that instead of the Section for Missing Persons systematize the Department of Missing Persons and this will by it self increase the number of employees.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

In the period from May 1 to August 31, 2018, in accordance with the conclusions of the Commission for giving approval for new employment and further engagement in public funds, we hired three persons under the contract of temporary part-time jobs.

Update, March 2018:

In the period from 1 January to 30 April 2018, in accordance with the conclusions of the Commission for approval for new employment and further engagement in public funds, we have hired two persons under the contract of temporary part-time jobs.

Initial report:

At the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, the Missing Person Division, as an internal organizational unit, is systemized, employing for an indefinite period of time 4 civil servants (persons permanently engaged in the Commission’s work).

Taking into account that in this period the prohibition of employment of persons for an indefinite period of time was in effect, we applied to the Commission for its consent to new employment and additional work engagement at public funds beneficiaries, and therefore in accordance with the Conclusion of this Commission in the period between September 1 st and December 31st, 2017 we engaged one person for a definite period of time due to an increased volume of work, and four persons under contracts for temporary and occasional work.

In view of the fact that the President of the Republic of Serbia has announced the extension of the mandate of the Commission on Missing Persons also to killed persons, in 2018 will be conducted a detailed analyses of the organizational structure and position of the expert service and, in accordance with this, the Rulebook on Internal Job Organization and Systematization at the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, Missing Persons Division, will be amended.

Improve mutual cooperation of the Commission on Missing Persons and other state bodies involved in the process of investigation and prosecution of war crimes for the purpose of enhancing the exchange of data of importance for establishing the fate of missing persons, through periodically organized round tables where identified issues would be discussed and recommendations for more efficient acting and communication specified.

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Time limit: periodically (at least once per year)


Update, June 2019:

On June, 21th 2019 meeting of Expert Group for solving cases of missing persons on the territory of former Yugoslavia was held. Recognised problems, were defined recommendations and conclusions for efficient behavior and communication of state authorities that are in investigation process and prosecution of war crimes, for accelerating exchange of information important for solving fate of missing persons. Reminder for meeting of Expert Group which contained conclusions from working meeting of Commission on Missing Persons and Government of Republic of Croatia(held on May 20th, 2019 in Vukovar) was given to the present members. It also contained open requests from both sides that are planned to be resumed and mutually exchanged within 60 working days, members of Expert Group should deliver additional information and other questions important for the Expert Group’s work.

Update, March 2019:

Conference of Working Group for collecting facts and evidences in order of resolving crimes against serbian people and other nationalities on Kosovo and Metohija, took place on January 16th, 2019. Subject was the arrangement for the future activities. On the same day, meetig of Analytical Team was held, and Team will be working on preparation of documents for agreed zone of responsibility.


On October 25, 2018, members of the Task Force on the Evidence of Evidence and Evidence in the Elimination of Crimes against Members of the Serbian People and Other National Communities in Kosovo and Metohija (hereinafter: Working Group) together with representatives of the Commission for Missing Persons (hereinafter: Commission), which is part of the Working Group, presented to the representatives of the embassies and international organizations in Belgrade the results of the work so far and requested from those organizations that have documentation of the crimes to be made available to continue the work on their illumination.

The President of the Commission pointed out that the Task Force had prepared several tens of examples of documents of KFOR, OSCE, UNMIK, EULEX and the Hague Tribunal that talk about the existence of their archives, which were presented to representatives of the international community at that time. He stressed that it is unacceptable that there are unconcerned cases. He appealed to representatives of the embassies to invite their representatives who had responsibility in the context of KFOR contingents to inspect their archives and put them in the search for missing persons, as information on missing persons is being sought by both families and Serbs

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and Albanians equally. He expressed the belief that many of these cases would receive an epilogue in court, as the direct command responsibility of the KLA was established and announced the operation of five more operational zones.

He pointed out that the Working Group formed a unique and precise database of crimes committed in the territory of KiM from 1998 to 2000, which is in line with the mandate of the specialized prosecutor's office, and that it processed a total of 1,630 events and 3,573 documents for two operational zones, Drenica and Dukagjini. This is documentation proving the organizational structure of the terrorist KLA, which is important for determining command responsibility, which we have submitted to the specialized prosecution. We have shown that the international presence at AP KiM has information and documentation based on which events that are not yet illuminated can be determined.


On July 20, 2018, was presented the results of the Working Group for gathering the facts and evidence in the investigation of crimes against Serbian people and other ethnic communities in Kosovo.

Working Group for gathering the facts and evidence in the investigation of crimes against Serbian people and other ethnic communities in Kosovo and Metohija, presented the results of previous work in the collection of documents that should serve to the Specialized Prosecutor's Office to indict members of the terrorist KLA for committed crimes and establishing command responsibility.

Beside members of the Working Group, to the meeting was attended President of the National Assembly Maja Gojkovic, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, Minister of Justice Nela Kuburovic, Minister of Labor, Veteran and Social Policy Zoran Djordjevic, director of the Security-Information Agency Bratislav Gasic and representatives of the Military Intelligence Agency Dejan Pajic, Military Security Agency Branislav Kusljic and from the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Zeljko Jovic.

Member of the Working Group and the President of the Commission for Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic representing previous work, pointed out that in obtaining documents and data was reached a high level of coordination of state agencies and authorities. He also stated that it is on the basis of consolidated data determined the final structure of the KLA, to the lowest units, which is important for establishing command responsibility.

In the framework of the Working Group, by now has, an expert-analytical team consisting of representatives of all state bodies and departments, treated zone Drenica and Dukagjini of seven operational zones of KLA for which was collected and processed more than 3,500 documents relating to 900 events. It is still listed as missing 152 persons in both zones.

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Head of the Working Group, Milovan Drecun said that the Republic of Serbia is committed to shedding light on crimes against members of the Serbian, as well as other peoples in Kosovo and Metohija and expressed the hope that all data and documents that occur Working Group will contribute to uncovering the full truth about the crimes committed in Kosovo and Metohija by members of the terrorist KLA and the prosecution of responsible.

Update, June 2018:

In the period from June 30, till 1 April there were two Expert Group Meeting (April 27, 2018 and June 26), within which was collected information and the information relating to the specific locations where the buried remains of persons killed during the armed conflict in 1991 in the Croatian territory. This information and data are handed over to the Croatian side at the bilateral meeting held on 8 May 2018 in Zagreb.

On June 12, 2018 in Belgrade, President of the Commission for Missing Persons, Mr. Veljko Odalovic and Prosecutor for War Crimes Ms. Snezana Stanojkovic signed a Memorandum of Understanding.On June 12, 2018 there was a meeting of the Working Group to gather the facts and evidence in the investigation of crimes against Serbs and other ethnic communities in Kosovo, which was presented during the current work of the Analytical Team to complete documentation for the two agreed areas.

Update, March 2018:

After all of the participants in the round table agreed to the proposal, on 27 December 2017, The Expert Group was formed to solve cases of missing persons in the former Yugoslavia (hereinafter referred to as Expert Group), in order to improve the relationship between the state involved in the process of investigation and prosecution of war crimes, and to accelerate the exchange of data that are important for discovering the fate of missing persons. All state bodies whose representatives participated in the round table included in the work of the Expert Group at the request of the Commission submitted the names of representatives who are appointed as members of the Expert Group. An expert group composed of representatives from the following government bodies: the Commission for Missing Persons, the Office of the War Crimes Chamber, the Ministry of Interior - Office of the War Crimes Investigation, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defense, Military Intelligence Agency (VOA), Military Security Agency (VBA) and Security Information Agency (BIA).

At the constituent meeting of the Expert Group on 15 and 16 March 2018 all members were informed about the goals and objectives defined by the act on organization and methods of the tasks of the Expert Group, as well as other issues of importance for its work. Also, they were introduced to the material which is the basis for the operation of the Expert Group, which is related to the open request from R Serbia and R Croatia and R Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, the list of missing persons of R Serbia, R Croatian and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and other available information and documentation that may help to resolve the cases of missing persons.In order to editing the mutual cooperation between the Commission for missing persons and the OWCP (hereinafter referred to as Prosecution), respectively, in order to ensure continuity in the

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exchange of data and information, coordination of activities and identification of the procedure in accordance with which co-operation would taking place, agreed the draft text of the Memorandum of Understanding, which will be signed in April this year by the President of the Commission and the Prosecutor.

In the period December 2017 - March 2018, one meeting of the Working Group was held to gather the facts and evidence in the investigation of crimes against Serbian people and other ethnic communities in Kosovo and several working meetings of Analytical Team.

Initial report:

The Commission on Missing Persons organized an inter-ministerial meeting (round table) for the purpose of enhancing the cooperation between the Commission and other government bodies involved in the process of investigation and prosecution of war crimes, with the aim of enhancing the exchange of data of importance for establishing the fate of missing persons. The meeting was held on November 30th and December 1st, 2017 in Fruška gora, supported by the UNDP. The meeting was attended by: the prosecutor and assistant prosecutor on behalf of the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, representatives of the Ministry of Justice, MoI – War Crime Discovery Service, Ministry of Defence, Security Information Agency, Military Security Agency, Military Intelligence Agency and Commission on Missing Persons. On this occasion, two session were held in which were discussed the reasons for setting up the Expert Group and modalities of cooperation and information exchange between the institutions, and a proposal for work of the Expert Group, including goals and objectives relevant to the implementation of the National Strategy, was prepared, which will be in the next meeting adopted by all representatives of the government bodies included in the Expert Group work.

The Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the National Assembly in its Tenth Session held on October 19th, 2015, rendered the Decision on setting up the Working Group for gathering facts and evidence in clearing up the crimes committed against the Serbian people and other national communities in Kosovo and Metohija. The Working Group is composed of the chairperson, members and deputy members of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija, as well as of representatives of the government bodies (Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, MoI – War Crimes Discovery Service, Commission on Missing Persons, Group for Judiciary, Human Rights and Property and Legal Issues at the Office for Kosovo and Metohija). The task of the Working Group is to intensively gather the facts and evidence, which may assist in clearing up the crimes against the Serbs and other national communities. Within the Working Group is set up an expert intelligence team with the aim to integrate and systemize the types of crimes by zones of responsibility of the terrorist KLA, and to integrate the data bases held by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor, MoI – War Crimes Discovery Service, Commission on Missing Persons, Safety Information Agency, Military Safety Agency and Military Intelligence Agency.

The Committee for Kosovo and Metohija will deliver the facts and evidence so gathered through the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor to the Special Court for KLA Crimes.

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Objective 3: Enhancement of regional and broader international cooperation in the field of determining the fate of missing persons.

Activities:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs initiates the procedure for the signing and becoming party to the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) granting the Commission the status of an international organization.



Initial report:

The status of the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) has been changed, taking into account that on December 15th, 2014, the Netherlands, the Great Britain, Belgium, Luxemburg and Sweden concluded the Agreement on the Status and Functions of the International Commission for Missing Persons (Framework Agreement), providing for that it should become an international organization with a seat in the Hague. The Agreement came in force as of May 10th, 2015, after ratified by Sweden and the Great Britain. The Framework Agreement was open for signing to all states by December 16 th, 2015, while after this date the states were able only to access thereto. For establishing the seat of the ICMP in the Hague it was necessary to conclude a separate agreement concerning the seat, and the Dutch Parliament prior to this had had to ratify the Framework Agreement.

In accordance with the above mentioned, on December 16th, 2015 in the Hague, the Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the Netherlands, on behalf of the Government, as a representative of the Republic of Serbia, signed the Agreement between the Republic of Serbia and the International Committee on Missing Persons on the status and functions of the ICMP.

During December 2016, the Commission prepared a Draft Law on Ratification of the Agreement on the Status and Functions of the ICMP and the same was ratified by the National Assembly on May 29th, 2017 and came in force for the Republic of Serbia as of August 20th, 2017.

The Government encourages the Commission on Missing Persons of the Republic of Serbia to establish, in cooperation with the EU, ICMP and other international organizations, funds and donors, a special cash fund for the support of competent state bodies in obtaining all available data on the location of gravesites of the persons still missing.



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Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

The site research and exhumation of remains in the territory of the Central Serbia are conducted as ordered by the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor and the High Court for War Crimes. The Commission on Missing Persons for these activities provides all logistic support and refunds all costs, not only out of the budget funds allocated for the Commission’s work, but also out of donation funds through approved projects, namely from: the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation, Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, Embassy of the Great Britain and Embassy of Finland.

As far as establishing of a special cash fund for support of competent state bodies in obtaining all available data on the locations of gravesites of the persons still missing, the Commission on Missing Persons has been carrying out consultations and preparation of particular documents, in order to implement these activities in compliance with legal procedures.

6. COOPERATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

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Objective 1: Intensifying of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals so that evidence on committed war crimes is transferred to the national judiciary and priority cases opened on the basis of such evidence.

Activities:

Fully access and examine the archive of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (relating to the war crimes committed in the territory of the Former Yugoslavia, and which contains documents not only from Serbia, but also from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia), analyze the discovered documents through appointed liaison officers on the basis of the EU project ensuring that all priority and serious allegations of war crimes are adequately prosecuted in accordance with the prosecutorial strategy.

Identify the materials and evidence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals relevant for the priority cases as part of the activities and hand over to the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor the discovered documents and evidence from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals.



Update, June 2019:

Cooperation between the OWCP and IRMCT/ICTY continued through so called `liaison officer` who research ICTY/IRMCT archives regarding war crimes cases committed on the territory of the Former Yugoslavia. Liaison officer continued to submit requests for assistance on behalf of the OWCP and take care of their timely manner fulfilment. He/she research IRMCT/ICTY databases on a daily basis, analyzes the found documentation and secludes information and evidences that that may be relevant to the proceedings before the OWCP. The OWCP case administrators also research those databases via access to Electronic Disclosure System (EDS). Requests for assistance are exchanged in both directions through liaison officer in order to ensure economy and timeliness of cooperation between the OWCP and IRMCT. In this reporting period IRMCT submitted one request for assistance which was responded, on the other hand the OWCP submitted 2 requests for assistance, of which, one was granted by the time of this report.

Update, March 2019:

Cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (IRMCC) was continued through the OWCP representative - liaison officer assigned to the Office of the IRMCC Prosecutor. The OWCP liaison officer’s duty is to search – further to the OWCP

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requests or upon his/her own initiative – through the IRMCC (ICTY/IMCC) Prosecutor’s databases for information, evidence and other documents relevant to cases addressed by the OWCP. The liaison officer is also authorized to submit to the IRMCC (ICTY/IMCC) Prosecutor’s Office requests for the provision of documents/information, with a view to obtaining relevant materials from the database sections which are otherwise unavailable to him/her.

In this reporting period, the OWCP filed with the IRMCC eight requests for legal assistance. Six of those requests were granted, whereas the remaining two are still pending. In the context of particular OWCP cases, the OWCP case administrators were also enabled access to the IRMCC databases via the Electronic Disclosure System.


Cooperation with the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts (IRMCC) and International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) continued through requests for assistance, through further realization of the EU project Visiting National Prosecutors, as well as through the OWCP liaison officers assigned to the Office of the IRMCC Prosecutor. The OWCP liaison officer’s duty is to search through the ICTY/IRMCC archives (including their evidentiary funds) for items of evidence and other documents relevant to the OWCP cases. Beside the liaison officers, the OWCP case administrators also have access to those databases via the Electronic Disclosure System.


The implementation of the activities described in the Second report was continued.

Update, June 2018:

The realization of the activities that are mentioned in the previous report is continued.

Update, March 2018:

Research into the ICTY/MICT archives – including the databases of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor's Office – continued throughout the past period. Part of the research is done by the OWCP Liaison Officer assigned to the MICT Prosecutor's Office, whereas the rest of the work lies with the case administrators who have access to the Electronic Disclosure System. The OWCP Liaison Officer is responsible for the identification of evidentiary items and other relevant documents, their verification for use in cases handled by the OWCP and their timely delivery to this Office.

Initial report:

The OWCP is permanently committed to the enhancement of cooperation with the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor’s Office. As a result of the EC-sponsored project Visiting National Prosecutors, which has been conducted with the Office of the ICTY Prosecutor since 2009, the OWCP has its

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representative, i.e. ’liaison officer’ at the Office of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor. On his/her own initiative or upon the OWCP instructions, the liaison officer searches the Office of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor’s databases for materials that are subsequently used as information/data/evidence in cases handled by the OWCP. Additionally, the liaison officer submits to the Office of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor requests for the provision of such documentation/information which is not directly accessible to the liaison officer. On his/her part, the liaison officer acts as a mediator in communication and information exchange between the OWCP and the Office of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor. Beside the OWCP liaison officer’s presence at the Office of the ICTY/MICT Prosecutor, direct cooperation is encouraged through periodical operational meetings dedicated to the determination of further concrete steps and harmonization of the dynamics of upcoming activities. The first in a series of such meetings was held on the Hague-based ICTY premises on 02 August 2017. The subsequent meeting took place at the OWCP seat on 09 October 2017. On 01 November 2017, the OWCP hosted ICTY Prosecutor Serge Brammertz during his fact-finding visit in the framework of the preparation of his six-monthly report to the UN Security Council.

The Republic of Serbia shall endeavor to maintain good practice of the transfer of knowledge and experience from the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, to gain both general knowledge and specific knowledge about individual cases.



Update, June 2019:

As described in the previous passage.

Update, March 2019:






Update, June 2018:


Update, March 2018:

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Initial report:


The Republic of Serbia shall endeavor to maintain good practice of ad hoc presence of the advisors from the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor in the offices of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals related to the national cases, as well as the analysis of the case files of the Office of the Prosecutor of the Tribunal and development of a plan for specific cases to be prosecuted before the Higher Court in Belgrade.

Time limit: Periodically


Update, June 2019:

The OWCP and IRMCT representatives continued their cooperation through regular meetings. On 21 May, the War Crimes Prosecutor met with IRMCT Chief Prosecutor, Serge Brammertz in the framework of his preparation for the regular half - yearly report to the UN Security Council.In the period between 8 and 12 April the deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors attended `Practical Training on the Investigation and Prosecution of Conflict – Related Sexual Violence as International Crime` organized by the IRMCT and Judicial Academy. The training was delivered by ICTY prosecutors.

Update, March 2019:

In the period between 19 and 22 May 2019, a regional prosecutors’ conference entitled Cooperation, Benchmarks and Standards in the Prosecution of War Criminals will be held in Belgrade. Envisaged as the continuation of the Palić Process, the conference expects to host IRMCC Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who – during his previous meetings with the War Crimes Prosecutor – voiced his support to the initiative for the continuation of this process.

The implementation of the IRMCC-EU projects Visiting National Prosecutors and Young Legal Professionals in Visit was continued throughout the reporting period. The latter project offers a professional training opportunity for an assistant prosecutor through work within one of the IRMCC Prosecutor’s teams.

Members of the OWCP staff regularly attend lectures and training programmes delivered by the IRMCC (ICTY) prosecutors, which provide an opportunity for them to upgrade their professional competences and exchange experience/opinions relating to particular ICTY and OWCP cases addressing the same criminal events, and involving shared evidence and expertise.

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In April 2019, another training programme aimed at further enhancement of the OWCP deputy prosecutors and assistant prosecutors’ skills and competences will be organized in Belgrade. Entitled Practical Training on the Investigation and Prosecution of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence as International Crime, the training will be delivered by the IRMCC prosecutors.


The practice of regular meetings between the OWCP and IRMCC was carried on in the reporting period. On 23 October 2018, the War Crimes Prosecutor met with IRMCC Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz in the framework of his preparation for the regular half-yearly report, which he submitted to the UN Security Council in early December. At the meeting with his Serbian counterpart, the IRMCC Chief Prosecutor supported the War Crimes Prosecutor’s initiative for the continuation of the Palić Process.

The Office of the IRMCC Prosecutor informed the OWCP that support had been secured for the continuation of the Visiting National Prosecutors, the joint IRMCC-EC project which ensures the presence and work of an OWCP representative (liaison officer) at the Office of the IRMCC Prosecutor. Another component of this joint project, namely Young Legal Professionals in Visit, will offer a professional training opportunity for at least one assistant prosecutor through work ’shoulder to shoulder’ within one of the IRMCC Prosecutor’s teams, or alternatively as part of the staff of the IRMCC Prosecutor’s immediate office.


Lectures at the seminar on conducting investigations in war crimes cases (see Fourth report, goal 5, item 1.1.) were delivered by a prosecutor with twenty years' experience in handling major cases before the ICTY. The OWCP and WCIS representatives gained new insights into a number of topics relevant to their work, including the following: modalities of approach to the investigation process; various methods of work organization; division of duties between police officers and prosecutors during investigation; evidentiary tools; and collection of evidence by the ICTY prosecutors alongside its utilisation in further course of proceedings. In addition to general subjects, the participants exchanged their views and experience regarding specific ICTY and OWCP cases addressing the same criminal events and involving the exchange of evidence/expertise.

Update, June 2018:

On 10 May 2018, the War Crimes Prosecutor and the MICT Chief Prosecutor met in the framework of the latter’s preparation of his regular half-yearly report to the UN Security Council.

Update, March 2018:

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The OWCP has continuous and intense cooperation with the Office of the MICT Prosecutor. This cooperation is realized and enhanced through the OWCP Liaison Officer assigned to the Mechanism, but also through regular periodical meetings. Held at prosecutorial level (OWCP Prosecutor – MICT Chief Prosecutor), these meetings are dedicated to the shaping of the principal directions of joint work and to the harmonization of operating activities. On the other hand, working meetings and consultations at the level of case administrators (OWCP deputy prosecutors – MICT prosecutors / investigators) are intended for the exchange of evidence, expertise and good practices.

Initial report:


7.REGIONAL AND BROADER INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

7.1. Regional Cooperation

Objective 1:

The Republic of Serbia shall invest efforts to develop normative regulation of the issues of regional cooperation in regard to prosecuting war crimes, as well as other related issues.

Activities:

The Ministry of Justice will initiate a regional conference to achieve an intergovernmental agreement (signed and ratified international treaty) with the Republic of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro on the following open issues:

1) establishing regional rules on the division of jurisdiction for proceeding in war crimes cases;

2) enhancement of regional cooperation with regard to proceeding upon letters of request in war crimes cases;

3) setting up a facilitated procedure for obtaining evidence in the territory of another state by defense attorneys in war crimes cases;

4) uniform proceeding of states in the region with regard to determining the fate of missing persons.


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Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

In the reporting period, a meeting between the representatives of the Ministry of Justice and representatives of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation was held. Discussion was related to the subject of the conference as well as to the possible attendants to the conference. The official confirmation of the Embassy of the Swiss Confederation on support to the organization of the regional conference is to be provided.

Initial report:

There is a ongoing process of consultations between the Ministry of Justice and the Embassy of Switzerland related to the providing of support to the organization of conference.

The Ministry of Justice will establish a working group to prepare proposals of topics and normative issues for the Regional Conference.



Update, June 2019:

123

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

The working group is to be established after funds necessary for the organization of the conference are ensured.

Objective 2: Proceeding upon letters of request of the Republic of Serbia sent to the states in the region is improved through joint action of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and the Ministry of Justice, and the number of cases in which the evidence is exchanged between prosecutors’ offices through regional cooperation is increased.

Activities:

The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the continuation of the Palić Process 5 with the presence of international observers, as well as regular quarterly meetings between regional prosecutors to discuss specific submitted cases and issues arising in regional cooperation in relation to those cases, with the presence of the representatives of international organizations.


5 Under the auspices of OSCE, towards the end of 2004 a need for the representatives of the judiciaries in the region to meet at the regional level was recognized. The first meeting was held in November 2004 on the topic of cooperation between the states in prosecuting war crimes. The meeting agreed on concrete steps to be undertaken by representatives of the state in order to strengthen regional cooperation in this field. Such mechanism, in the meantime, became known as the “Palić Process”.

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Update, June 2019:

The OWCP initiated continuation of `Palić Process` and alongside UNDP and with support of the UK and Italy organized regional prosecutors` conference on `Cooperation, Benchmarks and Standards in the Prosecution of War Criminals` held in Belgrade in the period between 20 and 22 May 2019 in which took part high - level delegation from Prosecutor`s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Prosecutor`s Office of the BH Federation, the Prosecutor`s Office of Brčko District, the Cantonal Prosecutor`s Office of Una-Sana Canton, the State Attorney`s Office and specialized prosecutor`s offices of Croatia, the Special Prosecutor`s Office of Montenegro. The regional conference was also attended by IRMCT Chief Prosecutor. The participating offices agreed that that more prosecutions are still needed for war crimes committed in conflicts in the Former Yugoslavia and that cooperation between their offices is critical to achieving this.

The practice of holding regularly quarterly meetings of regional prosecutors continued. On 18 April, a bilateral meeting between the War Crimes Prosecutor of Republic of Serbia and BH Chief Prosecutor was held within the framework of the UNDP – facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing and Search for Missing Persons (2017-2019).

Here is the statistical overview of the requests for assistance in the period from 1 April to 1 July

• Out of 11 requests for assistance received from the BH Prosecutor`s Office, the OWCP responded to 7, whereas the remaining 4 are still being processed. On the other hand, out of 15 OWCP requests for assistance the BH Prosecutor`s Office responded to 10 requests, whereas the remaining 5 so far remained unresponded.

• Out of 8 requests received from the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor, the OWCP responded to 4, whereas remaining 4 are still being processed. On its part, the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor has so far failed to respond on any of the 6 requests filed by the OWCP.

• During the reporting period, in compliance with the Procedures for Mutual Legal Assistance, the OWCP submitted 3 requests for assistance to the Office of the Eulex Special Prosecutor in Priština, which on its part failed to respond on any.

Update, March 2019:

Seeking to ensure the exchange of experience / good practices among colleagues from the region, as well as the continuation of the Palić Process, the War Crimes Prosecutor initiated a regional prosecutors’ conference, which will be held in Belgrade from 19 to 22 May 2019. Entitled Cooperation, Benchmarks and Standards in the Prosecution of War Criminals, this UNDP-facilitated conference – beside regional prosecutors – will welcome Mr. Serge Brammertz, the IRMCC Chief Prosecutor.

In this reporting period, the OWCP continued its regular quarterly meetings with regional prosecutors aimed at further improvement of regional cooperation. Such meetings provide an opportunity for the prosecutors to discuss concrete activities in the context of regional

125

cooperation. On 28 February 2019, an OWCP representative took part in the regional consultations in Zagreb, organized in the framework of the UNDP-facilitated project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017-2019). The consultations were also attended by representatives of the BH and Croatian Prosecutor’s Offices.

The next bilateral meeting – also in the framework of the UNDP-facilitated project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017-2019) – between representatives of the OWCP and BH Prosecutor’s Office has been planned for 18 April 2019 in Sarajevo, BH. The meeting will address concrete activities based on the Protocol of Cooperation, efforts in the search for missing persons and other current issues related to war crimes cases.

Activities related to cooperation between state authorities involved in war crimes investigations and processing were also carried on through the OWCP participation in mixed working bodies.

The exchange of requests for assistance with regional prosecution services remained intensive in the reporting period.

Оut of 11 requests for assistance received from the BH Prosecutor’s Office, the OWCP responded to 4, whereas the remaining 7 are still being processed. On the other hand, out of 21 OWCP requests for assistance, the BH Prosecutor’s Office responded to 4 requests, whereas the remaining 17 have so far remained unresponded.

Out of 10 requests received from the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor, the OWCP responded to 4 requests, whereas the remaining 6 are still being processed. On its part, the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor has so far failed to respond to any of the 8 requests filed by the OWCP.

During the reporting period, in compliance with the Procedures for Mutual Legal Assistance, the OWCP submitted 9 requests for assistance to the Office of the EULEX Special Prosecutor in Priština, which on its part failed to respond to any.


The OWCP continued cooperation with its counterparts across the region, which is best illustrated by the following statistics on the requests for assistance exchanged in the period from 1 October to 31 December 2018:

- Оut of 10 requests for assistance received from the BH Prosecutor’s Office, the OWCP responded to 4, whereas the remaining 6 are still being processed. On the other hand, out of 17 OWCP requests for assistance, the BH Prosecutor’s Office responded to 9 requests and failed to respond to the remaining 8.

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- Out of 8 requests received from the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor, the OWCP responded to 3 and returned 1, whereas the remaining 4 requests are still pending. On its part, the Office of the Croatian Chief Prosecutor responded to 2 out of 6 OWCP requests, and failed to respond to the remaining 4.

- The Office of the EULEX Special Prosecutor in Priština submitted 2 requests for assistance in the reporting period. The OWCP responded to one such request, whereas the other is still pending. In compliance with the Procedures for Mutual Legal Assistance, the OWCP sent 9 requests for assistance to the EULEX Prosecutor, but none of them was responded.


The OWCP remains committed to the enhancement of cooperation with relevant prosecution services regionwide. On 20 September 2018, an OWCP delegation took part in the – fourth in a row – regional consultations held as part of the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019). The consultations were also attended by representatives of the competent prosecution services of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro, whose respective delegations were headed by the BH Chief Prosecutor, Croatian Chief State Prosecutor and Special Prosecutor of the Montenegrin Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.

The OWCP tries to respond – as promptly as possible – to its regional counterparts’ requests for assistance. Тhe OWCP failed to respond to requests containing some formal faults, i.e. to those not filed in line with the request contents as prescribed by relevant cooperation acts.

Here is the statistical overview of the requests for assistance exchanged during the reporting period:

Оut of 8 requests for assistance received from the BH Prosecutor, the OWCP positively answered to 2, negatively answered to 1, and the remaining 5 are still pending. On the other hand, out of 6 OWCP requests for assistance, the BH Prosecutor positively responded to 1 and failed to respond to 5 such requests.

Out of 9 requests for assistance received from the Croatian State Prosecutor, the OWCP positively responded to 1, and is currently addressing the remaining 8. On its part, the Office of the Croatian State Prosecutor responded to 1 out of 4 OWCP requests for assistance, and failed to respond to the remaining 3.

Update, June 2018:

The OWCP remains committed to cooperation with competent prosecution services across the region. During the reporting period, a bilateral meeting was held with representatives of the BH

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Prosecutor’s Office, and another with those from the Office of the Croatian State Prosecutor. Organized in the framework of the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019), those meetings were dedicated to the exchange of information / data related to particuler cases.

Likewise, the OWCP tries to respond – as promptly as possible – to its regional counterparts’ requests for assistance Тhe OWCP failed to respond to requests containing some formal faults, i.e. to those not filed in line with the request contents as prescribed by the relevant cooperation acts.

Here is the statistical overview of the requests for assistance exchanged during the reporting period:


The OWCP is currently addressing 5 requests for assistance received from the Croatian State Prosecutor. On its part, the Office of the Croatian State Prosecutor has not responded to any of the 4 such requests filed by the OWCP during the reporting period.

In the course of the reporting period, the OWCP received no requests for assistance from the EULEX Special Prosecutor based in Priština. Pursuant to the Procedures of Mutual Legal Assistance, the OWCP filed 7 requests for assistance with the EULEX Special Prosecutor, but did not receive a single positive response.

Update, March 2018:

The OWCP remains committed to cooperation with competent prosecution services across the region. Following a series of bilateral meetings held during the 4th quarter of 2017, the second session of regional consultations was held in Sarajevo on 30 January 2018. The event was attended by representatives of all regional prosecution services, namely the Offices of the BH Prosecutor, Croatian State Prosecutor, Montenegrin Special State Prosecutor and Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor. Organized within the framework of the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019), these meetings, i.e. consultations are dedicated to the harmonization of main pathways of cooperation, whereas the exchange of information and coordination of joint work on concrete cases are addressed at bilateral meetings.

Likewise, the OWCP does its best to promptly respond to requests for assistance received from their counterparts in the region. The OWCP did respond to requests which had some formal

128

irregularities, i.e. those not filed in accordance with the request format as prescribed by the relevant cooperation acts.

Here is the statistical overview of the requests for assistance exchanged during the reporting period, including those realized in November and December 2017:


Оut of 7 requests for assistance received from the Croatian State Prosecutor, the OWCP positively answered to 1, negatively answered to 1 and the remaining 5 requests are still pending. On its part, the Office of the Croatian State Prosecutor granted assistace in 1 out of 6 requests filed by the OWCP during the reporting period, and failed to answer to the remaining 5.

In the course of the reporting period, the OWCP received no requests for assistance from the EULEX Special Prosecutor in Priština. Pursuant to the Procedures of Mutual Legal Assistance, the OWCP filed 8 requests for assistance to the EULEX Special Prosecutor, but did not receive a single positive response.

Initial report:

The OWCP remains committed to the enhancement of regional cooperation. In the light of such commitment, the War Crimes Prosecutor initiated bilateral meetings with regional prosecution services’ chief prosecutors.

The first in a series of such meetings was with the Croatian State Prosecutor, held in Zagreb on 27 July 2017. A meeting with the BH Acting Prosecutor was held in Belgrade on 02 October 2017. Those meetings were dedicated to the harmonization of views regarding future regional cooperation. A bilateral meeting with the Montenegrin Specil Prosecutor has been scheduled for 14 December 2017.

On 27 October 2017, a UNDP-facilitated meeting of regional prosecutors was organized in Belgrade. The next meeting dedicated to the enhancement of regional cooperation, which has been scheduled for March 2018, could be an opportunity for the War Crimes Prosecutor to initiate steps towards the unification of judicial practices. However, the War Crimes Prosecutor cannot initiate the creation of a unified regional database involving all trials addressing war crimes in the former Yugoslav territory, given that the creation of such a database should be linked to courts rather than to prosecution services. Virtually on a daily basis, the OWCP responds to requests for international legal assistance sought by competent prosecution services from countries in the region. The Act on International Legal Assistance, as well as the existing bilateral cooperation acts, provide grounds for such cooperation. Thus, in the period from February 2016 to the time of reporting, out of 116 requests received from the BH Prosecutor’s Office, the OWCP has responded to 91. The assistance has been effectuated on the basis of the following: Memorandum of Agreement on the Realization and Promotion of Cooperation in Fighting All Forms of Grave Crimes; and Protocol of Cooperation in Prosecuting Perpetrators of

129

War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Genocide. Out of 86 requests for international legal assistance received from the Croatian State Prosecutor, the OWCP has responded to 53. Out of three such requests received from the Montenegrin Special Prosecutor, the OWCP has responded to one. On the other hand, the BH Prosecutor’s Office has responded to 47 out of 68 OWCP requests for international legal assistance. Out of 43 OWCP requests sent to the Croatian State prosecutor, 27 have been responded. Finally, the Office of the Montenegrin Special Prosecutor has responded to both of the OWCP requests for international legal assistance.

None of the 19 OWCP requests sent to the EULEX Prosecutor in Priština have been responded. On its part, the OWCP has responded to 7 out of 10 such requests received from the EULEX Prosecutor.

When it comes to cooperation with the ICTY over the reporting period, the OWCP fully responded to all requests for international legal assistance.

The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the establishment of joint records of war crimes cases at the regional level the resolving of which commenced through regional cooperation, to enable monitoring of the successfulness of cooperation.



Update, June 2019:

The War Crimes Prosecutor continue to advocate the establishment of an unified register of war crimes cases initiated through regional cooperation, the initiative she launched during the 4th regional consultation within the project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019).

Update, March 2019:

At the upcoming meetings and conferences with prosecutors from the neighbouring countries, the OWCP will renew its appeal for the creation of a joint database of war crimes cases, and point to the necessity of the implementation of this activity.


The OWCP continued its cooperation with relevant prosecution services regionwide and undertook activities towards its further enhancement. At the meetings and consultations with regional prosecutors, which are due to take place in the upcoming period, the War Crimes Prosecutor will continue to insist on the creation of a unified register of war crimes cases at the regional level.

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As described in the Fourth report, goal 3, item 1.1.

Update, June 2018:

In the course of the upcoming regional consultations with her counterparts from the countries across the region, the War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the creation of a common regional register of war crimes cases opened through regional cooperation, which should ensure the monitoring of the overall effectiveness of such cooperation. (See item 1.2, goal 2.)

Update, March 2018:

At the upcoming regional consultations held within the UNDP-facilitated regional project Enhancing Regional Cooperation in the Processing of War Crimes and the Search for Missing Persons (2017 – 2019), the War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the establishment of a common regional database of the war crimes cases opened through regional cooperation.

Initial report:


The Office of War Crimes Prosecutor will promote the establishment of joint cross-border investigative prosecutorial teams with the countries of the region as a method to achieve better cooperation.



Update, June 2019:The OWCP representatives will continue to advocate establishment of joint investigative teams, with the aim of achieving as efficient cooperation as possible with its regional counterparts.

Update, March 2019:

Aware of the importance of regional cooperation in war crimes cases, the War Crimes Prosecutor and her deputies will continue to encourage the creation of joint investigative teams – assigned to particular cases – with competent prosecution services across the region.


131

Тhe OWCP will continue the present cooperation with its regional counterparts, and take every opportunity to promote the creation of joint investigative teams with the competent prosecution services regionwide.


No changes.

Update, June 2018:

As of the upcoming regional prosecutors’ consultations, the War Crimes Prosecutor will encourage the formation of joint cross-border investigative teams with countries across the region. (See the previous report, as well as item 1.2, goal 2.)

Update, March 2018:

Bearing in mind the effectiveness of the present cooperation, the OWCP will – in addition to the initiative for the creation of joint investigative teams with competent regional prosecutions as needed in concrete cases – promote the creation of joint cross-border investigative teams as an additional form of international legal assistance.

Initial report:

In accordance with specific needs in individual cases, the War Crimes Prosecutor will initiate the creation of joint investigative teams with competent regional prosecutions, as has already been done in the context of the Štrpci, Srebrenica and Sotin cases.

The War Crimes Prosecutor will report to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on each case of failure of his regional counterparts to execute its letter of request or act upon his information and evidence on war crimes and perpetrators. The Ministry of Justice will immediately react upon each of these reports by addressing its regional counterpart. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will also react to such cases in the appropriate diplomatic manner, with the aim of drawing the attention of international organizations and relevant stakeholders in the field of mutual legal assistance in international criminal law.

The Republic of Serbia will continue to promote the idea of regional cooperation to ensure the effective prosecution of war crimes, when necessary, under the supervision of the EU, the EUROJUST Genocide Network the prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, the UNDP Regional Office for Cooperation and the NGO sector to closely monitor the investigative results and war crimes proceedings in the former Yugoslavia.


132


Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


No changes.

Update, September, 2018:

No changes.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

In case of the competent regional prosecutions’ failure to respond to the OWCP requests for assistance, the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor tries to overcome such issues through direct contacts with relevant counterparts. In case such an issue cannot be resolved in direct communication, the War Crimes Prosecutor will provide timely notification thereof to the Serbian Justice Ministry, which in turn is expected to undertake relevant measures and activities within the scope of its competence.

Cooperation among state authorities of the states in the region is based on the bilateral agreements. Republic of Serbia has concluded bilateral agreements that regulate deferent forms of legal aid and acting on the requests for legal aid in war crimes cases as follows:

- Agreement on legal aid in civil and criminal matters concluded in 1997 between Republic of Serbia and Republic of Croatia;

- Agreement on extradition concluded in 2010 between Republic of Serbia and Republic of Croatia;

- Agreement on legal aid in civil and criminal matters concluded in 2005 between Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its amendments dated in 2005;

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- Agreement on extradition concluded in 2013 between Republic of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Cooperation among judicial authorities in the region is based on the legal acts concluded among Office of War Crime Prosecutor and Prosecution offices in the region as follows:

- Memorandum on understanding in achivment and improvement of the mutual cooperation in combating of all serious forms of crime concluded on 05.02.2005 between the Republic Public Prosecution Office, the Office of War Crime Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia and the State Prosecution Office of the Republic of Croatia;

- Memorandum on understanding in achivment and improvement of the mutual cooperation in combating of all serious forms of crime concluded on 01.07.2005 between the Republic Public Prosecution Office, the Office of War Crime Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia and the Prosecution Office of the Bosnia and Herzegovina;

- Memorandum on understanding in prosecution of offenders of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide concluded on 12.10.2006 between the Office of War Crime Prosecutor of the Republic of Serbia and the State Prosecution Office of the Republic of Croatia;

- Protocol on understanding in prosecution of offenders of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide concluded on 31.01.2013 with the Prosecution Office of the Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Existing contractual status gives a possibility for diferent forms of legal aid (delivering of court and non court documents and fullfilment of some procedural actions) but requests for take over and transfer of cases, requests for adoption and enforcement of foreign court verdicts as well as transfer of the convicted persons and extradition of offenders and convicted persons are frequent.Ministry of Justice is the central authority for receiving and forwarding of the requests for legal aid, and therefore Ministry of Justice is responding on the requests for legal aid. Acting on requests for legal aid in war crimes cases is urgent.

Objective 3: Enhanced cooperation with the judicial bodies of the provisional institutions of Kosovo and Metohija6.

Activities:

Improving cooperation between the judicial authorities of the Republic of Serbia and of the Service for War Crimes with the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in Pristina, conducted fully in accordance with Resolution of the Government of the Republic of Serbia 05 No 018-1862 / 2013-1 of 07.03.2013, through which the text Procedure of mutual legal assistance was adopted.

Time limit: Continuously6 This designation is without prejudice to the status of Kosovo in accordance with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


No changes.


No changes.

Update, June 2018:

The War Crimes Prosecutor had consultations with the relevant Assistant Justice Minister from the International Legal Assistance Division, regarding the failure of the provisional self-government authorities in Priština to respond to the OWCP requests filed in line with the Procedures of Mutual Legal Assistance.

Update, March 2018:

Evidence and information related to issues of mutual interest were exchanged at a meeting held on 18 December 2017.

Since – despite two urgent pleas – the provisional self-government authorities in Priština failed to respond to the OWCP request for mutual legal assistance filed in compliance with the Procedures of Mutual Legal Assistance adopted by the Serbian Government’s Conclusion of 07 March 2013, the War Crimes Prosecutor asked the EULEX Prosecutor to facilitate the realization of its request. In case the OWCP receives no response to its request within reasonable time, the War Crimes Prosecutor will notify the Justice Minister about the Priština provisional authorities’ failure to comply with the Procedures.

Initial report:

In line with the Serbian Government’s Conclusion of 07 March 2013, the OWCP communication with the provisional self-government authorities in Priština is conducted through EULEX. The War Crimes Prosecutor has regular meetings with her EULEX counterpart, which are aimed at

135

the harmonization of current issues. The War Crimes Prosecutor had two meetings with EULEX representatives, and their next meeting has been scheduled for 18 December 2017.

7.2. International Cooperation

Objective 1: Enhanced international cooperation through the presentation of work of the national judicial bodies.

Activities:

Active participation of judges and public prosecutors who handle war crimes cases in seminars on international humanitarian law and professional conferences, among other things, to present local case law and overall achievements of our judicial bodies in this area, which would make the results of the Serbian judiciary an integral part of a broader corps of international criminal case law, brought to the attention of international experts. The Ministry of Justice, in cooperation with the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor and High Judicial Council, will invest efforts to secure financial support of the project of translating domestic judgments (or relevant parts thereof) into the English language, so that they can be included in the Legal Tools Project, the electronic data base of all legal documents of international criminal law existing on the web site of the International Criminal Court.



Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Status remained unchanged. No activities of this kind were undertaken over the reporting period.

Update, September, 2018:

As described under goal 4, item 1 and goal 2, item 7.1.

Update, June 2018:

No relevant activities were undertaken during the reporting period.

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Update, March 2018:

No relevant activities were undertaken during the reporting period.

Initial report:

On 22 June 2017, at the invitation of the Post-Conflict Research Centre, the War Crimes Prosecutor visited Sarajevo, where she attended the ICTY Conference on Peace Education and Genocide Prevention, which should facilitate the maintenance of peace and creation of sustainable democracy in the region.

On 30 August 2017, the OWCP took part in the Media Conference at the event marking the International Day of Missing Persons, organized in commemoration of victims and their families. On 13 and 14 October 2017, the War Crimes Prosecutor visited Pula, where she attended the Conference entitled “The Destruction of Cultural Heritage, Postwar Reconstruction and Building of Confidence“.

As part of the Serbian Government’s Human & Minority Rights Office delegation, an OWCP representative was present at the 94th session of the UN Anti-Racial Discrimination Committee, which was held in Geneva in November 2017. Based on the concluding observations on the Republic of Serbia’s combination of periodical reports (2-5), the Anti-Racial Discrimination Committee welcomed the 2016 National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy as a highly positive development.

The OWCP will provide timely support to the Justice Ministry in its efforts to secure funds for the translation of national judgments into English, as such translated versions could be included into the Legal Tools Project, the electronic database of all legal documents in the area of International Criminal Law.

8. OUTREACH

Objective 1: Easier access to information on war crimes trials

Activities:

Increased frequency of acting by presidents of the competent courts in accordance with Article 16a of the Law on the Organization and Jurisdiction of Government Authorities in War Crimes Proceedings;



Update, June 2019:

137

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.


Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

Decisions related to the submitted requests are issued.

Improvement of the web site of the High Court in Belgrade, where all the necessary information about the judgments in war crimes cases will be publicly available, with a gradual increase of the numbers of the actual decisions (in accordance with measures to improve the availability of case law provided by the Action Plan for Chapter 23), fully respecting the rules of personal data protection;

Time limit: Continuously .


Update, June 2019:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2019:

Unchanged.

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Unchanged.


Unchanged.

Update, June 2018:

Unchanged.

Update, March 2018:

Unchanged.

Initial report:

The judgments of the Department for War Crimes of the Higher Court in Belgrade are publicly available. Time when the judgment is to be publicly available is shown on the web presentation of the Higher Court in Belgrade. Information related to the judgments of the Department for War Crimes of the Higher court in Belgrade are published by the Appellate court in Belgrade after judgments are final.

Regular publishing of substantive reports on the work of judicial institutions responsible for prosecuting war crimes;



Update, June 2019:

The activities described in the previous report are carried out continuously.In order to keep public informed on regular and complete basis about the OWCP work, its internet presentation is updated in line with the latest activities. The OWCP Information Booklet, also available on the OWCP webpage, is regularly updated with the latest information relevant to the work of this Office.

On 21 June, War Crimes Prosecutor met with the UNDP representative. The topic of conversation was further quality and content improvement of the OWCP webpage and updating the existing databases of war crimes cases.

Update, March 2019:

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Given the importance of the OWCP web presentation which ensures public insight into the most important activities of this Office, the OWCP website is updated and brought in line with relevant regulations on a daily basis. In the light of the new Rules of the Anonymization of OWCP Indictments enacted in the previous reporting period, the OWCP website has been updated accordingly. The OWCP indictments are now published at its official website in line with the rules of personal data protection. The OWCP Information Booklet is updated on a monthly basis, and so is the section including basic information about the OWCP cases, which should ensure timely information about developments of public interest pertaining to the OWCP work, and better access to such information. Likewise, monthly schedules of trials in cases indicted by the OWCP are available to its website visitors.

The OWCP continued to provide information/data as requested by all interested parties, including individuals and institutions such as the OSCE and Humanitarian Law Centre. Whenever relevant conditions were met, the OWCP duly responded to requests for access to information of public interest.


In December 2018, in order to ensure public insight into its work, the OWCP presented on its website a report on the activities undertaken by this Office further to all criminal complaints received since 2003 onwards. This report will be continuously updated in the future.

The OWCP web presentation was regularly updated with the latest information relevant to the work of this Office.

In the course of the reporting period, the OWCP Information Booklet was updated to include relevant data in accordance with current developments.

In December 2018, in order to offer timely information about developments of public interest pertaining to the OWCP work, and to ensure better access to information of public relevance, the War Crimes Prosecutor appointed a person in charge of communication with the public, i.e. the OWCP official spokesperson.

Тhe OWCP continued to provide information/data as requested by all interested parties, including individuals and institutions such as the OSCE and Humanitarian Law Centre. In this reporting period just like in the previous one, the OWCP duly responded to all requests for access to information of public interest.


The activities described in the previous reports were continued.

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The OWCP web presentation is regularly updated with information relevant to the OWCP work. The OWCP Information Booklet, which is updated in accordance with changes of relevant data, is available in electronic and print versions.

Update, March 2018:

The form and contents of the OWCP web presentation have been improved in order to update the public on the ongoing OWCP activities related to particular cases, on the implementation of relevant strategic documents and on other developments of importance for the work of this Office. Due to its multiple advantages, the OWCP web page – with its continuous improvements – is the major source of information and a reliable instrument for the presentation of data relevant to the OWCP performance, free and accessible at any time.

In order to inform those interested in access to the facts concerning the contents, extent and manner of exercising their rights, the OWCP web page offers the electronic version of the Information Booklet about its work, which is updated in accordance with current developments.

In view of the interest of international judicial institutions and other international partners in the OWCP work, and given the importance of information about its cases for legal professionals and the scientific community beyond Serbia, the overall contents of the OWCP web page are also available in the English language.

The Supreeme Court of Cassation is publishing the decisions in the war crimes matters on its web site. Some of decisions are a part of the Bulletin of the Supreeme Court of Cassation number 2: (http://www.vk.sud.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/Bilten%20VKS%202-2017.pdf).

According to the report of the president of the Appelate Court in Belgrade dated on 30th March 2018, all decisions on the complaints have been published on the website of the Appelate Court in Belgrade in the section “Case law”.

In accordance with the letter of the president of the Higher Court in Belgrade, Su VII 241/18 dated on 27th March 2018, a review of the penalties policy in the war crimes proceedings for 2015, 2016 and 2017 has been published on the website of the Higher Court in Belgrade.Initial report:

The OWCP improved its internet presentation, which now offers updated information to those interested in the OWCP activities in proceedings regarding particular criminal cases.

On 22 June 2017, at the invitation of the Post-Conflict Research Centre, the War Crimes Prosecutor visited Sarajevo, where she attended the ICTY Conference on Peace Education and Genocide Prevention, which should facilitate the maintenance of peace and creation of sustainable democracy in the region.

On 30 August 2017, the OWCP took part in the Media Conference at the event marking the International Day of Missing Persons, organized in commemoration of victims and their families.

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http://www.vk.sud.rs/sites/default/files/attachments/Bilten%20VKS%202-2017.pdf

On 13 and 14 October 2017, the War Crimes Prosecutor visited Pula, where she attended the Conference entitled “The Destruction of Cultural Heritage, Postwar Reconstruction and Building of Confidence“.

As part of the Serbian Government’s Human & Minority Rights Office delegation, an OWCP representative was present at the 94th session of the UN Anti-Racial Discrimination Committee, which was held in Geneva in November 2017. Based on the concluding observations on the Republic of Serbia’s combination of periodical reports (2-5), the Anti-Racial Discrimination Committee welcomed the 2016 National War Crimes Prosecution Strategy as a highly positive development.

The OWCP promptly provides information/data sought by all stakeholders and relevant institutions such as the OSCE, Humanitarian Law Centre etc.

All requested information related to the work of the court are delivered in accordance with the requests filed by civil society organizations, OSCE or interested parties.

Regular publishing of reports on the implementation of all relevant strategic documents in the field of prosecuting war crimes (the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the National Strategy, the Strategy of the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor);



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Update, March 2018:

Reports on the implementation of the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes have been published on the website of the Ministry of Justice, on Serbian and in English, and the link is as follows:

https://www.mpravde.gov.rs/tekst/17978/izvestaj-o-sprovodjenju-nacionalne-strategije-za-procesuiranje-ratnih-zlocina.php

Initial report:

Starting from adoption of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, reports on implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 are being published quarterly on the web page of the Ministry of Justice (https://www.mpravde.gov.rs/tekst/17033/izvestaj-br-32017-o-sprovodjenju-akcionog-plana-za-poglavlje-23.php).

The same practice related to the publishing of the reports for the Chapter 23 will be used to the publishing of the reports related to the implementation of the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes.

The report on the previous activity is the same for this activity.

With the support of the Council for the implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 and the Negotiating Group for Chapter 23, the inclusion of representatives of the institutions responsible for the prosecution of war crimes in the mechanism of cooperation with civil society organizations through their participation in occasional meetings with the National Convent of the EU.



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https://www.mpravde.gov.rs/tekst/17033/izvestaj-br-32017-o-sprovodjenju-akcionog-plana-za-poglavlje-23.php

https://www.mpravde.gov.rs/tekst/17033/izvestaj-br-32017-o-sprovodjenju-akcionog-plana-za-poglavlje-23.php

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Update, March 2018:.

The draft version of the Prosecutorial Strategy for War Crimes Investigation and Processing 2018 – 2023 was presented at an expert meeting held on 12 March 2018. The meeting was attended by judges, prosecutors and lawyers as well as representatives of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Humanitarian Law Centre, and Belgrade Human Rights Centre.

Initial report:

By the decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia the representative of the civil society has been appointed as a member of the Working group for monitoring of the implementation of the National Strategy for Prosecution of War Crimes.

Objective 2: Enhancement of capacity of media professionals for appropriate reporting on war crimes proceedings.

Activities:

Periodical organization of courses, workshops and trainings for journalists reporting on war crimes trials, in cooperation with media organizations, judicial institutions and international organizations, where, with the help of judges, public prosecutors and independent experts, they would acquire additional skills to facilitate provision of public information on war crimes proceedings.



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Initial report:

The subject activities have not yet been implemented.

Objective 3: Improvement of the curricula in the manner that allows the students/pupils to obtain a sufficient quantity of relevant information on the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, war crimes committed during that time, and norms of the international humanitarian law.

Activities:

In accordance with activities 3.8.1.9. and 3.8.1.10. of the Action Plan for Chapter 23, the quality and content of the curriculum that tackles issues related to the history of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and the crimes that were committed during those conflicts, is continuously monitored and upgraded in accordance with the mechanisms of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. These mechanisms include the active role of the National Education Council, the Institute for Improvement of Education, the Institute for Evaluation of Education and Training, and in particular the National Councils of National Minorities in the process of granting the status of textbooks, bearing in mind the principles of tolerance, non-discrimination, reconciliation and the need to build good neighborly relations.



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Initial report:

By the implementation of the Action Plan on Protection of the National Minorities, Republic of Serbia is taking numerous measures for prevention of expanding of the hate speech through the media and social networks, through increased number of activities in media disapproving the hate speech. Independent analysis/studies confirm that the number of cases of hate speeches through the media and social network is reduced. In addition, there is ongoing drafting procedure of the analysis that includes comparative analysis on educational models for the education in national minorities languages in the EU, analysis of the current situation in the Republic of Serbia and recommendations for implementation of new models.

Objective 4: Public presentation of the National Strategy as the tool to express firm and unequivocal commitment of the Republic of Serbia to undertake measures preventing impunity of war crimes.

Activities:

Publishing of the National Strategy text on the website of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Justice, the Office of War Crimes Prosecutor, the Higher Court and Court of Appeal in Belgrade.


Activity is almost completely implemented.

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Initial report:

National Strategy text has been published on the websites of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, Ministry of Justice and Office of War Crimes Prosecutor.

Following the adoption of this National Strategy, the highest State officials, led by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice, will publicly declare their support for the work of all domestic bodies dealing with the war crimes issues, for the fight against impunity and for the respect for the rule of law.



Initial report:

The president of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Minister of Justice have shown its delight and they have publicly given a support to all state authorities that deal with detection, investigation and prosecution of war crimes.

Members of the Government of the Republic of Serbia and MPs, in accordance with the provisions of the newly adopted Code of Conduct for members of the Government and MPs, refrain from unauthorized commentaries of the work of the judiciary.



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Initial report:

Code of conduct for members of Parliament (MPs) relating to restrictions on commenting on judicial decisions and proceedings is adopted on July 20, 2017, and published in “Official Gazette RS No 71/17”.

The Government has adopted the Conclusion for passing the Code of conduct for Members of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, which regulates commenting judicial decisions and procedures on its 192nd meeting held on 23rd January 2016, at the proposal of the Ministry of Justice. The conclusion was published in the Official Gazette of RS, No. 6 on 28 January 2016.

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