Serbia continues to act as the region's policeman: Law on Universal Jurisdiction for War Crimes still in force

On July 17, 2016, Serbia opened two negotiation chapters, 23 and 24, for accession to the European Union in Brussels. Serbia's duty will be to adopt as many as 91 measures for legal harmonization, strengthening monitoring mechanisms, and forming resources for the implementation of new laws and legal norms, writes Patria.

The key problem is that Serbia still has the controversial Law on Universal Jurisdiction for war crimes trials in force. European lawmakers have recommended the prosecution and punishment of war crimes without discrimination, thus urging the swift abolition of this law.

Bosnia and Herzegovina has had more than enough bad experiences with this Serbian law on universal jurisdiction. Let's recall the trial of Ilija Jurišić from Tuzla, then the arrests of Ejup Ganić, Jovan Divjak, and Naser Orić at airports. All these arrests ended disastrously for the Serbian side, but the fact of alleged guilt remained, after months of suffering for the arrested Bosnian defenders.

A month after opening the legal chapters, in mid-August, Serbian police arrested Zdravko Hlobik, allegedly a defender from the Croatian Army (HV), but it later turned out to be an identity swap. Defender Veljko Marić was released from prison in Serbia only after five years due to poor health.

At the same time, Novak Đukić, convicted for a grave crime against civilians at Tuzla Gate, enjoys freedom in Serbia. Momir Savić from Višegrad fled to Serbia after his conviction. The rapist from Foča, Radovan Stanković, escaped from prison and is believed to be hiding in Serbia. Mirko Todorović, convicted for crimes in Bratunac, also escaped. There are dozens of fugitives convicted in BiH who are hiding in Serbia, and for whom this law on universal jurisdiction does not apply.

Serbia will continue to act based on its indictments, without any accountability or submission of evidence to the countries whose citizens it arrests and prosecutes.

The fact is that two and a half years ago, Germany and Great Britain threatened to block Serbia because of Kosovo citizens, demanding that this controversial law be abolished. In the end, nothing was done on this matter.

There is no doubt that Serbia will continue to show its power, frequently carrying out arrests and performing a historical revision of what happened between 1992 and 1995, and the first to be targeted will be former fighters, citizens of BiH. The institutions of this country have not yet, but should, ask the European Union for the swift abolition of this law, which has proven to be discriminatory towards the citizens of BiH. This should happen before a new arrest of a Bosnian citizen occurs at the border between Serbia and BiH or at European airports.