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NEWS ARCHIVE

Impunity Watch condemns attack on the headquarters of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia

03/10/2008 - On 30th September 2008, members of the nationalist organisations “Obraz” and “1389”, which have been protesting over the last 70 days against the arrest of ICTY indictee Radovan Karadzic, tried to forcibly enter the headquarters of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia in Belgrade. The attackers shouted threats and insults against the Committee’s president, Ms. Sonja Biserko. Police presence prevented further violence but before leaving, the attackers placed a large model of a swastika at the office front door.

Impunity Watch condemned the attack, which follows a strong media campaign in Serbia against the Committee because of its Annual Report - published a few months ago. The report provides critical political analysis of Serbian society today and identifies Serbian Nationalism as well as institutions such as the Serb Orthodox Church, the Law Faculty and the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts as key obstacles to the democratisation process of the state.

Ms. Biserko has expressed concern that nationalist media critiquing the Helsinki Committee’s report, has openly used hate speech against her and that her home address along with private information of her closest family members has been made public.

Serbian civil society organisations have also strongly condemned the attack and publicly demanded state action to ban organisations that promote ideas of hatred, discrimination, racism and intolerance and urged immediate implementation of the 1999 UN Human Rights Defenders Declaration (Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms). Civil society organisations highlighted that through the intimidation of Ms Biserko, these nationalist organisations aim to intimidate all citizens who believe in the full disclosure of facts about the crimes committed in ’90s and accountability for those criminally responsible.

A few political parties as well as Serbian Ombudsman, Mr Saša Janković joined in condemning the attack. Mr. Janković emphasized that the swastika in this part of the world symbolises the ideology that lead to a death of millions and that it represents a clear threat of violence. He concluded that the incident demonstrates a crossing of “the line that divides conflict of opinions, which characterises a democracy, from threats of violence and therefore the line that divides permissibility from impermissibility”.

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