The Collapse of Transitional Justice in Serbia

  • Bojan Perović PhD cand. University of Hamburg, Faculty of Law Researcher- Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

This paper shows the roots of the unsuccessful transitional justice in Serbia. From Milosevic to Kostunica, Djindjic and Tadic their approach to transitional justice was only to change the stylization of carefully selected political statements. The author gives a critical review of the role of “democratic” leaders during the 2000s and their often forgotten contribution to the “blurring of reality”. Despite the more or less harsh rhetoric transitional justice had the same path and follows the same pattern. Transitional justice processes were monitored by relation analysis of other powerful (non)- state actors such as the Universities, school textbooks in which the young generations are nurtured, catalytic role of the media and intellectual elites, and above all politicized Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, led by “father of the nation” - Dobrica Cosic. This paper shows that deeply established nationalism had the major role in the unsuccessful transitional justice in Serbia.

Keywords: transitional justice, Serbia, elites, war.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Bojan Perović, PhD cand. University of Hamburg, Faculty of Law Researcher- Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia

PhD cand. University of Hamburg, Faculty of Law Researcher- Institute of Social Sciences, Belgrade, Serbia 

References

Akhavan, P., 2001. “Beyond Impunity: Can International Criminal Justice Prevent Future Atrocities,” American Journal of International Law Vol. 95 Issue 1.

Besirevic,V., 2014. Governing without judges: The politics of the Constitutional Court in Serbia. International Journal of Constitutional Law 12.4

Cosic, D., 2012. Bosanski rat, Beograd: Službeni glasnik.

Cosic, D., 2008. Piščevi zapisi 1999-2000: Vreme zmija. Beograd: Službeni glasnik.

Dimitrijevic, N., 2008. Serbia after the criminal past: What went wrong and what should be done, International Journal of Transitional Justice 2.1.

Dimitrijevic, V. 2005. Ljudska prava u Srbiji i Crnoj Gori 2004, pravo, praksa i svest građana u Srbiji i Crnoj Gori i međunarodni standardi ljudskih prava, Beograd: Beogradski centar za ljudska prava.

Ford, S., 2012. Social Psychology Model of the Perceived Legitimacy of International Criminal Courts: Implications for the Success of Transitional Justice Mechanisms. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, Vol. 45 Issue 2.

Gordy, E., 2013. Guilt, Responsibility, and Denial: The Past at Stake in Post-Milosevic Serbia, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Hayner, P., Unspeakable Truths:Confronting State Terror and Atrocity. (New York: Routledge, 2001)

Human Rights Watch, Letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Available at: http://www.hrw.org/news/2001/06/18/human-rights-watch-letter-us-secretary-state-colin-powell , [accessed September 14 2015].

Human Rights Watch, Yugoslav Leaders "Stonewall" Tribunal on Archives Access, Available at: http://www.hrw.org/news/2002/05/19/yugoslav-leaders-stonewall-tribunal-archives-access , [accessed September 14 2015].

Joncic, V., Međunarodno humanitarno pravo. (Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, Beograd, 2001).

McMahon, P., Forsythe, D., 2008. The ICTY's Impact on Serbia: Judicial Romanticism Meets Network Politics. Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 30, No. 2.

Mendez, J., 1997. Accountability for Past Abuses,“ Human Rights Quarterly 19, No. 2.

Milosavljevic, O., 1995. Upotreba autoriteta nauke: Javna politička delatnost Srpske akademije nauka i umetnosti (1986-1992). Republika

Nikolić, K., 2008. Reforma društva ili “vaskrs države”. Istorija 20. veka (1)

Osiel, M., 2005. The Banality of Good: Aligning Incentives Against Mass Atrocity. Columbia Law Review.

Perovic, L., Zoran Đinđić: etika odgovornosti: zbornik radova. Beograd:Svedočanstva,2006.

Report by Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr. to the Committee of Foreign Relations United States Senate,2001. Progress in the Balkans: Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Available at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CPRT-107SPRT70122/pdf/CPRT-107SPRT70122.pdf , [accessed September 9 2015].

Ristic, K., Medijski diskursi o suđenjima za ratne zločine u Srbiji, 2003-13. (FHP, Beograd, 2013)

Stojanovic, D., 2013. Nastava istorije kao predvojnička obuka. Reč- Časopis za književnost i kulturu, i društvena pitanja 83.29.

Stojanovic, Z, 2012 Međunarodno krivično pravo. Beograd: Pravna knjiga.

Sikkink, K.,Carrie Booth Walling,C.2007. The Impact of Human Rights Trials in Latin America. Journal of Peace Research 44, No. 4.

Vlajković,V., 2004. Vojna tajna II deo. Beograd: HOPS.

Whiting, A., 2009. In International Criminal Prosecutions, Justice Delayed can be Justice Delivered, Harvard International Law Journal 50.

Wilson, R., Hamber,B., 2002. Symbolic Closure through Memory, Reparation and Revenge in Post-Conflict Societies. Journal of Human Rights.

Published
2015-12-30
Section
Articles-POLITICS AND SOCIETY