Serbia must pay for NATO crimes
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Serbia to pay for NATO bombing victims
25 October 2006 | 09:46 | Source: Blic
NOVI PAZAR -- According to a court decision, Serbia must pay reparations for victims of the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
The Novi Pazar Municipal Court, according to the decision of Judge Šefkija Kalač, holds the state responsible for paying reparations to a group of Novi Pazar citizens whose family members were killed during the NATO bombing.
The state must pay 13.5 million dinars worth of reparations, according to the decision.
The charges were related to the case in which 11 citizens died on May 31, 1999, when a residential building in Novi Pazar was bombed.
The decision cites the Law of Obligatory Relations and the article which claims that the state is responsible for damages resulting from death, bodily harm and acts of violence of terrorism, since the state bodies are responsible for preventing such incidents.
The defense made an effort to represent NATO as a higher power that no one could stop. But, the court council recognized the legal and constitutional obligation of the military, which must protect the independence of the state and the safety of its people.
The state will be appealing the decision to a higher court.
