Tyrannized Voivodina and Sanjak Ready to Secede
from Dangerous, Racist State Serbia
By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/80871
Orientalist, Historian, Political Scientist, Dr. Megalommatis, 51, is the
author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia
entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15,
modern and ancient, languages. He refuted Greek nationalism, supported Martin
Bernal´s Black Athena, and rejected the Greco-Romano-centric version of
History. He pleaded for the European History by J. B. Duroselle, and defended
the rights of the Turkish, Pomak, Macedonian, Vlachian, Arvanitic, Latin
Catholic, and Jewish minorities of Greece. Born Christian Orthodox, he adhered
to Islam when 36, devoted to ideas of Muhyieldin Ibn al Arabi.
Greek citizen of Turkish origin, Prof. Megalommatis studied and/or worked in
Turkey, Greece, France, England, Belgium, Germany, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran,
Egypt and Russia, and carried out research trips throughout the Middle East,
Northeastern Africa and Central Asia. His career extended from Research &
Education, Journalism, Publications, Photography, and Translation to Website
Development, Human Rights Advocacy, Marketing, Sales & Brokerage. He traveled
in more than 80 countries in 5 continents. He defends the Right of Aramaeans,
Oromos, Ogadenis, Sidamas, Berbers, Afars, Anuak, Darfuris, Bejas, Balochs and
Tibetans to National Independence, demands international recognition for
Kosovo, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and
Transnistria, calls for National Unity in Somalia, and denounces Islamic
Terrorism.
In a previous article entitled "Albanians and Muslims Still Targeted by Serbs
in Occupied Voivodina and Sanjak HRW Report"
(http://www.buzzle.com/articles/albanians-and-muslims-still-targeted-by-serbs-in-occupied-voivodina-and-sanjak-hrw-report.html),
I focused on Voivodina and Sanjak which are not proper Serbian territories but
have been peremptorily given to Serbia because of French pro-Serbian favoritism
back in the 1910s and 1920s.
After many decades of tyranny which took various shapes, the Slovenes, the
Croatians, the Bosnians, the Macedonians, the Montenegrins and the Kosovars
achieved their national goal of independence and freedom. Unfortunately, the
Voivodinians and the Sanjakis still live under Serbian racism and terrorism.
In fact, the pathetic Serbian nationalism, which has permanently been harbored
there, is currently rising dangerously again. This is what a devastating HRW
Report reveals about the unrepentant Serbia, a medieval and rancorous realm of
excruciating tyranny, merciless murder and unfathomable racism that the
perfidious French statesmen and diplomats want to help adhere to the EU.
To better illustrate the tragic events that signal further secessions from the
Balkan Hell ´Serbia´, I republish the entire HRW Report "Hostages of Tension -
Intimidation and Harassment of Ethnic Albanians in Serbia after Kosovo´s
Declaration of Independence"; in the present article, I republish further parts
(Background, Institutional and Legal Framework for Investigating and
Prosecuting Offenses with Ethnic or Religious Motives), and in forthcoming
articles, I will complete and further comment.
Hostages of Tension - Intimidation and Harassment of Ethnic Albanians in Serbia
after Kosovo´s Declaration of Independence
http://hrw.org/reports/2008/serbia1108/
Background
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/serbia1108/3.htm#_Toc212362266
Acts of violence against ethnic Albanian and other minority-owned businesses in
February 2008 were not the first incidents of this kind in Serbia. Serbia saw a
wave of attacks against minorities between late 2003 and 2005, including arson
attacks on mosques that peaked in reaction to the anti-minority (primarily
anti-Serbian and anti-Roma) riots in Kosovo in March 2004.
Some ethnic Albanians were also targeted in the spring of 1999, during the NATO
bombing of Serbia, with homes and businesses subject to arson and Molotov
cocktail attacks.2
A Human Rights Watch report into the 2003-2005 attacks in 2005, concluding that
the Serbian government, police and courts failed to respond adequately to the
violence.3 The report documented attacks on mosques and minority cultural
centers, as well as attacks on individuals belonging to minority communities
and their property. The authorities responded too late to violence and
downplayed the ethnic motivations behind the attacks. The criminal justice
system dealt with the attacks as misdemeanors rather than ethnically-motivated
crimes, resulting in lenient sentences.
The 2005 Human Rights Watch report was widely covered by the Serbian media. The
Serbian government minister described the report in media interviews in October
2005 as "simplified" but did not dispute its findings in a subsequent meeting
with Human Rights Watch and other NGOs later the same month. Nevertheless, the
Serbian authorities failed to implement the recommendations contained in the
report.
The European Parliament´s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) sent several ad hoc
delegations of committee members in 2005. The European Parliament subsequently
adopted a resolution in March 2005 (prior to the publication of the Human
Rights Watch report) calling on Serbia to increase protection of minority
communities and ensure the police played a more active role in that protection.
After the release of the "Dangerous Indifference" report, the European
Parliament discussed the situation in Vojvodina during the Brussels visit of
the Minister of Human and Minority Rights Rasim Ljajic on October 13, 2005,
pressing for the Serbian government to tackle inter-ethnic crime more
efficiently. The EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn stated on October 10,
2005 that Serbia´s progress towards Europe would depend on the degree in which
it respects the rights of the minorities.
Kosovo´s declaration of independence on February 17, 2008, immediately provoked
renewed mass protests and patriotic rallies across Serbia. Although most
protests were peaceful, a few spiraled out of control, resulting in vandalism
and, in Belgrade, widespread rioting. Groups attacked the embassies of Belgium,
Canada, Croatia, Germany, Italy, Turkey, UK and US and a number of McDonald´s
and other foreign-owned commercial premises, some of which were looted.4
During further mass protests in Belgrade on February 21, some groups among the
crowds chanted "Kill, kill the Shiptars (a derogatory term for Albanians),"
while others chanted "Knife, wire, Srebrenica," a reference to the mass killing
of Muslims by Serbs in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.5 Several hundred
broke loose from the otherwise peaceful crowd and attacked police and TV crews
covering the protests.6 Besides embassies and foreign-owned commercial
premises, rioters also damaged cars, as well as public property such as benches
and street lamps.7
The Belgrade independent news organization B92 was the target of attempted
arson during the mass protests in Belgrade on February 21; the attempt was
thwarted by a police cordon around the building. B92 continued to receive
threats in the following days. A well-known human rights activist was also
targeted. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) started to collect signatures to
lodge a criminal complaint against Natasa Kandic, the Executive Director of the
Humanitarian Law Center, accusing her of acting against the constitutional
order and threatening the state´s independence and integrity by attending the
Kosovo Assembly´s session at which independence was proclaimed. Some media
outlets supported the action against Kandic.8
There was a mixed response from the Serbian government to the rapidly unfolding
events. President Boris Tadic, on state visit to Romania, called for calm and
an immediate end to the violence.9 However, some members of the Serbian
government condoned the violence in response to Kosovo´s declaration of
independence. The minister for infrastructure, Velimir Ilic, initially
described violence in the immediate aftermath of the protest in Belgrade as
"democratic."10 After the riots spread, with foreign embassies attacked and
widespread damage of publicly and privately owned property, he called for an
investigation on what happened and who is responsible for the acts of violence.
In the weeks that followed, a wave of attacks on Albanian-owned property and
businesses swept through Vojvodina and various other locations throughout
Serbia. According to the information from major general Mladen Kuribak, the
head of the Uniformed Police Directorate11, the police across Serbia registered
221 incidents connected to Kosovo´s declaration of independence during the
period of February 17-March 20, 2008, most of them involving attacks on
property.12 The figures do not differentiate between incidents with an ethnic
motivation and ordinary crimes.
However, the attacks do not appear to be representative of the attitudes of the
local population in the areas visited by Human Rights Watch. According to
Albanian-business owners whose shops were attacked, the majority of citizens
continued to frequent their shops after Kosovo´s declaration of independence.
Although the state media was silent about the attacks on the minority-owned
businesses, some independent journalists and civil society activists were
proactive in investigating and condemning the attacks, writing articles and
publishing press releases about them. Human rights activists, accompanied by
the national and regional ombudsmen and the mayor of Sombor organized a
solidarity visit to the boycotted bakery there.
Notes
2 Several of the victims interviewed by Human Rights Watch were also either
attacked or had their properties attacked in 1999. Some of the 1999 retaliation
attacks were documented by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia in
its report "Status of Albanians in Serbia during and after the NATO
Intervention," http://www.helsinki.org.yu/reports_t11.html (accessed August 28,
2008).
3 Human Rights Watch, Dangerous Indifference: Violence against Minorities in
Serbia, vol.17, no. 7(D), October 2005, http://hrw.org/reports/2005/serbia1005/.
4 B92, "Bilans Jucerasnjih Nereda," ["The Balance of Yesterday´s Riots"]
February 22, 2008,
http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=22&nav_id=285931
(accessed May 21, 2008). The damage to public property amounted to 8.2 million
dinars (around EUR 100 000). 192 people were arrested and one of the protesters
died inside. A post-mortem identified suffocation with smoke inside the
building as the cause of death.
5 Human Rights Watch telephone conversation with a Serbian human rights
activist, February 22, 2008.
6 Two journalists from Russia Today (a globally broadcasted English language
channel from Russia) were beaten, and journalists from the Dutch newspaper NRC
Handelsblad, Serbian National TV, and Serbian National Radio were attacked or
threatened. Human Rights Watch interview with an independent journalist who
asked not to be identified, Belgrade, April 6, 2008.
7 B92, "Bilans Jucerasnjih Nereda," ["The Balance of Yesterday´s Riots"]
February 22, 2008,
http://www.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=22&nav_id=285931
(accessed May 21, 2008).
8 Dailies Kurir and Vecernje Novosti respectively referred to Kandic as a
"traitor" and "the woman who does not exist." B92, "Istraziti Pretnje Natasi
Kandic," ["Investigation of the Threats Against Natasa Kandic"] February 24,
2008,
http://xs4.b92.net/info/vesti/index.php?yyyy=2008&mm=02&dd=24&nav_category=640&nav_id=286219
(accessed May 20, 2008).
9 BBC Serbian language service, "Jedna zrtva nereda u Beogradu," ["One Victim
of the Riots in Belgrade"] February 22, 2008,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/serbian/news/2008/02/printable/080221_belgrade_kosovo.shtml
(accessed May 20, 2008).
10 Blic, "Ilic: Demokratija je i kada se razbije neki prozor na ambasadi,"
["Ilic: It is Democracy When Some Windows are Broken on the Embassies"]
February 20, 2008. You Tube,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Tv68QA6tQ&feature=related (accessed May 25, 2008).
11 The head of the Uniformed Police Directorate is a senior official in charge
of all uniformed officers in the Serbian police, who make up the vast majority
of the force.
12 Human Rights Watch interview with major general Mladen Kuribak, head of the
Uniformed Police Directorate, Belgrade, April 24, 2008.
Institutional and Legal Framework for Investigating and Prosecuting Offenses
with Ethnic or Religious Motives
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/serbia1108/4.htm#_Toc212362267
Structure of the Police, Prosecuting and Judicial Authorities
Police
The police in Serbia, including the autonomous province of Vojvodina, are
centralized. The minister of interior has the power to appoint local police
commanders in the municipalities. The proportion of ethnic minorities in the
Serbian police remains below the percentage of the minorities in the overall
population. In 2005 Human Rights Watch recommended that the government of
Serbia intensify efforts to ensure greater participation of minorities in the
police in Vojvodina. At the time of this writing, the level of representation
remains comparable to that in 2005.
Since 2004, the Serbian authorities, advised by Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), have been encouraged to reform policing
structures and methods, including by introducing a community model of policing.
This approach seeks to enhance collaboration and communication between the
police and communities, in order to create trust, reduce community fears and
apprehension, thereby promoting operational problem-solving. It emphasizes the
decentralization of control, giving local forces greater autonomy. An important
aspect is building capacity to investigate hate crimes. Community policing has
been used in other post conflict areas, including Bosnia and Kosovo, motivated
by the desire to improve police cooperation with citizens, especially minority
communities.
Over the past four years, the OSCE has organized a number of pilot trainings by
international experts for selected groups of high-ranking police officials.13
These constitute only the first small step towards training the entire police
force and larger-scale police reform proposals are still pending with the
Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the time of this writing, the reforms have not
yet been agreed, and there is no timeline for their implementation.14
According to one international official close to the process, there remains
resistance at high levels within the Ministry of the Interior, apparently
resulting from fear that reform would eventually lead to decentralization of
police structures and diffusion of power away from Belgrade. The change of
government in July, and the appointment of a new Interior minister, does not
appear to have altered this.15
Human Rights Watch wrote to the head of the Uniformed Police Directorate, in
August 2008 seeking comment on the status of police reform (see Annex II). His
response referred to a series of ongoing measures to improve relations between
the police and the minority communities, including training workshops for the
police, the creation of local "safety councils" with representatives of
minority communities and the police, and outreach to encourage recruitment of
minorities. 16 While welcome, the measures have yet to translate into effective
investigation of attacks on minorities or greater minority representation in
the police. Nor do the measures amount to the introduction of a community
policing model, not least because the police remain under centralized control.
Criminal courts and public prosecutors
Serbia is divided into districts. Districts are, in turn, divided into
municipalities. Most districts and municipalities have their own criminal
courts and prosecutors. District and municipal-level judges and prosecutors are
selected by the Serbian parliament in the capital Belgrade. District courts, as
a general rule, have jurisdiction over crimes punishable with prison sentences
exceeding ten years, while municipal courts have jurisdiction to adjudicate
lesser offenses. Serbian legislation also lists specific crimes which, although
not punishable with more than ten years of imprisonment, are within the
competence of district courts. Incitement to ethnic, racial and religious
hatred is one of these crimes.
Boba Borojevic
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http://serbianna.com/columns/borojevic/
http://f2.pg.briefcase.yahoo.com/pertep
(613) 852-1971
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