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Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks. Photo: CoE

Human Rights Commissioner Nils Muiznieks told BIRN during a visit to Belgrade that giving a public platform to people who have been convicted of war crimes represents an insult to victims of the 1990s Yugoslav conflicts.

“This should not fly in an EU country, it should not fly in a candidate country, and there has to be very clear message from the political leadership that this will not happen, Muiznieks told BIRN.

In recent years, war criminals from Serbia – which is in negotiations to join the European Union – have been promoted as heroes and role models by Serbian government officials, political parties and media.

Former Yugoslav Army officer Veselin Sljivancanin, who served prison time for war crimes, is a frequent guest at events held by President Aleksandar Vucic’s Progressive Party.

Another former officer and convicted war criminal, Vladimir Lazarevic, was invited to give a lecture at Serbia’s national Military Academy.

Most recently, former general Vinko Pandurevic, convicted for his role in the Srebrenica massacres, participated in a state-sponsored discussion about Serbia-Kosovo dialogue.

Muiznieks said that his primary concerns in war crimes trials are the rights of the victims, and urged Serbia to make progress towards providing them with support and reparations.

“I’ve seen movement forward in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in Croatia, in Pristina, and I would like to see a similar movement forward here [in Serbia],” he said.

Muiznieks however welcomed the recent discussions between the presidents of Serbia and Croatia, Aleksandar Vucic and Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic, when they raised the continuing issue of finding the remaining missing persons from the 1990s war.

He also recognised that some progress has been made in Serbia on rights issues, saying that Belgrade has been providing war-displaced Roma people with the personal documents they were lacking, decreasing the number of Roma without official papers from 30,000 to 2,000.

However he had harsh words for the state of media freedoms in Serbia, saying that the situation has worsened since his last visit in 2015.

“The atmosphere in which journalists work appears to have deteriorated quite seriously… especially with the smear campaigns against journalists, with some politicians calling them traitors, foreign agents or mercenaries,” he said.

He added that he recommended to Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic during his visit that the government “systematically respond” to warnings about threats to media freedoms publicised by the Council of Europe.

“Investigative journalism has become more difficult because access to information has become more problematic and the government is not implementing the recommendations of the [Serbian] Commissioner [for Information of Public Importance], and the parliament is not discussing his reports,” he said.

Muiznieks expressed optimism about the proposed establishment of RECOM, a regional fact-finding commission on the 1990s wars.

A coalition lobbying for the establishment of RECOM recently said that ex-Yugoslav states could sign an agreement committing their support in July this year, after years of campaigning efforts.

Muiznieks said that he “heard a signal” there could be progress towards setting up the commission.

“If there’s a need for a political nudge from the side, I hope that people will try to get the Parliamentary Assembly [of the Council of Europe] engaged in this issue, especially in the context of monitoring various countries in the region,” he said.

The Human Rights Commissioner is an official who promotes awareness of and respect for human rights in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states.

Read more:

How Did War Criminals Become Serbia’s Heroes?

‘Weak’ Serbian Media Can’t Resist Political Pressure: Research

Missing Persons’ Families Seek Answers as Vucic Visits Croatia