POLICE VIOLENCE

Random cases of police violence occurred throughout the eighty-eight days of demonstrations. But on a few days there were clearly pre-planned attacks on peaceful demonstrators resulting in serious injuries. Through interviews with victims of police violence, as well as witnesses, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki documented that the police did not attempt to disperse demonstrators through peaceful means, and then used excessive force, even when individuals offered no resistance. A number of people were beaten on the head or other sensitive areas as they were fleeing the police or after they had fallen to the ground. In a number of cases, journalists were specifically targeted by the police, especially those with cameras (see section on the media).3

According to information collected by Human Rights Watch/Helsinki from the hospitals and medical clinics in Belgrade, at least 300 people were treated for injuries caused by the police during the period of the demonstrations. In addition, many people did not go for medical treatment, either because their injuries were not very serious or because the police were taking the names of people in the state hospitals (see section on medical treatment).

A number of criminal cases have been filed with the state prosecutor against policemen who are accused of having used excessive force, as well as against their superiors, including Serbia's minister of internal affairs, Zoran Sokolovi_. To date, the state has not begun any investigations although it is required to do so when the evidence suggests that an illegal act has been committed (see section on seeking redress).

Case of Dejan Bulatovi_

The first serious case of police abuse, and the most well-known from the demonstrations, was that of Dejan Bulatovi_, a twenty-two-year-old activist of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement. Bulatovi_ was beaten by the police on two separate occasions, but the more serious incident took place on December 5. Witnesses and Mr. Bulatovi_ himself told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that the demonstration on that day in Belgrade was proceeding peacefully. The only thing that distinguished Mr. Bulatovi_ from the other demonstrators was that he was marching with a large caricature doll of President Milo_evi_ in a striped black and white jail uniform. After the demonstration, Mr. Bulatovi_ walked to a church in the center of the city to wait for his friends, where he was assaulted. He told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

Around 6:00 or 6:30 p.m. I felt a strong kick on the head from behind. Later the doctor stated that I fractured my skull... When they kicked me I felt something hot on my back. I thought it was sweat, but it was blood. They saw that but continued to beat me. Seven people in civilian clothes pulled guns and badges and told me to get up. They dragged me into the entrance of a building and beat me thoroughly. They said that I shamed the president in front of the world. One said, "for this crime, people will die."

Then they took me to the police headquarters on November 29 Street. That was the most terrible thing of my life. When I got there, the inspector gave me a paper and dictated what I should write. I asked for a lawyer and I got beaten again. He said "just write what I say." Of course, I refused, and I was beaten again. Finally I signed [a confession], but then I took it back...

Then they took me to an isolation cell. They took off my clothes and told me to put my hands on my neck. Three policemen with sticks came. I turned to look and they hit me in the face and around the back. Soon I felt a terrible pain because they put a stick in my anus. After that I was in shock. The pain was terrible. I was humiliated. But that wasn't enough. They then made jokes about it. They put me in a cold isolation cell. One policeman came in with an automatic rifle. He put it in my mouth breaking two teeth, screaming, "Do you want me to blow your brains out!" Four of them then beat me with truncheons, but first they covered me with newspaper. And then they beat me on the feet and extremities. There were about five of them and they threw water on me. It was terribly cold. I had internal and external bleeding. I can't believe that I survived.4

Mr. Bulatovi_ was treated briefly at a Belgrade hospital and then returned to the police station. The next day, he was sentenced to twenty-five days imprisonment for disrupting public order. He had no access to a lawyer during the trial. According to Mr. Bulatovi_ and the Serbian media, during the trial, the presiding judge, Mr. Glavonji_, looked at Bulatovi_'s injuries and said, "slipped on a banana peel, did we?" The Humanitarian Law Center, a local human rights organization, has filed charges against the police for Bulatovi_'s maltreatment in detention. However, to date, the prosecutor's office has not begun an investigation.

Violence on February 2-3

The worst violence during the demonstrations took place on the night of February 2, 1997. Based on interviews with protesters and witnesses, as well as media accounts, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki concludes that the police had a clear order to disperse the crowd with force in violation of the basic norms for police conduct as stipulated by both Yugoslav and international law.5 Without warning, the police sprayed the peaceful crowd with water cannons and then, as the crowd dispersed, the police attacked people from behind. Many people were beaten even though they were leaving the scene and offering no resistance to the police. Medical staff at the state-run Emergency Center told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that approximately sixty people were treated at their center alone for injuries caused by the police, and the number of wounded is probably higher. At least eight journalists were also beaten by the police (see section on the media).

On the night of February 2, the three leaders of the Zajedno coalition - Vesna Pesi_, Vuk Draskovi_ and Zoran Djindji_ - were each leading a different group of marchers through the streets of Belgrade, with the intent to meet in the center of the city. Pesi_ and Djindji_ met in the old town, but a large force of police in riot gear armed with water cannons was stationed on the Brankov Bridge over the Sava River blocking Draskovi_ from leading marchers from New Belgrade.

Pesi_ and Djindji_ began to give speeches on a small makeshift stage that had been set up on their side of the river near the bridge. Meanwhile, Draskovi_ led his marchers across another bridge and made his way to the old town. As the night progressed, many people left the area, but, according to witnesses, approximately 2,000 to 3,000 people remained on the old town side of the bridge around the stage. Around 11:30 p.m. Draskovi_ arrived at the stage and, at that moment, the police began pushing people from behind.

Vesna Pesi_ was still on the stage when the police began their assault. She told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

They [the police] started to push people toward the stage with the police coming from behind and from the smaller streets. I told people to sit down. Vuk [Draskovi_] came to the stage and said that we will leave peacefully, but it was too late. They had orders to attack.

They came with the water pouring on the crowd. Some of us were trapped so we went to the sidewalk. We wanted to go under the bridge and it was there that I received two blows, on the head and leg. Vuk's bodyguard covered me and he received lots of hits. He protected me and I am grateful. Many police came under the bridge. Luckily, we found one old building where we stayed for two hours in the apartment of people we didn't know.6

Spokesman for the Zajedno coalition, Ljuba Tadi_ was also beaten under the bridge. He told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

We tried to pass down the stairs under the bridge. Then they came to me, first an officer who said, "What are you doing here, you idiot!" I avoided the first hit and said just "do not hit my mother." Then I got hit a few times, I think five or six, I am not sure because they were on my back, the spine and kidney area. The last hit I got exactly on the spine while I was on the stairs, so I flew a few steps but landed on my feet.7

Human Rights Watch/Helsinki saw Mr. Tadi_'s medical records from the private Anlave Medical Clinic, dated February 3, 1997, which documented "bruising on the back and shoulder."8

One victim of police abuse was Ljiljana Djukni_, who needed an operation on her arm as a result of the beating. Visited in the hospital before the operation, she told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

We started to go [from the area around the stage] and immediately from Pop Lukina Street we saw water cannons and they were mercilessly shooting at us. It was -3E [Celsius] and we tried to run down the hill. We went down from the bridge, walking slowly. The police followed us slowly but we did not expect them to be so bloodthirsty as to attack from behind. We walked slowly without thinking we were in danger. Suddenly, they started to run with their equipment, shields and big sticks, hitting everything in their way. One hit me hard and I fell. I think it was on the back and I fell. Then I tried to move but another came and hit me again. They hit me, I think, on the arm. They were running and beating everything like rabbits. I do not know if it was five or six or twenty hitting me. But I thought they would kill me if I tried to move so I pretended I was dead. Then they moved on to the next.9

Medical Treatment

The main state hospital for emergency care in Belgrade is the Emergency Center (Urgentni Klinik) near the city's center. But many people told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that they did not want to go to the clinic because the police were taking the names and addresses of patients. Two medical assistants, who did not want to give their names, confirmed that the police took the clinic's registry book, which contains the names and addresses of all patients, on the night of February 2.10 In past years, the police have harassed those who reported to doctors that they had been beaten by the police.

In some cases, the registry at the center was changed so as not to mention the cause of injury. Rastko Kosti_, who was severely beaten on February 2 (see section on the media) told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki, for example, that his documents said that he had been beaten by "unknown persons," even though he specifically reported that he had been beaten by the police.11

Since many people did not trust the Emergency Center, the medical students at Belgrade University set up their own infirmary in a lecture hall at the Department of Philosophy with help from some medical professors. According to their registry, more than 500 people visited their infirmary between the date it opened, December 26, 1996 and February 10, 1997. Of these people, the medical students estimated that 30 percent were the victims of police violence.12 The director of the private Anlave Medical Clinic in Belgrade estimated that fifty people had been treated at his clinic for serious injuries caused by the police during the demonstrations.13

Police Violence in Kragujevac

In Kragujevac, where the opposition had just taken over power from the SPS, a serious conflict developed on January 22 between the local government, the local population, and the Serbian police over the status of the Kragujevac television station (see section on the media). Approximately 200 policemen occupied the television station to prohibit the new directors (appointed by the opposition) from taking over. The next day, as negotiations were taking place, between 200-250 Kragujevac residents formed a blockade with about forty cars on the main road linking Kragujevac and Belgrade in order to stop more police from entering the town. Around 4:15 p.m., riot police arrived from Belgrade and dispersed the crowd with force, using truncheons against the sitting, non-violent demonstrators who offered no resistance, seriously injuring some of the people.

According to testimony provided by three participants in the blockade, as well as two journalists from the Associated Press (AP) who were present, around 4:15 p.m. a bus and one jeep arrived from Belgrade containing a special anti-riot unit of the police. With a megaphone, a Kragujevac deputy in the federal parliament who was organizing the protest, Zoran Simonovi_, told the crowd to sit down. As they did, the police started to attack, without warning, striking approximately twenty people in the front rows with truncheons as the other protestors ran back toward Kragujevac. Simonovi_ was beaten the most. After he lost consciousness, he was dragged to the side of the road where he was beaten some more. Some police officers then left him outside the front gate of the town hospital; he spent the next seven days in the hospital receiving medical treatment for severe head injuries. He told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

When I told people to sit, I sat myself in the front row. They [the riot police] surrounded me, I don't know how many, I think between four and seven, and started to beat me. I got hit over twenty times on my head and on the body maybe one hundred times. While I was conscious, I remember many hits on my head, then I lost consciousness. People told me that they banged my head on the road. When I woke, they pulled me to the side of the road. I tried to stand to show people that I was alive. Then two policemen beat me again and I passed out... They put me into a police van. I vomited there and wavered in and out of consciousness. I was handcuffed and driven to the police station. They said they would prosecute me for attacking a policeman.14

A lawyer for the Zajedno coalition, Zvonko Markovi_, visited Mr. Simonovi_ in the hospital that first night. He told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that Simonovi_ had heavy bruises on the right side and back of his head.15 According to Simonovi_, three weeks after the attack he still had regular headaches, occasional dizziness and a light temperature at night.

Dejan Mladenovi_, a cameraman for AP, was on a small hill next to the road overlooking the Kragujevac resident's blockade with a colleague from AP Television, Srdjan Nedeljkovi_. Before the attack began, the police walked up the hill, took Mladenovi_'s camera and escorted the two cameramen to the side of the road. Dejan Mladenovi_ told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki:

While we were standing there, the police were beating the protesters. The demonstrators were sitting. The police tried to pick them up and then they beat the people who were sitting on the ground. At least fifteen to twenty people were beaten, including an old woman.16

After the attack, Mladenovi_ and Nedeljkovi_, were held for one hour in the Kragujevac police station; Mr. Nedeljkovi_ was struck once in the stomach with a baton (see section on the media).

Police Violence in Other Serbian Cities

In addition to the violence in Kragujevac, the police allegedly used excessive force in a number of other cities, although Human Rights Watch/Helsinki was not able to confirm this information first-hand. According to Amnesty International, on January 23 in Kraljevo a parliamentary deputy, Marko Petrovi_, was beaten by the police while trying to form a traffic blockade.17 On January 28, the police reportedly beat demonstrators, including a parliamentary deputy, Du_an Nari_, and a local councillor, Ljubi_a Brki_, in Smederevska Palanka.18 According to the Zajedno coalition spokesman, Ljuba Tadi_, the police also used excessive force against demonstrators in _abac, Valjevo and Vranje, although Human Rights Watch/Helsinki did not investigate these allegations.19

Seeking Redress

Individuals have the right under Yugoslav law to press charges against policemen who inflict bodily harm through the use of excessive force, and the prosecutor's office is obliged to respond to such charges, either by initiating a criminalproceeding or by dismissing the case.20 When the prosecutor dismisses a complaint, the injured party has the right to proceed as a private prosecutor within a specified period of time.21

Despite these legal guarantees, redress for police abuse is a rarity in Serbia. One notable problem is the fear of retribution by the police, which keeps some individuals from pressing charges. Lawyers and human rights organizations in Serbia that deal with police abuse told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that many victims of police brutality are hesitant to file a complaint with the police, let alone start a legal procedure. A recent example is ðivana Jankovi_, who filed a criminal complaint on February 11, 1997, against unidentified police officers who, she claimed, had used unnecessary force against her on the night of February 2. The police subsequently charged Ms. Jankovi_ with disturbing the peace, apparently as retaliation. As of September 1, 1997, her trial was ongoing.

Even when individuals do press charges, policemen are seldom held accountable for using excessive force. The most common problem is inaction on the part of the state prosecutor, since the law sets no time limit within which the prosecutor must take action. For example, Human Rights Watch/Helsinki is aware of sixty-one cases of police abuse that have been submitted to the prosecutor since the post-election demonstrations. As of September 1, 1997, state prosecutors had not responded to any of the charges, either by accepting or dismissing the cases. One case, that of Civic Alliance leader Vesna Pesi_ (see section on police abuse), has gone to trial, but this is because she filed as a private prosecutor directly to the court, a procedure allowed for misdemeanor offenses (see below). On March 18, the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC), a local human rights organization, filed charges against unidentified police officers, the chief of police for the Stari Grad district in Belgrade, Milo_ Vukobrat, the Belgrade chief of police, Petar Zekovi_, and Serbia's minister of internal affairs, Zoran Sokolovi_. They are accused of inflicting light and serious bodily harm, unlawful arrest, extraction of statements by force, and misfeasance in office in the period between December 27, 1996, and February 6, 1997. To date, the prosecutor's office has neither begun an investigation nor informed the HLC that it will dismiss the case.

The lack of a legally defined time limit for prosecutors to respond to a criminal case allows them to indefinitely delay a response to legitimate claims. In such cases, there is no legal remedy; the complainant may only make informal appeals to the prosecutor or the Ministry of Justice. According to an HLC lawyer dealing with many of the HLC's fifty-nine police abuse cases, Branomir Ple_e, such appeals never produce results. Mr. Ple_e spoke to officials in the Belgrade prosecutor's office about his cases and was told that the prosecutors were, "waiting for the police to look into the matter."22

Another problem arises when the prosecutor dismisses a case but fails to inform the complainant of the decision, even though such a notification is required by law.23 Such a failure to notify the complainant can result in the complainant losing his or her right to proceed as a private prosecutor since, according to Yugoslav law, an individual can only proceed as a private prosecutor within three months of the prosecutor's decision to dismiss a case.24 Unaware of the prosecutor'sdecision, the three month limit could, and on occasion does, expire without the complainant's knowledge, thereby stripping the police abuse victim of the right to prosecute his or her case.25

One exception is contained in article 434 of the Yugoslav Code of Criminal Procedure, which says that an injured party may petition the court directly for redress when the alleged offense is minor (punishable by a fine or up to three years imprisonment) and the prosecutor fails to respond to the complaint within thirty days. There are no exceptions for serious offenses.

When a case is submitted directly to the court, the assigned judge must set a court date within two months of receiving the case. The trial date may be more than two months from the day the case was received, but the trial date must be set within the two month time limit.26 Despite this, judges regularly postpone trial dates in cases that might be considered sensitive to the state, such as police abuse. According to a 1996 report on police abuse by the Humanitarian Law Center, "when a victim does proceed as private prosecutor, the court delays scheduling the trial, sometimes for years, although the law fixes a time limit for setting trial dates."27 In addition, the presiding judge is not legally obliged to accept the case right away. He or she may refer the case to a three judge panel, which can decide that the case does not merit a trial.

In the few cases in which a police abuse complaint went to trial, the Humanitarian Law Center documented numerous due process violations that deprived the complainants of a fair trial.28 Judges arbitrarily dismissed evidence, such as medical records, and refused to admit testimony by witnesses for the plaintiff. Another problem is in obtaining the presence in court of the accused police officers. In the one recent case that has gone to trial, that of Civic Alliance leader Vesna Pesi_, who was maltreated by the police on February 2 (see section on police violence), the accused policeman has failed to appear in court on two occasions, most recently on September 1.29 In the police's case against ðivana Jankovi_ (see above), three of the involved police officers - Miroslav Stefanovi_, Bozidar Supi_ and Filip Pejovi_ - refused to testify in a public courtroom in front of human rights monitors.