CRIMINAL CHARGES AGAINST DOBRICA COSIC

YUCOM / Helsinki Committee

02. April 2009.

The Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia have filed at the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade criminal charges against Dobrica Cosic for committing the crime of inciting national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance according to article 317 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the crime of racial and other discrimination according to Article 387 § 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia.

The Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia expect the District Public Prosecutor's Office to act impartially and in conformity with its legal obligations.

District Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Savska st.17a

In accordance with Articles 222, 223 and 224 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, submit to the competent public prosecutor the following:

Criminal charges

Against:

Dobrica Cosic from Belgrade,

address to be obtained through official means

Because:

in his book Vreme zmija - Pišcevi zapisi 1999 - 2000 ["The time of the snakes - A writer's notes 1999 - 2000"], published by Službeni glasnik [The Official Gazette"] in 2009, on page 211, among other things, he wrote about the Albanian people a text with the following content:

"That social, political and moral residue of the tribal, barbarian Balkan have allied themselves with America and the European Union in a fight against the most democratic, the most civilized, the most enligthened Balkan nation - The Serbs,"

by which he committed the criminal offenses:

Of inciting national, racial and religious hatred and intolerance according to Article 317 § 1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the crime of racial and other discrimination according to Article 387 § 3 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia.

The Complainants for criminal charges highlight that, according to the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination ratified by Serbia, --"Official Gazette of the SFRY-International Treaties, No. 6 / 67-- the term "racial discrimination"

"refers to any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference that is based on race, color, ancestors, national or ethnic origin which has the aim or the result of compromising or destroying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, under equal conditions, of human rights and fundamental freedoms and the political, economic, social and cultural areas or in any other field of public life."

The Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, as organizations which deal with protection of human rights, ask the District Prosecutor, in accordance with its powers, to initiate ex officio criminal proceedings against Dobrica Cosic for committing the above-mentioned crimes.

Complainants:

The Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights

Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, President

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia

Sonja Biserko, President

Belgrade, 01. April 2009.