SIBINCIC TO BE DEPOSED IMMEDIATELY

Press release

03/14/2006 , HCHRS

Instead of a clear break with the Greater Serbia project, the process of restoring the old regime smoothly proceeds in Serbia.

The very fact that Ostoja Sibincic was appointed secretary of the "Ruma II" neighborhood community rehabilitates the policy that has targeted minorities - the Croatian minority in this specific case - and made them victims of nationalistic hysteria and violence.

While the same policy ending up in crime and genocide stands trial in The Hague, Serbia provides opportunities for most infamous nationalists such as Sibincic - who, in tandem with Trivo Ivkovic, former warden of the Sremska Mitrovica prison, renamed the village of Hrtkovci Srbislavci - to govern local communities and, moreover, preach ethics.

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia requires the three political parties that form the local self-government in Ruma - the Serbian Radical Party, the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Democratic Party of Serbia - to urgently reconsider their decision and depose the newly appointed secretary of this neighborhood community.

Belgrade, March 9, 2006

HCHRS