The Appeals Chamber dismissed the latest motion of former JNA officer Veselin Sljivancanin, in which he asked for a reconsideration of the decision to reject his motion seeking reconsideration of his final judgment. Will the defense bring Veselin Sljivancanin’s case before the European Court of Human Rights?


The Appeals Chamber dismissed the motion filed by the former security chief in the JNA Guards Brigade to reconsider the decision to reject his motion for the review of his final judgment. In May 2009, the Appeals Chamber quashed the Trial Chamber’s judgment and sentenced Sljivancanin to 17 years for aiding and abetting murder of some 200 prisoners on the Ovcara Farm on 20 November 1991. Dismissing Sljivancanin’s latest motion the judges noted that the decision that the accused wanted reconsidered was ‘final’.

Sljivancanin asked for a reconsideration of the Appeals Chamber’s decision, contending that the ‘circumstances have changed’ in the meantime. The defense corroborated this with a letter from the Serbian government. The judges ruled that the letter contained the arguments the defense had already presented; the arguments had already been rejected.

As Veselin Sljivancanin’s defense indicated, in December 2009 the Tribunal requested that the convicted general serve his sentence in a prison in Slovakia. The defense then sent a letter to Slovakian justice minister, Viera Petríková, telling her that the Appeals Chamber had in fact delivered a new first-instance judgment when it convicted Sljivancanin for aiding and abetting murder; it quashed the judgment of the Trial Chamber, which sentenced him to five years for aiding and abetting the torture of prisoners of war.

Since Slovakia signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the defense argued, letting Sljivancanin serve his sentence in a Slovakian would be a violation thereof, because Sljivancanin’s judgment violated his right to appeal. The violation by a country that has signed international covenants of someone’s human rights is a prerequisite for filing a suit before the European Court of Human Rights.

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