Collection of Texts: Transitional Justice And Reconciliation In Post-Yugoslav Countries

The voices of institutions, religious communities, activists, academics, culture and victims

 

The Collection of Texts comprises the addresses, discussions and commentaries of representatives of institutions, religious communities, non-governmental organizations, members of the epistemological community and artists about the achievements made and the obstacles encountered in the process of dealing with the past and reconciliation, as well as testimony by victims, participants at the Ninth and Tenth Forums for Transitional Justice in Post-Yugoslav Countries.

Edited by Svetlana Slapšak and Nataša Kandić

Publisher: Coalition for RECOM, 2015

 

Transitional justice and reconciliation

in post-Yugoslav countries

 

Table of Contents

Introduction

Nataša Kandić: RECOM is the cornerstone of the attitude to the past

I Transitional Justice

Niko Grubešić: The achievements in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tonči Staničić: The victims must talk

Selim Selimi: Kosovo has made progress

Dhurata Hoxha: The establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Dealing with the Past in Kosovo

Mary Anne Hennessey: Institutional reforms and reconciliation are the basis of sustainable peace

Goran Šimić PhD: The strategy of transitional justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bojan Glavašević: We have drawn a clear distinction between law and justice

Criminal Justice

Sandra Orlović: Serbia has no strategy for prosecuting war crimes

Dženana Karup Druško: BiH does not implement State Strategy for War Crimes Trials

Vesna Teršelič: The increase of exclusiveness gives rise for concern

Tea Gorjanc Prelević: Not a single indictment on grounds of command responsibility in Montenegro

Nora Ahmetaj: Priority should be given to trials before the courts of the Republic of Kosovo

Mirko Klarin: The established and adjudicated facts are the main legacy of the Hague Tribunal

Denisa Kostovicova PhD: A deliberative and participatory aspect of transitional justice

Zoran Pusić: The Hague Tribunal was successful before suddenly coming to a halt

Gentian Zyberi PhD: Reconciliation through the international criminal courts and tribunals: mission (im)possible?

Jelena Subotić PhD: ”Obstacle bias” in transitional justice scholarship

Jasna Dragović-Soso PhD: The ICTY, in particular, has had very limited success in countering denial of crimes in the post-Yugoslav region

Kristen Perrin PhD: The implications of in-court discussions on memory

Katarina Ristić PhD: The legal narratives about the victims do not reach the community of the perpetrators

The facts, the shared history

Professor Žarko Puhovski: Shaming the perpetrators is our concern

Anna Di Lellio PhD: A great achievement of RECOM: bringing the issue of justice back to the foreground

Jasna Dragović-Soso PhD: Apologies after completing the work on preserving the memory

Jelena Obradović-Wochnik PhD: Achievements of transitional justice in the Post-Yugoslav space

Sari Wastell PhD: Shared history

Professor Sergej Flere: History is the main channel for reproducing national myths and legends

Christian Nielsen PhD: The periods before and after 1991 are interconnected

Eric Gordy PhD: Limitations and problems in the construction of public memory

Ivor Sokolić: The civil society has the potential to spearhead changes in public perceptions

Adriatik Kelmendi: Recognizing the victims in the case of Kosovo, and Kosovo’s existence

Igor Cvetkovski: Reparations for wartime victims in the former Yugoslavia

Professor Zdravko Grebo: The facts, first of all!

Professor Žarko Puhovski: From defeat to defeat until the final victory

II Reconciliation

Željko Komšić: One should react, but also reach out a hand of reconciliation

Mioljub Vitorović: Reconciliation is a process

Engjellushe Morina: Dealing with the past should start first within the framework of a society

Friar Ivan Šarčević: We must confront our history, our past

Husein effendi Smajić: Religious communities are not responsible for what happened between 1992 and 1996

Father Vanja Jovanović: Reconciliation of the one with the other is a process

Jakob Finci: Reconciliation through confidence

Hoxha Rexhep Lushta: Forgiveness and reconciliation are best effected through genuine dialogue and understanding between contending sides

Christifer Lamont PhD: Accountability and forgiveness are complementary perspectives

Friar Ivo Marković: The idea of reconciliation requires a vision and a step forward

Nataša Kandić: Understanding and interpreting the concept and process of reconciliation

Hrvoje Klasić PhD: The process of reconciliation cannot be viewed separately from the process of understanding

Professor Zoran Pajić: The inter-generational cycle of “historical reckoning” and violence repeats itself

Spomenka Hribar PhD: Reconciliation: a process or an ultimate goal?

Denisa Kostovicova PhD: The reconciliation process primarily takes place through communication

Nebojša Petrović: It is necessary to humanize the others

Mirko Klarin: Reconciliation from the point of view of war criminals

Avila Kilmurray PhD: Northern Ireland – a comparative perspective

Culture, art and facts

Professor Svetlana Slapšak: Culture boldly addresses our past

Professor Svetlana Slapšak: Spreading the truth: a gadfly ethics

Dino Mustafić: Artistic truth should not “relativize”

Lazar Stojanović: If it wants and if it dares, art can win freedom for victims

Ante Perković: That invisible spiritual space still exists

Professor Svetlana Slapšak: The theatre is supposed to upset and cause discomfort

Alban Ukaj: Raising war topics was not easy

Maja Izetbegović: I have the privilege to speak about my personal experience on stage

Stevan Bodroža: Art that questions

Hazim Begagić: It is important that we brought the phenomenon of the music school in Zenica back into the public discourse

Andrej Nosov: A view from the perspective of the other

Bojan Munjin: Protagonists of the Yugoslav tragedy in one place

Lazar Stojanović: A fact may change its value depending on the context

Vesna Kesić: Women war victims are held responsible for the fate that befell them

Ivana Lalić: Protected witnesses are disappointed in state institutions

Pjer Žalica: Victims are the real heroes of war

III The voices of the victims

• Marica Šeatović: My pursuit of truth and justice
• Ljubiša Filipović: Reconciliation first, then the Return
• Sunčica Antić: My dead father has been listed as alive for 15 years
• Nada Bodiroga: My mother’s shoe, the only surviving witness
• Bekim Gashi: I am the most wounded man in the world
• Dragan Pjevač: Hague acquittals drove process of dealing with the past back to the beginning
• Mirjana Učakar: The “erased” have difficulties in exercising their right to compensation
• Zoran Kosić: Veterans talk about reconciliation
• †Mirko Kovačić: Dialogue in prison camp
• Amir Kulaglić: Blossom and springtime remind me of those who are now gone
• Nikola Šašo: Their bones have found their eternal home
• Kada Hotić: But how does a criminal go to sleep at night, when the images start coming back?
• Mevludin Lupić: We need compassion
• Prenk Gjetaj: The families of the disappeared are the most vulnerable category of people affected by the war
• Munira Subašić: Confidence is what is most needed
• Desanka Pejčinović: We are willing to kneel and humiliate ourselves for the sake of our children

 

Collection of the texts (English)

Collection – trilingual edition (BCS, English and Albanian language)