UN Court Probes Estonian Jails’ Treatment of Serb War Criminals

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said it is investigating claims about the alleged inhumane treatment of Serb war crimes convicts who are serving their sentences in Estonia.

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, MICT told BIRN that it has asked for answers from the Estonian authorities after receiving complaints about the alleged mistreatment of two Serbian war criminals who are serving prison sentences in the Baltic country.

“The [MICT] secretary is currently dealing with this issue, and when he files a report, the president will consider different options for improvement,” MICT said.

The Serbian Justice Ministry told BIRN that the two Serbian convicts, Milan Martic and Dragomir Milosevic, face a range of problems in Estonia, including an inability to exercise their right to legal protections and lack of proper access to healthcare.

“The [medical] check-ups are unannounced, with security measures below the level of minimum of human dignity – strip-searches and transportation in so-called ‘cages’ – coupled with the lack of any communication with the doctor,” the Justice Ministry said.

According to the ministry, until recently the two convicts were not provided with a translator, who now visits them once every three months.

Serbia’s Justice Minister first appealed to the UN court for the transfers out of Estonia of Martic and Milosevic in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

Martic, the former leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia, was convicted in 2008 of murder, persecution on political, racial and religious grounds, imprisonment, deportations, the plunder of property, the wanton destruction of villages and attacks on civilians during the war in Croatia, among other things.

He has been serving his 35-year prison sentence in Estonia since 2009, and requested a transfer from the country in 2014, with his lawyer alleging poor medical treatment, substandard facilities and lack of any rehabilitation programme.

Milosevic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Sarajevo-Romanija Corps, was sentenced in 2009 to 29 years in prison for terrorising and killing civilians during the siege of Sarajevo in 1994 and 1995. He has been serving the sentence in Estonia since 2011.

“Milosevic, who is sick and in old age, has to work to afford basic means of hygiene… and washes his own belongings since the laundry service is also paid-for,” the Serbian Justice Ministry said.

The issue of Serbian convicts’ living conditions was raised during talks between the Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic and MICT president Theodor Meron in Belgrade on November 20.

A press release from the Serbian government said that Brnabic requested a reconsideration of Serbia’s plea to allow its war crimes convicts to serve their sentences in Serbia.

However, according to MICT, that decision would have to be made by the UN Security Council in the case of Serbia or any other former Yugoslav country.

“This decision cannot be made by the Mechanism,” MICT said.

As for transferring prisoners out of Estonia to a third country, the request can be approved “only in the gravest of circumstances, if the [MICT] president concludes that a person’s rights are directly and continually threatened in a way that cannot be rectified through coordination with relevant authorities”, MICT said.

The Estonian Justice Ministry did not respond to BIRN’s questions by the time of publication.

MICT was set up in 2010 by the UN Security Council to complete the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after they shut down.