Hungary and the Transfrontier Communities

Author(s): György Schöpflin / Language(s): English Issue: 18/2015

If we accept that the success/failure criteria of the Hungarian state’s strategy are to help secure the cultural reproduction of these transfrontier communities, then we are forced to conclude that success has eluded its formulators. In sum, the transfrontier communities are shrinking in size, whether through outmigration or assimilation. More seriously, they appear to have lost any strong sense of a lasting future (cf. Prague Germans after 1918, Serbs of Kosovo, Gaeltacht in Scotland). In part, this is explained by a palpable level of insecurity in these communities, to which can be added fear in some cases. Note too that the Hungarian citizenship law has not succeeded in turning this around.

The first veridict for genocide that was brought by the Court of BiH

Author(s): Dževad Mahmutović / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

On March 24, 2005, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted Milorad Trbić of the participation in the genocide in Srebrenica. Milorad Trbić, born on February 22, 1958 in Ponijevo, Zenica municipality, was at the time of the conflict the clerk at the Department of safety and intelligence affairs at the headquarters of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of Republic of Srpska. In April 2005, he voluntarily turned himself in. In 2007, the Council for transferring the cases with the seat in the Hague, following the request of the Prosecution authorities in the Hague, with the consent of the accused, decided that it would refer the case of Milorad Trbić to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).

Prva presuda za genocid koju je donio sud Bosne i Hercegovine Miloradu Trbiću

Author(s): Dževad Mahmutović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 3/2014

Human rights between abuse and non-discrimination

Author(s): Marilena Marin / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 31/2014

We started researching on human rights based on the common law (Romanian Constitution, the civil code and the code of civil procedure) and continuing with the particular law, for the prevention of and sanction of all forms of discrimination. In our study we follow the method of protecting human rights in relation to free access to justice, to the abuse of law or procedural rights, non-discrimination and solutions of causes to the European Court of Human Rights.

Novi „hibridni” sud za zločine izvršene tokom i nakon sukoba na Kosovu i Metohiji

Author(s): Lazar Glišović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 13/2017

The topic of this paper is the analysis of the new „hybrid” tribunal, established to judge perpetrators of serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed primarily against Serbs during and after the armed conflict in Kosovo and Metohija. In this regard, the paper first deals with the way the Court was established, examining the contribution of the Council of Europe and the European Union, which represents the political aspect of the work, while the second part is an overview of the most important provisions of the „Statute” of the Court, which analyzes its competence and organization.

ULOGA INTERPOLA U POSTUPKU EKSTRADICIJE

Author(s): Nedžad Dilberović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 05/2015

The aim of this paper is to explain International Criminal Police Organisation - Interpol's role in extradition procedure. The paper stressed out significant Interpol's contribution to highly sensitive extradition procedure, primarily through enabling of communication, coordination and assistance in decision making process. Prior to presentation of its role, structure of this organisation has been shortly given. Interpol’s role in extradition procedure has been mainly considered under the auspice of search notices. International notices system has been described in detail, as one of the most important functions of Interpol, which create a frame inside of which police from all around the world can collect relevant data in order to locate, put into extradition custody and extradite persons, wanted for criminal procedure pending or imprisonment sentence serving. In this regard, special attention has been given to red notices. At the end, statistical data are shown regarding number of extraditions, and number of processed requests for diffusions notices, realised by Interpol Sarajevo officers in the period from 2006 – 2013. The paper provides possibility for an overview of benefits Interpol offers to police and judicial bodies involved in extradition procedure.

RATNI ZLOČIN U MEĐUNARODNOM KRIVIČNOM ZAKONODAVSTVU

Author(s): Miodrag Jović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 05/2015

In this paper, the author deals with the issue of war crimes in international criminal law. In this regard, the author first defines the war and presents historical development of the determination of the rules of war in international documents. Then, the author deals with the provisions of the International Criminal Court regarding the determination rathog crimes, making a parallel with the provisions governing this matter in the national legislation of the Republic of Serbia. Special attention is paid to blanket character of war crimes as international criminal offense by pointing to certain dilemmas and issues that arise in the interpretation of this being a criminal offense.

Asymetria ryzyka a zasada sprawiedliwości społecznej na tle problemu kredytów we frankach szwajcarskich

Author(s): Anna Jurkowska-Zeidler / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXV/2016

The appreciation of the Swiss franc at the beginning of 2015 has shown the scale of the currency risk for home loans in Swiss francs, the possibility of the unforeseen increase of further debt and the increase of the cost of servicing the loan beyond the financial capacity of the borrower. This sparked an intense public debate on the relevance and the manner of possible actions that should be undertaken in order to reduce risk associated with loans granted (denominated / indexed) in Swiss francs, which are dominant among home loans in foreign currency in the Polish banking system. Most borrowers did not realize the risk associated with this type of loans which de-facto were a kind of foreign currency speculation associated with significant foreign exchange risk. This risk has become real in recent years and has significantly increased the debt service costs. Additionally, bank shave increased their salaries by using high currency spread rate that is disadvantageous for borrowers. The asymmetry of risk existing in the context of foreign currency loans denominated or indexed in Swiss francs justifies the need for equitable distribution of its costs. The system solutions with regard to risk-sharing should be determined by the principle of social justice.

Czy stosowanie obcego prawa przez sąd polski może być niesprawiedliwe? Rozważania z zakresu prawa prywatnego międzynarodowego i międzynarodowej procedury cywilnej na tle postanowienia sądów rejonowego i okręgowego w Kielcach z 2015 roku (II CA 1533)

Author(s): Joanna Kruczalak-Jankowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXV/2016

Justice (legitimacy) in private international law has its emanation primarily in the design of public order clause. According to the opinions commonly presented in the literature, there is a well-established principle of „equal treatment of foreign law” in Poland,which means equal treatment of foreign and national legal orders. Therefore, all modifications in this regard must be based on public order clause, which means that both in private international law and international civil procedure the application of the clause is not justified by the fact that there is a contradiction between foreign law and national legal order. It is generally accepted that this institution can be used only if the results of the application of foreign law in a particular case before a court would be contrary to the fundamental principles of Polish law. The clause, therefore, does not act against the content of foreign law but only against the consequences of its use, especially if they are particularly glaring

Prawo do sądu a szybkość postępowania cywilnego

Author(s): Anna Machnikowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXV/2016

The crisis of the efficiency of court proceedings should be an important argument to increase interest in problems faced by contemporary judges. It also provokes a question how far the inability to resolve this issue influences the lasting transformation of the system of government (global and national) and to what extent it is a result of ordinary neglect and a lack of appropriate skills and legal intuition of both administrative decision-makers and judges. The negative dimension of the excessive length of judicial proceedings additionally speaks for the development of a new policy aimed at efficient litigation. It’s because the polemic about the sources of the problem outlined in the article title exacerbates and deepens divisions between judges and the Ministry of Justice. What is more, there are numerous constitutional and economic uncertainties and further areas of the conflicts of laws and interests are likely to appear. The legal regulation of the situation is not easy because of the fragmented identification of the relationship between the actual situation and the legal status as well as the state of public awareness. Consequently, the stabilization of the situation becomes an indispensable necessity in face of the standard of the right to access to court.

Argument ze sprawiedliwości w dyskursie publicznym

Author(s): Kamil Zeidler / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXV/2016

An important feature of modern democratic states is their discursive nature, which results in a constant negotiating situation, which is a special type of communication situation. Moving away from substantive law to procedures and creating the so-called framework conditions result in the need to take argumentative actions in favor of own interestsand values. Such situation raises the need to develop communicative skills, and within them the skills of argumentation. The concept of justice does not have single and unambiguous content. There are many competing theories and justice formulas which are reflected in contemporary discourseand expressed in contents of the applicable law and its principles. The Constitution of the Republic of Poland uses the notion of social justice in art. 2. When justice is used in public discourse we can call it the creation of an argument from justice which can have as different content as the theories and formulas adopted for its construction. Therefore, a dispute over the mere content of such argument can occur. There is often a conflict between theargument from justice and other arguments, in particular legal arguments. Such situation can be considered as hard case. In practice, the argument from justice has great importance in restoring the violated state of justice in matters of transitional justice and the argumentative approach to the issue of cultural goods restitution.

Spacer idei przez prawo

Author(s): Zdzisław Brodecki,Anna Łunecka-Bartkiewicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: XXXI/2014

The Authors present three ideas (humanity, efficiency and equity) in three perspectives (procedural, substantive and constitutional). On the basis of the two above-mentioned triad, the code of legal culture has been built. In the light of this code the following „words- keys” are presented: procedural dignity, procedural rationality and procedural justice (procedural law), rights of an individual, solidarity rights, substantive justice (substantive law), a participatory individual, a rational legislator, an efficient court and the status of a judge (constitutional law)

Концентрациони логор Јасеновац и кршење међународног права

Author(s): Jelena Đ. Lopičić Jančić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 1/2017

This article discuses the international legal aspect of Jasenovac concentration camp. Jasenovac was the largest concentration camp in occupied Yugoslavia during Second World War and has functioned since its establishment in August 1941 until its closure in April 1945. This camp was also known as death camp because most of the inmates died due to murdering them or from various diseases and illness since the conditions in the concentration camp were terrible. The number of killed inmates in Jasenovac concentration camp, that consisted of Serbs, Jews, Romani, anti-fascists and other persons who did not accept the Ustasha’s government, was never precisely determined. Estimates differ depending upon the authors but total number of inmates that died in Jasenovac concentration camp was not less than 600,000. We believe that Jasenovac concentration camp is not enough treated in our literature from international legal aspect so that is one of the reasons, beside the above mentioned that we wrote this article. The primary responsibility for the existence of concentration camps in Croatia have Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy that have committed aggression against Kingdom of Yugoslavia and occupation of Kingdom Yugoslavia, and formed in the occupied territory quisling state of so-called Independent State of Croatia. By these acts they severely violated number of international conventions on the laws of war. Independent State of Croatia issued a series of racist and Nazi laws and decrees on the basis of which the physical liquidation of Serbs, Jews, Romani, antifascists and those who did not accept the Ustasha government was executed. In this article were applied historical legal method, comparative legal method and positive legal method. Since there is an obvious attempt of the defeated Nazi and Fascist parties on the revision of the Second World War, including the minimization of status and victims of Jasenovac, the aim of this article is besides other issues to oppose such a position from international legal aspects.This is important and significant for the younger generation who are not familiar with this issue, so this is an opportunity to learn about this issue from international legal aspect.

Znaczenie lustracji w procesie demokratyzacji Ukrainy

Author(s): Nataliya Minyenkova / Language(s): Polish Issue: 25/2017

This article describes the specific of lustration in Ukraine in 2014‒2016, which was the third successful attempt. This time it was held the institutionalization of the process of lustration of an advanced content: limited opportunities to hold public office for the period of 5- 10 years for the employees of Yanukovych regime, corrupt government officials and former members of the communist nomenclature and KGB agents. Lustration, including in Ukraine, is regarded as one of the institutions of transitional justice model that promotes democracy, although it can be painless and without any mistakes.

Transitions Online_Around the Bloc-Warsaw, Brussels Face Off in Judicial Dispute

Author(s): TOL TOL / Language(s): English Issue: 09/05/2017

Poland has rebuffed the European Commission over its “groundless” complaint about controversial judicial reforms.

Güney Afrika Tecrübesini Yeniden Gözden Geçirerek 12 Eylül Darbesiyle Yüzleşmek

Author(s): Gülden Gürsoy Ataman / Language(s): English Issue: 3/2014

The objective of this article is to determine whether particular processes, mechanisms and principles employed to deal with the past in one society can be applied to another with a different legacy of past abuses. This question will be answered by analyzing applicability of some of the practices and principles of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission to Turkey where there are an ongoing prosecutions regarding the 12 September 1980 Coup D’état. It concludes that “truth commission” as a transitional justice measure can be adopted in Turkey and complement trials due to the limitations and shortcomings of the indictment and prosecution process. However, only certain aspects of the South African TRC can be relevant for a future truth commission in Turkey, as there is no one-size-fits-for-all model for transitional justice and as the practices and the principles of the South African TRC is historically and politically contingent. It is argued that that the public, institutional and thematic hearings should be core elements of a future truth commission in Turkey as they have a capacity to demonstrate broader social context of large-scale abuses and to establish collective responsibility regarding the 12 September 1980 coup d’état as well as to create a space for victims’ to share their plight. New truths to guide the society should be adopted as they enable the representations or reinterpretation of the facts, which were used to justify systemic use of violence and, therefore, show that these abuses are not justified. However, granting individualized amnesty for crimes against humanity should not be embraced it may not conform to international law and by contributing to on-going legacy of impunity, it might cause serious problems in terms of achieving reconciliation.

ELIMINATION OF OUTCOMES OF GENOCIDE – KEY FOR PRESERVATION OF PEACE IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Author(s): Sakib Softić / Language(s): English Issue: 6/2017

This article deals with establishing outcomes of crime of genocide found by the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague on 26 February 2007 in the case Bosnia and Herzegovina versus Serbia and Montenegro in respect of violation of Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide and thinking how to eliminate them in the interest of protecting peace and security at the West Balkan region.

UKLANJANJE POSLJEDICA GENOCIDA - KLJUČ ZA OČUVANJE MIRA U BOSNI I HERCEGOVINI

Author(s): Sakib Softić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 6/2017

This article deals with establishing outcomes of crime of genocide found by the Judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague on 26 February 2007 in the case Bosnia and Herzegovina versus Serbia and Montenegro in respect of violation of Convention on the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide and thinking how to eliminate them in the interest of protecting peace and security at the West Balkan region.

Kritika Rolsove doktrine

Author(s): Zorana Nikolić Maksimović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2016

The doctrine of John Rawls has aroused the attention of the scientific public for more than forty years. A Theory of Justice brought out a special way of looking at the structure of the liberal-democratic societies. It offers not only new knowledge but also the methods and techniques to reach them. As with any successful theory, this one too was met with acclaim but criticism as well . What unites both approaches to Rawls’s learning is a rational foundation of theoretical positions regardless of the epistemological outcomes. Communitarians like Sandel and Volzer were the sharpest critics of the liberal views of John Rawls. Libertianism of M. Nozick was practically built on the criticism of Rawls’s key ideas. Rawls’s scientific reputation was not built on his work only but also on the thinkers who mostly criticized his ideas. And that was a success in itself. Rawls became especially popular in the post-socialist countries after the radical change of the social system. Criticism of Rawls’s learning was related to its key parts: the theory of justice as fairness, veil of ignorance technique, the two principles of justice, the relationship between the individual and the community, social relations and the rule of law, freedom and equality, questions of morality, constructivism and so on. The author of this paper has tried to present and analyze the basic theoretical objections to the attitudes of John Rawls.

The Road Towards A European Criminal Intelligence Model - ECIM

Author(s): Vladimir Šebek / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2015

Great challenges brought about by difficult economic and financial conditions, on one hand, and the trend of growth, sophistication and globalization of organized crime, on the other hand, equally affect Member States of the European Union, as well as other European countries; thus, the creation of the European space of safety and justice is needed more than ever. This can be achieved through mutual cooperation and consolidation of cross-border police cooperation based on the development of national police forces, integration of already established EU framework and instruments in the area of justice and home affairs and strengthening of information exchange between police organizations, with the aim of implementing the European Criminal Intelligence Model. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the circumstances in terms of adoption, development and implementation of the European Criminal Intelligence Model- ECIM as part of the European Union Internal Security Strategy. If we add to that the fact that one of the priority tasks of our country, in line with harmonization with EU regulations, is the requirement for compliance with the European Criminal Intelligence Model, then this paper, from the aspect of its contribution, gains in importance. The contribution of this paper in this domain should be evaluated in light of the current absence of a strategy and clear path towards implementation of such method of police work despite European (and world) actuality.