Thursday, 14 October 2010

Second Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2010

The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, convened the Second Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2010, for Thursday, 14 October 2010, starting at 10 a.



The Speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic, convened the Second Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia in 2010, for Thursday, 14 October 2010, starting at 10 a.m.

The National Assembly set the following agenda:

1. The Proposal of the Declaration of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on the Condemnation of Crimes Perpetrated Against the Serbian People and Citizens of Serbia, submitted by 123 deputies.

By a majority of votes, the National Assembly accepted the proposal by the group of 123 deputies to consider the item under urgent procedure.

After the session was opened, deputies Milica Vojic-Markovic, Paja Momcilov, Kenan Hajdarevic and Miroslav Markicevic exercised their right under article 286 of the Rules of Procedure and requested information and explanations from state authorities.

The National Assembly rejected the proposals by the Serbian Radical Party deputies to include three more declaration proposals into the agenda – on the condemnation of the crimes against Serbs, Roma and Jews in the clerofascist independent state of Croatia, on the condemnation of the genocide against the Armenian people from 1915 to 1923 by the Ottoman Turkey and on the establishment of the border between Serbia and Croatia on the Danube.

At the beginning of the unified discussion, Nada Kolundzija, Head of the Deputy Group For European Serbia, elaborated the Declaration Proposal on the behalf of the submitters. She stressed that by the Declaration the Serbian Assembly intends to support the domestic and international institutions, as well as neighbouring institutions in taking a stand on the Serbian victims, the same as the Serbian Assembly. She stated that the purpose of the Declaration is that the crimes against Serbs never be forgotten and that the politics that led to them never be repeated. By adopting it, the National Assembly invites the parliaments of the neighbouring countries to take the same position on all the war victims in the former Yugoslavia, and the international institutions processing those responsible for the crimes to punish those who perpetrated crimes against Serbs as well, said Kolundzija.

After her address, the heads i.e. representatives of the Deputy Groups requested the floor.

On the behalf of the SPS-US Deputy Group, Dragan Markovic-Palma said that the SPS-US would vote in favour of the Declaration and called on other parliaments to condemn the crimes against the Serbian people, as well as NATO to apologise for the crimes and civilian victims of the 1999 bombings.

On the behalf of the DPS Deputy Group, deputy Slobodan Samardzic said that the adoption of the Declaration that expressed regret for the victims of the NATO bombing, but did not condemn it was an amnesty for what the alliance did in FRY in 1999, as well an amnesty for Slovenia where there had also been victims in the early 1990s. He mentioned that the adoption of such a Declaration would result in differentiating among the victims, diminishing NATO’s and Slovenia’s crimes, revising recent history and that it therefore did not deserve to be adopted by the National Assembly.

Forward Serbia Deputy Group Head Tomislav Nikolic objected that the proposal to include all the victims and all the criminals in one text was rejected, that the text of the Declaration did not mention all the crimes and that the Declaration Proposal condemning the crimes against the Serbian people and citizens of Serbia condemned neither the NATO crimes of 1999, nor the ones in Slovenia.

New Serbia Deputy Group Head Velimir Ilic also objected to the fact that the Declaration Proposal did not condemn the crimes perpetrated by NATO in 1999 and deemed that the document was being adopted only pro forma so as to satisfy the public and the opposition. He added that all crimes are identical no matter against whom they have been perpetrated, and that the Serbian Assembly should have adopted a single declaration to condemn all the crimes, not rank them in separate documents.

On the behalf of the G17 Plus Deputy Group Suzana Grubjesic announced that the Deputy Group would vote for the Declaration Proposal and pointed out that others could not be expected to have understanding for our victims if we ourselves did not respect them. The Serbian people died and suffered in the 20th century and in the 21st century they should learn how to live, said Suzana Grubjesic. She stressed that it is an incontrovertible fact that by adopting the Declaration Condemning the Srebrenica Crime, Serbia and its Assembly have extended a hand of reconciliation to the neighbouring nations. According to her, without the implementation of the Criminal Law there could be no peace in the region, adding that the judiciary in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina can find no excuse not to launch investigations of the war crimes perpetrated against Serbs.

On the behalf of the Serbian Radical Party Deputy Group, Aleksandar Martinovic said that the SRP would not vote in favour of the proposed Declaration and stressed that the submitters of the Declaration had failed to explain to the Serbian citizens and the world public what actually happened since 1990. He objected that the text of the Declaration failed to attempt to remove the hypothesis that Serbs were the ones most to blame for the dissolution of former Yugoslavia. He deemed the Declaration incomplete as it did not mention the crimes in Slovenia and objected that it contained no condemnation of the NATO bombing, only regret for the victims killed in the bombing.

On the behalf of the deputies of the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, Balint Pasztor announced that they would endorse the Declaration the same as they endorsed the Declaration condemning the crime in Srebrenica on 30 March. He opined that every crime should be condemned no matter who the perpetrator or the victims might be.

On the behalf of the PUPS Deputy Group, deputy Momo Colakovic listed the reasons why they shall endorse the proposed Declaration text. Above all, the fact that it condemns all crimes against the Serbian people and Serbian citizens on the territory of former Yugoslavia, that it supports the Serbian state authorities in the further attempts to establish the truth and bring to justice all who had perpetrated said crimes and calls upon the neighbouring countries to do all they can and condemn the crimes done by individuals in their name.

On the behalf of the LDP Deputy Group, Zoran Ostojic announced that the party would endorse the Proposed Declaration as the LDP irrefutably believes that the Serbian people had suffered numerous victims in the wars. He said that it was completely natural to condemn the sacrifices of one’s own people and noted that it was easy to condemn crimes, but it was more difficult to condemn the criminals and that because of it Serbia should first condemn the criminals who had perpetrated crimes against other nations. According to him, after that it can expect other countries to condemn the perpetrators of crimes against the Serbian people.

Following the day’s unified discussion comprising over 30 deputies, National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic concluded the unified discussion on the only item on the agenda and set Thursday, 14 October, as Voting Day, starting at 8:15 p.m.

Voting Day

On Voting Day, the National Assembly adopted the Proposal of the Declaration of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on the Condemnation of Crimes Perpetrated Against the Serbian People and Citizens of Serbia, in its entirety, by 133 votes.

The National Assembly also ruled on the violations of the Rules of Procedure the deputies complained of during the session and decided that the Rules of Procedure had not been violated in any of the cases.

As the National Assembly had completed the discussion on the only item on the agenda and ruled on it, National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic concluded the Second Sitting of the Second Regular Session of the National Assembly in 2010.



Previous month Next month
M T W T F S S
26 27 28 29 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
friday, 29 march
  • 9.00 - the National Assembly Speaker meets with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia (National Assembly House, 13 Nikola Pasic Square, Speaker’s Cabinet)

Full event calendar