The Youth Initiative for Human Rights and the Network of the Committees for Human rights in Serbia (CHRIS), in cooperation with the Civil Rights Defenders organisation, held a roundtable entitled “The applications of standards of fair trial in the judicial system of Serbia”. The roundtable was held on Friday 6th of June in the Media center in Nis. The main subject of the roundtable was the presentation of the yearly report of the Youth Initiative for Human Rights investigating the Serbian judicial system; as well as judicial reforms, with a special focus on the new network of courts in Serbia, the transparency of legal proceedings, and the length of trials.
The introduction was given by Dragan Đorđević, the Coordinator of the CHRIS network in Serbia, followed by Marko Ilić on behalf of the Youth Initiative who presented the report. On behalf of the Youth Initiative Ivan Đurić and Jovana Spremo also spoke at the roundtable event. Following the presentation of the report, the participants had a chance to ask questions and participate in the discussion.
The roundtable had approximately 20 participants, including representatives of the High Prosecution Office, the Legal clinic of the Faculty of Law Nis, the Judicial Academy, the Bar, and representatives of the nongovernmental sector.
In 2011, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights began to monitor certain legal proceedings and litigations in Serbian courts in order to analyse the degree to which the principle of fair trial was applied in the judicial system of the Republic of Serbia. The monitoring and reporting of trials was carried out through the discrete presence of investigators of the Youth Initiative during sessions and legal proceedings, combined with an investigation of the documentation of specific cases obtained through freedom of information requests.
A gallery of photos can be viewed here