Bankovic v. NATO States

Press briefing

An application under the European Convention on Human Rights was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 20 October 1999, by five Serbian civilians claiming compensation for death and injury arising from the NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia building (RTS), in Belgrade on 23 April 1999. The case is brought by the relatives of four of those who died and by a survivor of the bombing. The applicants are claiming compensation. They claim that the 17 NATO states which took part in or approved the attack and which are also signatories to the European Convention on Human Rights failed to protect their right to life which is a duty of all States under the Convention. They have therefore complained against all 17 states. (Belgium, The Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and The United Kingdom.) The two other member states of NATO the United States and Canada are not subject to the jurisdiction of the European Convention.

The applicants have also claimed that the targeting of the RTS building was unlawful under the Convention and international law.

The application was initiated by the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, an independent human rights non-governmental organisation in Belgrade. Lawyers from the United Kingdom, and the United States have assisted it.

All 17 Respondent States were invited by the Court to appoint a “common interest” judge under the Rules of ECHR, and the Respondent States have now appointed Judge J.P. Costa (the French judge) as the common interest judge.

The application has now been formally communicated to all Respondent States who have filed observations with the Court. Each State was asked to answer the following questions in it’s observations:-

1. Are the Respondent States responsible under Article 1 of the Convention for the bombardment of the radio television Serbia station at Takovska Street, Belgrade on 23rd April 1999 which was carried out as part of the NATO air strikes against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999?
2. Was that bombardment in violation of Article 2 of the Convention? In particular, did the Respondent States fail to fulfil their procedural obligations under Article 2 and did that bombardment constitute a use of lethal force which was strictly necessary?
3. Did the bombardment constitute a violation of Article 10 of the Convention?
4. Did the applicants have available to them an effective domestic remedy within the meaning of Article 13 of the Convention in relation to the above alleged violation of Article 2 of the Convention?
5. Did the situation which pertained at the relevant time enable the Respondent States to derogate, pursuant to Article 15 of the Convention, from any Convention obligations?

The observations filed, which were drafted by the UK, have been adopted by all Respondent States. These observations focus exclusively on the question of whether or not the Court has jurisdiction to deal with the claim, and have not addressed the other questions posed by the Court. The Governments argue that since the applicants are nationals of a state which is not a party to the Convention, and that the NATO states were not in effective control of the territory in which the attack took place, the Court cannot entertain the application. The applicants argue that the Court does have jurisdiction, and have been invited to file replies to the Government observations by September. Three states, Hungary, Poland, and Denmark, have also claimed that the applicants may have been able to claim domestic remedies in the domestic courts in those countries. The Court is considering whether or not to hold a hearing in Strasbourg on the admissibility of the application. If a hearing is held, it will take place on 24th October 2001.

Since the application was lodged in October 1999 a number of reports have been published by non-governmental organisations in connection with the NATO bombings in Belgrade and the independent prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal has also published a report.

For further details contact:

Tony Fisher
Fisher Jones Greenwood
Solicitors
Norfolk House Southway Colchester Essex, UK
CO2 7BA
Tel +44 1206 578282
Fax: +44 1206 760282
E-mail: [email protected]
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights
Mlatisumina 26 YU-11000 Beograd Yugoslavia
Tel: + 381 11 308 53 28
Fax: + 381 11 432 571
Vojin Dimitrijevic – [email protected]
Tatjana Papic – [email protected]

Hurst Hannum

The Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy Tufts University Medford MA 02155 USA

Tel: 1 617 627 2244
Fax: 1 617 627 3712
Office Fax: 1-617-627-3712.
E-mail: [email protected]
Home: 1 617 868 8372