First lawsuit filed against NATO for bombing: Will those ill with cancer get at least some justice?

The remains of a train NATO attacked in the Grdelica Gorge, southern Serbia, in 1999; Photo: S. Pikula

After four years, which is how long it took the Aleksic law firm from Nis to prepare lawsuits against NATO, today the first of them was filed before the Higher Court in Belgrade, and together with an Italian lawyer, the firm will try to prove that depleted uranium affected development of severe forms of cancer in Serbian soldiers and military and police officers.

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This first lawsuit will be followed by others before the courts in Vranje, Nis, Kragujevac and Novi Sad.

The filing will seek compensation for cancer patients, i.e., for specific clients who got sick due to depleted uranium poisoning. They are mostly soldiers, police officers and members of the military reserves, who were in Kosovo and Metohija or in southern Serbia in 1999.

Italian lawyer Angelo Fiore Tartaglia was also involved in the preparation of the lawsuits and court proceedings. He took part in similar cases in Italy and managed to win 181 cases for his clients, Italian soldiers who were deployed in the peacekeeping mission in Kosovo and Metohija.

Tartaglia, who was enrolled in the Nis Bar Association at the end of last year, managed to prove before Italian courts the cause-and-effect connection between depleted uranium and the soldiers later developing cancer, on the basis of which they received compensation.

The amount of damages to be sought will be specified during the court proceedings, but lawyer Aleksic believes that the minimum is 100,000 euros and more.

The defendant will be the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - NATO, since it is an international organization, founded by specific member-states, which has its own bodies and decision-making processes.

In case the court awards compensation to the plaintiffs, it should be paid by NATO because, according to the Aleksic law firm, NATO as an international organization that has its own independent legal entity in relation to the member-states, and its own budget.

Along with the lawsuits, the court will receive written evidence that domestic authorities previously collected in our country for the cases conducted against NATO leaders and the leaders of the countries that participated in the bombing.

(Telegraf.rs)