Serbia To Jail Fighters in Foreign Wars

Serbia plans to penalise locals who go off to fighting in foreign conflicts, jailing those who organise volunteers by up to 12 years, while the fighters themseslves could get from one to five years.

Rasim Ljajic, the trade minister, whose political Social Democratic Party seeks the change, said he expected the ruling Serbian Progressive Party to back the call, and expects a vote in the parliament in autumn.

“Our first initiative was to remove citizenship from these 'dogs of war', but this is not in line with our constitution. Therefore, treating fighting in foreign wars as a criminal act seems like the right way,” Ljajic told the daily newspaper Danas on Thursday.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported this week that Serbian volunteers are joning pro-Russian separatists in their fight against government troops in eastern Ukraine.

The agency reported that Igor Strelkov, who leads the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic defence forces, knew some of the Serbian fighters back when they all fought in the war in Bosnia.

Reacting to reports that Serbs were fighting on the pro-Russian side in the Ukrainian conflict, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic commented that “dozens of Serbs can be seen fighting for both sides.

“Any involvement of Serbian citizens in the Ukrainian crisis is detrimental to Serbia," Vucic added. 

The Prime Minister also urged all of them to return to their own country "and think of their homes and families instead of fighting for a few thousand dollars.

"Serbia has no part in that conflict. Serbia has a responsible policy. We are not able to take legal action, but we pay more and more attention to the people returning from Syria and Iraq and to those involved in...