Born in 1942 in Belgrade. After completion of the Classical high school he graduated at the University of Belgrade Law School in 1964. He continued post graduate studies of International Law in London. He is a member of the Bar in Belgrade and an associate member of the Bar in London.
He is mostly into international private law, international trade law, arbitrage and air traffic law.
He is a member of the British-Yugoslav Barristers Association in London.
For his services to the legal system of Sweden, he was decorated with the Order of the Polar Star, first degree, by the King of Sweden in 1988.
He is one of the founders of the Democratic Party and the signatory of the Letter of Intentions. He is also among the founders of the Democratic Party of Serbia in 1992.
From February to October 2001 he was the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Serbia. From that position he established a team that initiated writing the draft of the Law on rehabilitation, the Law on courts, the Law on NGOs and the Law on political parties.
He has published articles in England, in the Current European Law, Impact, The South Slav Journal, The Times and BSSSLA Newsletter. In Yugoslavia he published articles in the magazines Danas Pravo, Politika, NIN and Branic.
He participated as speaker at the seminars in Cambridge, London, Harvard, University of Essex and Belgrade. He presented his works at the conferences at the Royal Institute for International Affairs, Chatham House, Wilton Park and the British Parliament.
He practices law in Belgrade and London. He is married to Mirjana and has two sons, Marko and Peter.
Djurdje Ninkovich, lawyer
Deputy Minister of Justice 2001
Founder of the Democratic Party
November 21, 2011
THE HAWTHORN POLE
On October 6, 2011, the Law of the Return of Property Taken Away and Compensation went into effect. The Law’s title almost completely contradicts its contents. That is to say that although it proclaims the principle of restitution ‘in natura’, the Law mainly deals with numerous exceptions from that principle, so that it turns out in the end that nothing will be returned except for a little land, unsold premises and flats inhabited by the real owners.
The exemptions from restitution ‘in natura’ are listed in the 11 items of Article 18. The greatest number of exemptions from restitution has no foundation in the law of fairness or in the generally accepted morality. Thus, for instance, buildings which serves for the activities of health services, education, culture and science or other institutions; real estate that are part of institutions to be privatized as well as institutions in bankruptcy; real estate dedicated for the representative needs of the National Assembly, the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister (have they no shame!); real estate intended for the lodging of foreign diplomatic – consular, military and commercial missions; real estate sold in the course of privatization proceedings; nationalized enterprises are not being returned.
As if that was not enough, the lawmaker adds one more item, which reads, believe it or not: „In other cases defined by this law“, which means that even what passes through the dense nets of exemptions will not be returned if some functionary so decides.
In addition, according to article 19 of the Law the holder of the property which is to be returned has the right to defer the restitution for a period necessary to adjust his activities, or to an indetermined date.
Article 22 lists in great detail land that is not returned. It is particularly remarkable that construction land where the construction of ’social apartments’ is planned but has not yet started, is not returned. Article 22 which deals with land to be returned is full of various conditions and exceptions.
Ther are few exceptions and limitations for the restitution of agricultural land, forests and forest land, for example: „land in social or cooperative ownership acquired through a legal tansaction“. As if it could have been acquired from a non-owner.
In some of its regulations the law put lease above possession..For instance Article 20 determines that land leasing contracts concluded before the expiration of one year after the law goes int effect (sic!) can use the land up to 20 years for multiple – year plants, or up to 40 years for vineyards.
In Article 10 the laws states the principle of the protection of who has taken possession of the proprerty who has acquired the right of possession after nationalization according to law. Here the lawmaker ignores that property cannot be legally acquired without the consent of t the owner from whom the property has been taken through unjust laws of nationalization. I stress the fact that property cannot be taken away by any law. Thus confiscated property is in most cases sold by the state or by various public and private enterprises with a dubious legal authority. The privatization agencies where unscrupulous when they sold property taken by force. Property cannot be acquired from an unscrupulous seller who is not even the owner.
The owners of property which cannot by returned according to the Law console themselves that they will at least receive a monetary compensation of 500.000 Euro. Whoever reads with attention the first paragraph of Article 31 will immediately understand that absolutely nobody will receive even an approximate amount. The compensation will be calculated with a coefficient resulting from the division of 2 billion Euro by the total compensation claimed. The Tax Authority of Serbia has recently estimated the value of confiscated property at 220 billion Euro, based on the claims submitted. If the Treasury estimates the value of confiscated property at 50 billion Euro, then by dividing 2 billion by 50 billion we get a coefficient of 0.04.
Applying this coefficient to 500.000 Euro we obtain the maximum amount of compensation of 20.000 Euro. Of this 2.000 Euro are paid over 3 years and the remaining 18.000 Euro at 1.200 yearly over the next 15 years.
Applying this coefficient to 500.000 Euro we obtain the maximum amount of compensation of 20.000 Euro. Of this 2.000 Euro are paid over 3 years and the remaining 18.000 Euro at 1.200 yearly over the next 15 years.
The rest of the article is a very strong political and moral criticism of the Law and of the present Government.
Translated by:- Dr. P. Münch
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