Niš-based attorney Srđan Aleksić stated that the first court date in the lawsuit against the NATO over the consequences of bombing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with depleted uranium in 1999 should be scheduled by the end of the year, as well as that another 20 similar lawsuits are being prepared, with expert findings.

Aleksić said that five lawsuits have been filed in the Higher Court in Belgrade, seeking damages from the NATO in the amount of 100,000 to 300,000 Euros.

Aleksić reminded that the first lawsuit for damages was filed on January 20 last year in Serbia and that it took a year for the NATO pact to receive it, which then responded that the Alliance had immunity, that is, that it could bomb, kill and perpetrate war crimes without being held responsible.

“That is not true. Serbia did sign an agreement with the NATO pact in 2005, but only for them to pass through its territory. They must pay for any damage that they inflict. That agreement cannot be applied retroactively to relate to 1999, nor can it provide an exception for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” he said.

According to Aleksić, he is being assisted by Italian attorney Angelo Fiore Tartaglia, who has been practicing in this field for 22 years and who has won more than 350 final judgments before Italian courts on the behalf of Italian soldiers who suffer or died from cancer after being directly exposed to depleted uranium in missions to Kosovo and Metohija and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Aleksić pointed out that the bombing with depleted uranium left a problem to children and future generations for the next 4.5 billion years.

Serbia, he said, is the number one country in Europe in terms of cancer patients, and number two in the world, which sufficiently speaks to the fact that the depleted uranium has covered a large surface and a high number of people.