What’s in the Database?
Persons whose death sentence became final in law in Serbia and Yugoslavia between 1804 and 2002. „Final in law“ means that the death sentences passed on them were definitive and could not be changed by appeal or any legal recourse except commutation (reprieve, mercy), usually by the head of state. Those who had been sentenced to death by a court of the first instance but the sentence was subsequently changed on appeal are not in this Database. On the other hand, all those whose death sentence was final in law are included, regardless of the outcome: the executed and the reprieved, as well as those who escaped or died before the execution and those where the outcome is not known (sentenced).
Where do the data come from?
The data were gathered from the following sources: archives, published archival documents, newspapers, and historical and legal journals. In some cases the data were gathered directly from the judicial records of individual courts of law. In others, they come from the three private collections which are currently in the SACP’s possession. These collections contain copies of death sentences, appeals for mercy, decisions on the commutation of sentences and other legal documents pertaining to individual death sentence cases. For more details see Sources.
Is the Database complete?
No. We know nothing about several thousands of persons who were sentenced to death in the 19th century and, especially, from 1944 to 1951, because no documents concerning them have survived or have yet been discovered. For example, it is estimated that nearly 10,000 death sentences were passed in Yugoslavia from 1944 to 1951, but our Database currently has only 5.081 cases from this period. We therefore hope that new cases will be added to our Database for some time to come, as new archival sources become available and as we learn about new cases from other sources.
How are individual cases presented?
The basic data known about each individual case are shown in the form of a Table, accessible by clicking on a name in the Search Results. The Table includes a reference to the data source. A full list of sources can be found here.
Below the Table are the Documents.
The Documents always contain a Basic File in pdf.format, which bears the name of the person sentenced. In it, all that we know about this person is stated in free text form. The Basic Files are raw research materials, preserved in the form in which they were recorded, often hastily, in the archives. They often contain imprecise terms, as well as many abbreviations. All abbreviations are explained here in a separate list. Many Basic Files contain materials from several different sources. They are not available in English at this time.
In addition to the Basic File, the Documents may contain one or more Photographs.
Below the Documents there may appear one or more Links. The Links lead to various supplementary materials about the person concerned, to be found on the Internet or in separate files kept on the SACP site. These materils may consist of copies of individual documents, newspaper articles (often with photographs), information from other databases on the Internet, excerpts from books, and much more.
Examples of Basic Files
Several thousands of Basic Files from the 1945–1951 period have a nearly identical structure. They were excerpted from the archives of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, a body which was then in charge of deciding on the appeals for commutation of death sentences. They generally look like this:
Branko Karanovi [= name and surname]
AJ, 15, F-35-420 [= signature of the document in the archive]
Okru~ni sud Zaje
ar 17.10.1945 [= name and venue of the court of instance which passed the death sentence]
Molba za pomilovanje se NE uva~ava [= contents of the decision on commutation – reprieved / not reprieved]
Odluka br. 1075 07.02.1946. [= number and date of the decision]
If more than one appeal for mercy was dealt with in a single decision, the Basic File contains the names of all those sentenced and the outcome for each. If a reprieve was granted, the Basic File also contains information about the new sentence: number of years in prison and, if applicable, additional punishments, such as confiscation of property or loss of civil rights. An example:
Darinka uri
i Paunovi [= name and surname]
Pomilovana na 3 + 2 [= commuted to 3 years in prison and 2 years' loss of civil rights]
Adam Terzi [= name and surname]
Pomilovan na 4 + 3 [= commuted to 4 years in prison and 2 years' loss of civil rights]
AJ, 15, F-35-420
Vojni sud Valjevo [= Military court in Valjevo]
Odluka br. [Decision no. and date]