Yugoslavia, Socialist Federal Republic of
Practice Relating to Rule 96. Hostage-Taking
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s Military Manual (1988) forbids civilian hostage-taking.
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia’s Penal Code (1976), as amended in 2001, provides that hostage-taking is a war crime.
In 1991, in a document entitled “Examples of violations of the rules of international law committed by the so-called armed forces of Slovenia”, the Ministry of Defence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia included the following example: “Taking hostages among wives and children of YPA [Yugoslav People’s Army] soldiers, they brought them in front of barracks and forced them to call upon their husbands and fathers to surrender.”