Justice for victims of war contamination: The legal battle for the right to health and the environment
by Srđan Aleksić*, Serbia
This subject is not abstract or theoretical. It is a matter of life and death, of dignity and survival for communities affected by the toxic legacy of war.
The first judgment
in Pančevo – a historic Moment
I would like to emphasize the significance of the judgment I obtained before the Basic Court in Pančevo, in the case of a military reservist who developed lung cancer as a result of exposure to depleted uranium during the bombing of Serbia in 1999.
This is the first judgment in Serbia holding the state responsible for the consequences of war contamination. For the first time in our country, a court has confirmed what scientists, doctors, and international organizations have long stated – that exposure to depleted uranium and other heavy metals leads to severe diseases, including cancer.
The legal dimension of the struggle
This judgment carries multiple implications:
- A practical legal precedent – it opens the door to hundreds of other cases, by confirming the causal link between contamination and illness.
- International repercussions – the Pančevo case enters the European and global legal discourse on state responsibility for the use of harmful or prohibited means of warfare.
- Protection of human rights – the ruling is grounded in the right to life and the right to a healthy environment, both guaranteed by international and constitutional law.
Scientific and medical evidence
In the Pančevo proceedings, crucial evidence was presented – medical records, biopsies, expert opinions from toxicologists and pathologists – all confirming the presence of heavy metals in human tissues and demonstrating their role in the development of cancer. Science stood side by side with justice and enabled the court to issue a fair decision.
Broader significance
This struggle goes beyond individual cases. It becomes a struggle for future generations:
- A struggle to secure compensation and recognition for victims.
- A struggle to break the silence and expose the truth about war contamination.
- A struggle to establish, within the international community, a binding prohibition on the use of depleted uranium and similar agents in warfare.
Conclusion
Justice for the victims of war contamination is not an abstract issue. It is alive today in our courts. The first judgment in Pančevo demonstrates that the state must be held accountable, and that the right to health and to a safe environment are not empty promises but concrete rights that courts must protect.
Our mission is to continue this legal and scientific path, to strengthen the bridge between medicine, ecology, and law, and to ensure that victims receive what they deserve – justice and dignity.
The judgment of the Basic Court in Pančevo is not important only for Serbia and in particular its province of Kosovo and Metohija. It also concerns Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Croatia. Why? Because the depleted uranium used against Serbia did not remain within our borders. It spread through the air, water, and food, reaching neighbouring territories as well.
That is why I feel an obligation to share the knowledge I have sought all over the world – and which I have also gained here, from professors, lawyers, and scientists – with those nations too. Many soldiers and civilians in Europe, who served in contaminated areas in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the Balkans, are now suffering from cancer, yet they do not know how to establish the causal link to their disease.
In Italy, we already have more than 500 final judgments, and 75 additional lawsuits are pending. And now, we also have the first ruling in Serbia. This is a historic moment.
I have also published the book “Uran 238” [English version: “The Cancer Projectile”, which was generously printed by citizens of Germany, to whom I am deeply grateful. The proceeds from the book are used to finance free biopsy analyses through nanotechnology for cancer patients in Serbia who cannot afford them. Our goal is 1,000 analyses. We have already conducted seventy-five cases, and in seventy-two cases depleted uranium was found in lethal concentrations, while in 3 cases extreme levels of heavy metals, also life-threatening, were detected.
This is proof that the struggle is worthwhile.
And so, I want to thank all of you who have supported me from the very beginning of my research, and also today, when I can offer legal advice and assistance to citizens across Europe who are battling cancer.
Thank you. •
* Srđan Aleksić, born on 24 March 1968, is an attorney in Niš and Belgrade. After studying law at the University of Niš from 1989 to 1993, he worked as an attorney and completed postgraduate studies in criminal law (2008). In 2016, he obtained his doctorate in law. For years, he has represented numerous families who have lost relatives to mostly severe multiple cancers since the Yugoslav War in 1999. Aleksić is the author of five published books on criminal law and real estate transactions, as well as several scientific articles. He speaks Russian, Greek and Albanian as foreign languages.
Dr Aleksić is married and has two daughters. He is now well known far beyond his country's borders for his work and research findings. This year, he was invited to the Serbian Film Festival in Chicago, where he presented the documentary film “Toxic NATO” by the German filmmaker Moritz Enders; to Northwestern University of Law in Chicago; to the Diplomatic Academy in Moscow; to the International Film Festival in Berlin; in November 2025: to the German Parliament in Berlin; and to the medical and law faculties in Brussels.
DU rulings in Italy
“The first court cases concerning the consequences of depleted uranium began in Italy, thanks to the extraordinary work of lawyer Angelo Fiore Tartaglia. He was the first in Europe to succeed in proving in court the causal link between exposure to uranium and cancer in Italian soldiers who served in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq.
Based on the findings of Italian laboratories and nanotechnological tissue analyses, Italian courts recognised the state’s responsibility and awarded compensation to those affected [in over 500 cases to date]. These cases set a precedent in international law and form the basis for further proceedings throughout Europe.
Based on this, Serbia has initiated its own proceedings. These are not an isolated national initiative, but part of an international legal battle for the recognition of responsibility and the right to health.
The jurisprudence in these cases requires a combination of scientific, medical and legal evidence – and Italy was the first country to show how science can become evidence in the service of the law.”
Source: Srđan Aleksić, “Uranium 238 – Human Rights and State Responsibility”;
excerpt from his speech in the German Bundestag on 5 November 2025.
(Translation Current Concerns)
"Toxic Nato"
ef. The documentary film by Berlin-based director, filmmaker and investigative journalist Moritz Enders is entitled “Toxic Nato – Srđan Aleksić’s Long Way to Justice”. In the documentary, Enders accompanies lawyer Srđan Aleksić, whose own family was affected by the consequences of the use of uranium weapons during the Yugoslav War in 1999 and who is currently pursuing several lawsuits. He is using legal means to help the numerous victims of the NATO bombings get at least compensated.
(Languages: Serbian/German – English subtitles; length: 26 minutes; on YouTube: trailer and interviews)
The Cancer Projectile: 78 Days of Uranium Deep Seeding
“The book once again reminds of the tragic fate of the Serbian people during the NATO aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999. Also, lawyer Dr Srđan Aleksić talks about his legal fight against NATO and against the use of depleted uranium ammunition. A very important segment is the use of ammunition with depleted uranium, as well as the presentation of the consequences of using ammunition with depleted uranium. Due to the far-reaching and long-lasting consequences caused by NATO’s aggression in 1999, it is necessary that everyone from their domain contributes to the fight for the truth to come to the surface, for the citizens of the Republic of Serbia to receive compensation for all the damage that NATO has caused. In other words, the book indicates that it is necessary for all those who were affected by depleted uranium to receive monetary compensation. Also, it is necessary to clean our country from undegraded depleted uranium. In particular, we should bear in mind the huge amount of depleted uranium that NATO dumped on the soil of the then FR Yugoslavia. Some analyses indicate that the amount is greater than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Certainly, the consequences can be remedied in such a way that those who caused the damage will open hospitals where people will be treated with the most modern methods, using the most modern equipment, where the quality of life of people suffering from cancer will be improved as much as possible. Justice must lead to the fact that all the countries that participated in the bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia correct the eco-catastrophe that they caused not only to Serbia but to all of humanity.
A special segment of the book is the practice of Italian courts.
In the end, we can say that the focus of the entire book is man and man’s destiny, looking at it from the point of view of good, but also from the point of view of evil. A person fights and hopes while he is alive, this is exactly the case with all the victims of depleted uranium ammunition, who fight their hardest battles every day, they fight, but they also pray, because it seems that only God has not forgotten about those people.” (Back cover of the book)
Published by Xlibris AU, 2024
ISBN 979-8-3694-9511-7