THEMATIC REPORT 2017 REDRESS AND REPARATIONS accepted by the court. The compensation awarded ranges from 1,500 to 3,000 Euros and the money has been paid out to the victims. Unfortunately, the majority of IAN’s clients who filed these claims either did not get compensation, despite showing evidence that they suffer from PTSD, or they withdrew their claims. There were also a few clients who were not diagnosed as suffering from PTSD but filed a claim relying on other damage suffered. However, these compensation claims were also rejected by the courts. The majority of clients who decided not to make a complaint about torture were tortured in Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina by Croatian and Bosnian perpetrators and were unable to file a complaint in those countries whilst living in Serbia, in part as they were unable to access legal assistance in those countries. It can also be noted that some victims who survived torture in Serbia did not want to file a complaint against the Serbian authorities because Serbia accepted them as refugees after the war and later granted them citizenship. Case Study Claiming compensation for unlawful deprivation of liberty During the Balkans War (1991-1995), Nicolas fled from Croatia to Serbia. He managed to find his family and they reunited again and settled in a town in south Serbia. The same day that he registered as a refugee in the Commissariat for Refugees, police officers took him and other refugees to a Serbian paramilitary camp in Erdut (a town in Croatia which was under the jurisdiction of the Serbian authorities). When they got off the bus they received blows and insults. Members of the Serbian paramilitary forces (SPR) took their documents, valuables and shaved their heads. Nicolas spent a month in the camp. He was brutally tortured during that time. He was beaten, kicked, humiliated, forced to bark like a dog and tied up to a dog house. Several times he had to carry a 20 kg “rock of discipline”. After a month he was sent to the battlefield in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was forced to participate in combat. After the signing of the Dayton Agreement, he was returned to Erdut camp, and finally demobilised in 1996. Nicolas recollects that he was constantly frightened for his life. The worst thing for him was the fact that he had been captured and tortured by his “own people”. As a consequence of the torture experienced, he suffered chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In September 2006, Nicolas claimed for compensation of non-material damages because of unlawful deprivation of liberty. A year later, in September 2007 his claim was rejected by the first instance court. The Judge refused to take into account evidence submitted in a medico-legal report that Nicolas suffered from PTSD. Although the decision was appealed to the high court, this was rejected in 2009. page 43