Balkan Legal News – 14 January 2026

The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 7 January to 12 January 2026. Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates with a focus on Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.

Guernica 37 Balkan Legal News

Kosovo / Serbia – 12 January 2026

Experts say that nearly three years after the 2023 EU-brokered Kosovo–Serbia normalisation deal (the Agreement on the Path to Normalisation, reached in Ohrid), it has not been implemented on the ground, with political resistance in both Belgrade and Pristina and a lack of sustained pressure from the EU leaving key commitments — such as mutual recognition of documents and other practical measures — unfulfilled and stalling progress toward improved relations.  The full article is available here.

Montenegro – 12 January 2026

The Basic Court of Montenegro has rejected a private lawsuit filed by former President and Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic against the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption, ASK, ruling that his claim for damages was premature while a related administrative case is still pending. Djukanovic – who ruled Montenegro for almost three decades as leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, until he was defeated in 2023 – was seeking 5,000 euros in compensation.

The full article is available here.

North Macedonia – 12 January 2026

Macedonia may soon get anti-smoking legislation described by some media as the “most restrictive” in the Balkans – extending the country’s ban on smoking to some outdoor spaces, as well as prohibiting the advertising of nicotine products. The new draft Law on Protection from Tobacco and Nicotine Products, published by North Macedonia’s Health Ministry on Sunday, is one of the most significant overhauls of the country’s tobacco control laws in over a decade. The full article is available here.

Bosnia Hercegovina – 9 January 2026

Several thousand people gathered on Friday in Banja Luka, the Bosnian Serb entity’s administrative centre, to watch a parade celebrating the Day of Republika Srpska. The holiday honours the day in 1992 when Bosnian Serb leaders declared the foundation of Republika Srpska. However, many also remember this date as the start of the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which cost an estimated 100,000 lives and left some 2.6 million people displaced. The country's highest court has twice ruled the holiday unconstitutional. The full article is available here.

Serbia – 9 January 2026

The Supreme Court in Serbia has ruled that the criminal code was violated when the Belgrade Court of Appeal in 2023 acquitted four former State Security officials over the 1999 murder of the prominent journalist, editor and publisher Slavko Curuvija – an outspoken critic of authoritarian Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. The full article is available here.

Kosovo – 8 January 2026

Kosovo police arrested 39 people suspected of large-scale financial abuse at the Kosovo Insurance Bureau, BKS, with estimated damages exceeding 1 million euros. The arrests followed raids across several cities on Thursday in an investigation led by the Prizren Basic Prosecution. Some 23,700 euros in cash, watches, weapons and electronic equipment were seized, while 1.3 million euros were frozen. Among the arrested was Sami Mazreku, former Executive Director of BKS and Valon Berisha, former Director of Finance at BKS. The full article is available here.

Bosnia & Hercegovina – 7 January 2026

The Bosnian state-level court on Wednesday confirmed the indictment of Radislav Krstic, former Bosnian Serb Army Drina Corps commander, who is serving a 35-year sentence in Estonia for genocide.  The Prosecutor’s Office charged him in an indictment raised on December 29 with participating, as commander of the 2nd Romanija Motorised Brigade, in a joint criminal enterprise and an attack on the village of Novoseoci in September 1992, as part of a systematic attack by the Bosnian Serb Army and the Republika Srpska police against the Bosniak population in the Sokolac area. The full article is available here.