Balkan Legal News – 16 April 2026
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The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 10 April to 15 April 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.
Romania – 15 April 2026
Romania is set to restart the Petrotel-Lukoil refinery within 45 days after receiving a sanctions waiver from the United States, energy minister Bogdan Ivan announced. The move is expected to boost domestic fuel production and reduce reliance on imports amid the Middle East conflict and the Strait of Hormuz crisis. The refinery, operated by Lukoil, will resume operations under a mechanism that ensures compliance with international sanctions, with Bogdan Ivan stressing that no Russian oil will be used and no funds will flow to Russia. Instead, crude oil will be sourced from alternative suppliers, under strict oversight by the Romanian government. The full article is available here.
Albania – 14 April 2026
Albanian Police, in collaboration with Austrian Police and supported by Europol, reported that they uncovered 12 locations where call centre fraud operations were operating. In police raids on the locations on Monday evening and Tuesday morning, the authorities seized 891,735 euros, 443 computers, 238 phones, and six laptops. The police said that the operation was the result of a two-year investigation and that 10 people were arrested for committing computer fraud, while four others remain wanted for arrest. The full article is available here.
Kosovo – 14 April 2026
The Basic Court of Pristina sentenced Kosovo government spokesperson Arlind Manxhuka and ruling party MP Egzon Azemi to one year and six months in prison each on Tuesday, following a retrial in a case involving charges of inciting division and hate. The case dates from a 2023 indictment, when prosecutors charged Manxhuka and Azemi with inciting division and hate toward a judge and a prosecutor in Pristina. Tuesday’s ruling comes after a November 2025 decision from the Court of Appeals to overturn an earlier judgment from March of that year. In the March decision, Manxhuka had been acquitted, while Azemi was sentenced to six months in prison. The full article is available here.
Serbia – 14 April 2026
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Tuesday that Serbia and Israel will jointly produce military drones, claiming the partnership will result in the “best drones in this part of the world”. Speaking at an event marking the Day of the Military Police Special Unit “Cobras,” Vucic said the cooperation would be based on a 50-50 partnership. He dismissed media reports questioning arms shipments, suggesting that increased defence exports reflect Serbia’s efforts to strengthen its security system. The full article is available here.
Bosnia & Hercegovina – 14 April 2026
The case of Dario Ristic has raised concerns about shortcomings in legislation on dual citizenship after the Bosnian state court rejected an indictment against him for fighting for Russia in Ukraine. Ristic has both Bosnian and Russian citizenship. Less than a year after his return to Bosnia and the initiation of an investigation, the court concluded that there was no reasonable suspicion that Ristic had committed a criminal offence. The ruling stated that he joined the regular army of the Russian Federation as its citizen, which does not constitute a criminal offence under domestic law. The full article is available here.
Turkey – 13 April 2026
Umit Erkol, the provincial leader of the Ankara branch of the Republican People’s Party, CHP, was arrested on Sunday over alleged corruption ties involving Izmir Municipality and a construction project. “Everyone knows that if Umit Erkol had not been the CHP Ankara provincial chair, he would not have been arrested. The decision is not independent of the attacks directed at our party,” said CHP leader Ozgur Ozel on Sunday in a denial of all accusations that Erkol faces. The CHP, Turkey’s main opposition party, called for a protest after the arrest and several thousand people gathered in front of the CHP’s Ankara headquarters. The full article is available here.
Kosovo – 13 April 2026
On 13 April 2026, the Defence for Jakup Krasniqi filed a public redacted version of its final trial brief, which was initially submitted confidentially in January this year. This is the third final trial brief made public so far, following those filed by Veseli and Thaҫi.
Kosovo – 10 April 2026
In a written interview published by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Hashim Thaçi spoke from detention in The Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, arguing that the tribunal had strayed from its original purpose. He contended that the court was set up to investigate organ trafficking allegations from the Dick Marty report, yet the actual indictment contains none of those charges, and maintained that any crimes by KLA members were incomparable in scale to those committed by Serbian forces. The interview in full is published here, and an abridged English version is available here.