Balkan Legal News – 17 December 2025

The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 10 December to 15 December 2025. 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

Bosnia & Hercegovina – 15 December 2025

Bosnia’s state court sentenced Dalibor Railic and Aleksandar Mijatovic on Monday to 29 and 34 years in prison respectively for the murder of the head of the criminal police, Radenko Basic, in the town of Prijedor. He was killed on 21 March 2022, after leaving his house to walk to work. The state-level prosecution alleged that Railic was the mastermind, while Mijatovic committed the murder for the price of 50,000 Bosnian marks, or just over 25,000 euros. The full article is available here.

Croatia – 15 December 2025

Croatia’s parliament on Monday passed a law establishing a regulatory framework for building a disposal facility for radioactive waste from the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia, as well as waste generated by domestic hospitals and industry.  The preferred location for the facility is Cerkezovac, on Trgovska Gora – only three kilometres away from the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, raising concern there for the Una National Park, which is nearby. The full article is available here.

Serbia – 15 December 2025

The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime in Serbia has indicted Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic and three other people for illegally removing the cultural heritage status of the bombed Yugoslav Army HQ in Belgrade to pave the way for its redevelopment. The lifting of the former army HQ’s cultural asset status is needed to allow for the demolition of the building to make way for a new investment project believed to be a Donald Trump-style tower. The project is linked to the Affinity investment firm owned by Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law. The full article is available here.

Croatia – 12 December 2025

Representatives of the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDP, on Friday received members of the My Voice My Choice initiative, which has collected 1.2 million signatures across the EU, prompting the European Parliament to vote the week commencing 15 December on a resolution that would guarantee the right of every woman in member states to accessible and safe abortion. The Vice President of parliament, Sabina Glasovac, and the President of the Gender Equality Committee, Marija Lugaric, met representatives of the initiative from Slovenia and Croatia after the collection of the 1.2 million signatures. The full article is available here.

Albania – 12 December 2025

Albania’s Constitutional Court said on Friday that it had decided “by majority vote” to suspend a court’s earlier decision suspending Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku from office. Balluku was suspended on 21 November by the Special Court Against Corruption and Organised Crime, after she was accused of interfering with public procurement procedures in two road construction cases. Prime Minister Edi Rama took the court decision to the Constitutional Court, asking it to restore Balluku to duty. The Constitutional Court agreed to do so until there is a final decision. The full article can be found here.

Albania – 12 December 2025

With 85 votes in favour and three against, Albania’s parliament late on Thursday elected Endrit Shabani as the new Ombudsperson. However, he was elected, solely with the votes of ruling Socialist and Social Democratic Party MPs. Shabani was one of six candidates initially endorsed with signatures from opposition Democratic Party MPs and approved by the Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs. But all those MPs formally withdrew their supporting signatures before the session. The full article can be found here.

Romania – 12 December 2025

The Judicial Inspectorate, the body responsible for overseeing the professional conduct of judges and prosecutors in Romania, announced on Friday that it has opened preliminary checks into accusations made by several magistrates in a recent media investigation alleging corruption, undue influence and other deeply troubling practices within Romania’s judiciary. The full article is available here.

Albania – 11 December 2025

Koldian Braho on Thursday was elected the new head of the Special Prosecution, SPAK, in a process that attracted significant attention at home and abroad. SPAK was established to tackle corruption and organised crime amid a major justice reform process. Backed by the US and EU, it has gained a solid reputation for investigating senior officials and politicians. The full article is available here.

Bulgaria – 11 December 2025

Bulgaria’s ruling coalition on Thursday said it would resign following one of the largest outbreaks of protest in the country’s history. The coalition consisted of the centre-right GERB, Bulgaria’s dominant force since 2008, led by Boyko Borissov, the pro-Kremlin Bulgarian Socialist Party and the nationalist There’s Such a People, backed in parliament by the US Magnitsky-act sanctioned tycoon Delyan Peevski and his New Beginning party. The full article is available here.

Bosnia & Hercegovina – 11 December 2025

Three dead migrants and eight survivors were pulled from the Sava River in Slavonski Brod on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina early on Thursday after a boat capsized. The surviving migrants were treated and taken to hospital, he said. A Bosnian citizen allegedly involved in the illegal transfer of people across the border is also in the hospital and under police surveillance. The full article is available here.

Serbia – 10 December 2025

Belgrade Higher Court on Monday sentenced Croatian citizen Krunoslav Fehir to six months in prison for being a member of a unit led by Branimir Glavas, de facto military chief in the eastern Croatian city of Osijek during the Croatian war in 1991.  Fehir was sentenced to the same time he has already spent in prison, so he was released. Fehir’s lawyer, Bojan Stanojlovic, said after the trial that his client had received the lightest sentence, below the legal minimum. The full article is available here.