Balkan Legal News – 20 August 2025
- Aug 20, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 28, 2025
The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 13 August to 19 August 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.
Albania – 18 August 2025
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appoints Ingrid Macdonald of Australia as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Albania, with the host Government’s approval. Her appointment is effective as of 18 August 2025. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Hercegovina – 18 August 2025
A BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina documentary about the experiences of a wartime detention camp inmate whose family was killed while he was imprisoned was premiered in Sarajevo. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Hercegovina – 18 August 2025
It remains unclear why war crimes prosecutors in Bosnia have never investigated Bosnian Croat lawmaker Dragan Konta, despite a 2017 court ruling identifying him as the military police commander at a school where Serbs were detained and abused during the 1992-95 war. The full article can be found here.
Serbia – 17 August 2025
Anti-government protesters in the western city of Valjevo set fire to a ruling Serbian Progressive Party office and attacked City Hall and judiciary buildings as they demonstrated against alleged police brutality amid escalating unrest. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Hercegovina – 14 August 2025
The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunalsin The Hague has again denied a release request from former Bosnian Serb detention camp guard Goran Jelisic, who is serving a 40-year sentence for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. The full article can be found here.
Kosovo – 14 August 2025
Prishtinë Basic Court on Thursday ordered 30 days of detention for Ramadan Morina for his alleged participation in a massacre in the Kosovo village of Burim/Jovic near Malisheve/Malisevo in March 1999. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Hercegovina - 13 August 2025
The US State Department’s annual human rights report said Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik undermined Bosnia and Herzegovina’s constitutional order while Bosnian Serb leaders used “divisive and inflammatory rhetoric” that raised tensions. The full article can be found here.
North Macedonia – 13 August 2025
Fertiliser production has left millions of tonnes of phosphogypsum waste at dumps like that near Veles in North Macedonia and Kutina in Croatia. A lack of transparency over the fate of the Macedonian dump is worrying many, while few lessons can be learned from the one in Croatia. The full article can be found here.