The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 12 October to 19 October 2023.
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.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 18 October 2023
Former Bosnian Serb Army company commander Rade Macura was cleared of involvement in war crimes in a village in the Bosanska Gradiska area in 1992, when Bosniak civilians were forced to eat bullets and then killed, see here.
Balkans Comment – 18 October 2022
As violence flares, Washington has shown it has influence, while Brussels’s policies have shown weakness, see here.
Kosovo – 17 October 2023
The head of Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans’ Organisation, Hysni Gucati, returned to Pristina after being granted early release from prison, where he was serving a sentence for obstructing justice at the Hague-based Specialist Chambers, see here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 16 October 2023
Six members of Bosniak-led military and police forces are accused of systematically abusing and torturing Serb prisoners at a detention facility in the Bosnian town of Visoko in 1992, see here.
Balkans – 16 October 2022
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague successfully prosecuted many perpetrators of the wars in the Balkans. Vladimir Dzuro, who worked for ten years as an ICTY investigator, tells IWPR’s Olga Golovina, how aspects of this experience could be used in Ukrainian justice processes, see here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 16 October 2023
Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik refused to enter a plea on charges related to his efforts to ignore decisions by an international envoy in a court appearance for a trial he called a "circus", see here.
Armenia – 14 October 2023
Armenia's president has signed the Rome Statute that governs the International Criminal Court, a move that further strains ties between Yerevan and its old ally Russia, see here.