Balkan Legal News - 27 October 2023

The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 19 October to 26 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.

Kosovo – 26 October 2023

The appeal hearing in the case of Salih Mustafa started today at 13:30 and is likely to continue tomorrow; see here.

Montenegro – 26 October 2023

The Montenegrin Justice Ministry refuses to extradite Kosovo Serb Momcilo Vukotic, wanted by the Pristina authorities for alleged war crimes during the Kosovo conflict in 1999; see here.

Albania – 25 October 2023

Fourteen years after Albania adopted legislation to compensate political prisoners from the Communist era and relatives of dissidents executed by the regime, some victims’ families still haven’t received the payments they were promised; see here.

Kosovo – 25 October 2023

The final witness at the Hague war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army officer Pjeter Shala told the court that the defendant was a “simple soldier”, not a high-ranking figure as the prosecution claims; see here.

North Macedonia – 24 October 2023

North Macedonia discriminated against four of its citizens of Roma origin based on their race and violated their right to free movement by preventing them from leaving the country, the European Court of Human Rights ruled; see here.

Bosnia – 23 October 2023

The remains of at least five people who disappeared during the 1990s war have been found at a grave site in Okolista in the Visegrad municipality of Bosnia and Herzegovina; see here.

Kosovo – 23 October 2023

Political Impasse on Kosovo, Rising Tensions between Pristina, Belgrade Can Only Be Overcome by Compromise, Mission Head Tells Security Council; see here.

Azerbaijan – 19 October 2023

A Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian detained in July is on trial in Azerbaijan on charges of committing war crimes during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Vagif Khachatryan, 68, was arrested in July as he was being evacuated to Armenia by the Red Cross for heart surgery. He is accused of taking part in a massacre of Azerbaijani civilians in the village of Meshali, in Khojali district, on 22 December 1991; see here.