Balkan Legal News – 25 March 2026

The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 18 March to 24 March 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.

Guernica 37 Balkan Legal News

Serbia – 24 March 2026

Fugitive hacker Andean Medjedovic has hired lobbyists in Washington DC, paying them a reported $300,000 to work on getting him a pardon, according to documents from the US Department of Justice that were published by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The 23-year-old from Canada, who is of Bosnian origin, is suspected of using his mathematical and computer skills to extract millions of dollars from two cryptocurrency trading platforms. He also faces charges of computer fraud and money-laundering, according to the US indictment from February 2025. The full article is available here.

Kosovo – 24 March 2026

An exhibition entitled “Massacres in Kosovo 1998-1999” opened at Mother Teresa Square in Pristina on Tuesday as Kosovo marked 27 years since NATO launched its air campaign against Yugoslavia on 24 March 1999. The exhibition showcases in chronological order 49 massacres committed during the 1998-99 war, displaying statistics, images and quotes from survivors, presenting visual evidence of war crimes. Its timeline runs from the massacre in Likoshan-Qirez on 28 February 1998 to the massacre of the Bala family on 12 June 1999 – the day when Yugoslav forces started to withdraw from Kosovo following an agreement signed with NATO to end the alliance’s 78-day bombing campaign. The full article is available here.

Balkans – 23 March 2026

Balkan governments have started taking measures to curb a spike in oil prices, which has escalated since Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response to US and Israeli attacks, threatening economies worldwide. The waterway between the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman is important for the oil trade as than 20 per cent of it passes through the Strait. The full article is available here.

Turkey – 23 March 2026

A Turkish court jailed Ismail Ari, an investigative reporter with BirGun daily newspaper, on Monday on charges of “spreading misinformation”, a common charge made by the Turkish government to jail journalists. The prosecutors’ office demanded Ari’s arrest even before his interrogation; the court ordered his arrest and sent him to Sincan prison in Ankara on Monday after police detained him on Saturday. The full article is available here.

Romania – 20 March 2026

After days of political tensions and last-minute negotiations, Romania’s parliament on Friday adopted the 2026 state budget, setting a deficit target of 6.2 per cent of GDP and projecting modest economic growth. The budget passed with 319 votes in favour from the ruling coalition and 104 against from opposition parties. Romania’s GDP is expected to exceed 2,045 billion lei this year, or approximately 400 billion euros, with economic growth forecast at 1 per cent. The budget also outlines a restrictive approach to public spending, with a focus on cost control. The full article is available here.

Montenegro – 20 March 2026

Montenegro’s Pension and Disability Insurance Fund announced on Friday that it has terminated its contract with the Vilina Vlas spa hotel near Visegrad in Bosnia’s Serb-led Republika Srpska entity after rights groups criticised its inclusion in a subsidised holiday and rehabilitation programme for pensioners. The move comes after the Association for Social Research and Communication, UDIK, from Bosnia and Hercegovina, and the Centre for Civic Education, CGO, from Montenegro on 18 March urged the fund to cut ties to the spa because of its association with crimes committed in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. The full article is available here.

North Macedonia – 19 March 2026

The ethnic Albanian VLEN [It’s Worth It] alliance, the junior partner in North Macedonia’s government, said on Thursday that it is taking a major step towards consolidating into one party with the same name. The development comes after the last of the four political forces that make up the alliance, the Alternativa [Alternative] party, green-lit unification on Thursday. The process of unification “is entering a key phase with bold and irreversible decisions for formation of a unified political subject”, VLEN said. The other three parties in the alliance, the Besa Movement, led by Bilall Kasami, the Democratic Movement, led by Izet Mexhiti, and the Alliance for Albanians, led by Arben Feta, had already agreed to work for unification. The full article is available here.

Bosnia & Hercegovina – 19 March 2026

The Bosnian state court on Thursday found Boro Ivanovic guilty of committing crimes against humanity for raping a women several times in Foca in 1992, sentencing him to ten years in prison. The court found that Ivanovic first raped his victim, a Bosniak woman, in May 1992, after two soldiers invited her to the apartment where the defendant was staying. Ivanovic was also a Bosnian Serb soldier at the time. According to the first-instance verdict, the woman went with the soldiers in the hope that Ivanovic would help her to secure release for her husband, who had been detained. The full article is available here.

Kosovo – 18 March 2026

The Pristina Basic Court on Wednesday sentenced two former members of Serbian armed forces, Zoran Kostic and Dragan Milovic, to 15 and seven years of imprisonment respectively after being found guilty of war crimes against Albanian civilians in April 1999 in the northern Vushtrri/Vucitrn municipality. Judge Lutfi Shala said that the time the suspects had spent in detention would be counted towards their jail terms. Kostic and Milovic were arrested in September 2023. The full article is available here.

Kosovo – 18 March 2026

The Pristina Basic Court on Wednesday found Dragan Ristic not guilty of committing war crimes in the municipality of Gjakova/Djakovica in 1999, during the Kosovo war, due to lack of evidence. Judge Rrahman Beqiri said the prosecution “has not proven beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant Ristic committed the criminal offence with which he is charged”. He said the evidence heard in court had not proven that Ristic “was a member of the Serbian forces, nor has it been proven that he participated in committing these crimes”. The full article is available here.