Balkan Legal News - 29 September 2023

The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 22 September to 28 September 2023.

Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates with a focus on Bosnia and Herzegovina, 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.

Croatia – 28 September 2023

Stricter border controls are being introduced because of the growing number of migrants arriving, but both Croatia and Slovenia insist that this will not threaten the Schengen visa-free regime. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 28 September 2023

Kosovo’s own interior minister is the latest to benefit from a statute of limitations that expired before his trial could reach a conclusion. The full article can be found here.

Moldova – 27 September 2023

A member of Moldova’s Superior Council of the Magistracy, the body established to ensure the judiciary’s independence, resigned after failing to reveal his involvement in a corruption case. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Hercegovina – 26 September 2023

Bosnia’s Democracy is certainly Coup proof. In such an excessively decentralized system, where there is no real centre of power, a coup is virtually impossible. The full article can be found here.

Albania – 25 September 2023

Lefter Koka, a former environment minister, has been sentenced to six years and eight months on corruption charges related to the Fieri waste incinerator, one of Albania's largest ever corruption scandals. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 22 September 2023

A Kosovo prosecution file alleges that three Serbs, whose arrest this week angered Belgrade, illegally detained and tortured civilians in Vushtrri/Vucitrn during the Kosovo war in 1999. The full article can be found here.

Montenegro – 22 September 2023

Police are seeking the arrest of four Serbian citizens and two unknown persons allegedly involved in digging a tunnel into the Montenegrin Higher Court’s storage area in the capital, Podgorica, where trial evidence is kept. The full article can be found here.

Serbia – 22 September 2023

Two former military personnel from the Bosnian Serb Army’s Drina Corps told a Belgrade court that Milenko Zivanovic did not command the operation to seize Srebrenica that was followed by the 1995 genocide. The full article can be found here.