Balkan Legal News

The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 21 December 2021 to 6 January 2022. 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.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – 21 December 2021

The Appeals Chamber of the Bosnian state court sentenced Adem Kostjerevac, a former member of the military police force of the Bosnian Army’s First Muslim Brigade Zvornik, to seven years in prison for committing rape in the Zvornik area in 1992. The full article can be found here.

Serbia – 21 December 2021

After three hearings at which court medical experts were cross-examined about witness Mitrasin Glisic’s mental health, Belgrade Higher Court decided to reject their analysis and commission another, causing a new delay to the trial of four Bosnian Serb ex-fighters, which has already been running for more than two-and-a-half years. The full article can be found here.

Serbia – 23 December 2021

The Albanian National Council, which represents Serbia’s Albanian minority, will take its case to the Constitutional Court after Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin was cleared of discrimination for using an ethnic slur. The Albanian National Council’s lawyer, Aleksandar Olenik, said that if the Constitutional Court complaint does not succeed, the Council will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – 23 December 2021

The president of the UN’s Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague, Carmel Agius, said that Milomir Stakic is entitled to a ten-month reduction in his sentence under the law in France, where he is serving his prison term. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 28 December 2021

Kosovo Supreme Court confirmed that it has ordered a retrial for Ivan Todosijevic, a Kosovo Serb MP sentenced to two years in jail for inciting ethnic, racial and religious intolerance with comments relating to a massacre of Albanian civilians in Kosovo in January 1999 by Serb forces. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – 4 January 2022

Milenko Zivanovic, a former general and commander of the Bosnian Serb Army was charged with directing armed units that attacked Bosniak civilians in Srebrenica in 1995. The full article can be found here.

Serbia – 5 January 2022

Serbia’s president, Alexandar Vicic, praised another shipment of arms from Russia despite fears in the Western Balkans that the country's recent acquisition of military equipment could lead to even more tensions in the region. Serbia has frequently been accused of warmongering and working with its Eastern ally Russia to destabilise neighbouring countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Kosovo. The full article can be found here.

Albania – 5 January 2022

Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime, SPAK, has started investigations into 3.6 million euros of transactions made by the company that built the electricity interconnection line to Kosovo to a small UAE-based consultancy. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – 5 January 2022

The United States has imposed sanctions on Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, accusing him of corruption and threatening the stability and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dodik is a Serb member of the tripartite Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has threatened the withdrawal of Republika Srpska for the past 15 years. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 6 January 2022

Kosovo women's rights activists call for the maximum sentence to be applied to a man arrested for murdering his wife, saying too many femicides end in judicial procrastination and low sentences. The full article can be found here.