Balkan Legal News

The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 9 May to 12 May 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.

Montenegro – 9 May 2022

Montenegrin police arrested the president of the Commercial Court, Blazo Jovanic, and ten other persons after the Special State Prosecutor accused them of creating a criminal organization and abuse of office. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina – 9 May 2022

The US District Court in Washington DC has ruled against Luka Karadzic to get sanctions lifted that were imposed on him in 2003 by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, OFAC, while his brother, wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, was on the run. The full article can be found here.

Serbia – 9 May 2022

A Belgrade court sentenced Husein Mujanovic to ten years in prison after a retrial for assaulting Serb prisoners at a Bosnian Army-run military prison in Hrasnica near Sarajevo during wartime. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 10 May 2022

Kosovo’s former President Hashim Thaçi and former head of parliament Kadri Veseli pleaded not guilty at a pre-trial hearing to the new charges filed by war crimes prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague. The full article can be found here.

Albania – 11 May 2022

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has denied trying to pressurise the country’s Special Prosecution after complaining this week that the justice body was hitting members of his Socialist government more than those of the opposition. The full article can be found here.

Montenegro – 11 May 2022

Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said Montenegro should support the “Open Balkan” initiative, established by the governments of Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. “The Open Balkan initiative was made for six countries. Not for five-and-a-half countries or three-and-a-half countries, but for six countries. Everyone who participates represents themselves and Lacountry,” Abazovic said. The full article can be found here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 May 2022

In 2021, 147 final verdicts for corruption offences were passed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, of which only four related to high-level corruption, according to data from the Corruption Prosecution Monitoring presented by Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The full article can be found here.

Kosovo – 12 May 2022

The Kosovo authorities announced that preliminary excavations have started at the Stavalj mine in the Sjenica municipality, where it is suspected that there could be a mass grave of victims of the 1998-99 Kosovo war. The full article can be found here.