Balkan Legal News

The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 30 March to 6 April 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.

Kosovo - 3 April 2023

Al Jazeera, ’Ex-Kosovo president Hashim Thaci pleads not guilty to war crimes’

Former Kosovo President Hashim Thaci and three co-defendants are charged with war crimes in 1998-1999 war with Serbia. See here.

Kosovo - 4 April 2023

The Balkan Insight, ‘I Expect Acquittal’: Kosovo’s Thaci Launches War Crimes Defence

Defence lawyers for ex-President Hashim Thaci and his three co-defendants argued that they did not have control over Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas who allegedly committed crimes against prisoners during the war. See here.

Bulgaria - 31 March 2023

Politico, ‘Republic of Radev: Bulgaria’s impasse empowers its elusive president’, see here.

Romania - 4 April 2023

The Balkan Insight, ‘Romania Weighs US Request to Extradite Detained White Supremacist’

Romanian court considers US request to extradite Robert Rundo, a white supremacist arrested by Romanian police last week in a Bucharest gym, carrying a false identity document. See here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina - 31 March 2023

The Sarajevo Times, ‘A new Conflict in the Presidency of BiH, the Reason – Elections in Montenegro’, here.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Sarajevo Times, ‘Why has the Federation of BiH had the same Government for eight Years?’ See here.

Montenegro - 6 April 2023

The Balkan Insight, ‘Strasbourg Court Rejects Wartime Deportation Case Against Montenegro’

The European Court of Human Rights rejected a case brought by relatives of war victims deported from Montenegro in 1992 and then mostly killed, ruling that they had already accepted settlements with the Montenegrin authorities. See here.

Montenegro - 3 April 2023

Politico, ‘In Montenegro election, youthful ex-minister Milatović beats longtime leader’, see here.