The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 12 November to 19 November 2021.
The Guernica Group will provide bi-weekly media updates with a focus 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 – 12 November 2021
Skender Bislimi, who was serving a ten-year sentence for war crimes against ethnic Albanian civilians during the Kosovo conflict in 1999, died in hospital after being admitted for hypertension.
Kosovo – 15 November 2021
The Court of Appeals in Pristina rejected appeals from the defence and prosecution and upheld the 12-year sentence handed down to Zoran Djokic for war crimes against civilians in 1999. Back in February, Pristina Basic Court found Djokic guilty of war crimes against the ethnic Albanian civil population in the town of Peja/Pec during the Kosovo war. https://balkaninsight.com/2021/11/15/kosovo-court-upholds-jailing-of-serb-ex-fighter-for-war-crimes/
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 16 November 2021
Christian Schmidt, the international High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, said this week that the peace agreement that ended the war in the country in the 1990s is in danger of disintegration if the international community does not take measures to stop the Serb separatists.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 16 November 2021
The Bosnian state court sentenced former Bosnian Serb Army soldiers Bratislav Bilbija and Djuro Adamovic to two and three years in prison, respectively, for committing a war crime against civilians. The court acquitted Bilbija and Adamovic, and third defendant Ranko Babic, of murder, torture and forced disappearances. https://balkaninsight.com/2021/11/16/two-bosnian-serb-ex-soldiers-convicted-of-inhumane-treatment/
Montenegro – 17 November 2021
Milo Djukanovic dismissed claims that he had helped an Albanian oil businessman launder money through his brother's bank in Montenegro. BIRN has published the Taci’s wiretapped conversations in which the Albanian businessman said he had involved Djukanovic in money transfers to Montenegro’s Prva Bank.
Croatia – 18 November 2021
The European Court of Human Rights ruled against Croatia in a 2017 migrant pushback case, after which a 6-year-old girl was killed by a train on the border with Serbia. The court said that Croatian police officers had returned Hussiny and her family to Serbia without considering their individual situation, thus performing a collective removal that was in violation of their rights.
Albania – 18 November 2021
Albania’s Special Prosecution Against Organised Crime and Corruption, SPAK, recently issued an arrest warrant, accusing Rezart Taci of laundering 18 million euros. He is accused of collaborating with two Italians suspected of mafia connections. Taci has told the media he is ready to face his accusers in his home country.
Kosovo – 18 November 2021
A government initiative in Kosovo to vet all judges and prosecutors in the young country is running into resistance, not least from the European Union.