The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 11 April to 14 April 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.
Serbia – 12 April 2022
Serbia's intelligence service (BIA) has denied media reports that it had planned to assassinate a Swiss prosecutor. Dick Marty, who has a reputation for international investigations, told Swiss television RTS that he had been living under police protection since 2020. Mr. Marty claimed that his murder would then be blamed on Kosovo by Serbia. The full article can be found here. Serbia – 8 April 2022
A Belgrade court found former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman Milorad Jovanovic guilty of torturing civilians in Bosnia in 1992 and sentenced him to nine years in prison in a retrial. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 11 April 2022
Britain announced sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and ally Željka Cvijanović for what it said were their efforts “to undermine the legitimacy and functionality of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” The full article can be found here.
Croatia – 11 April 2022
April 6 brought another milestone in one of the longest-running war crimes processes in Croatia, when the County Court in the coastal city of Split sentenced two men to prison for war crimes against mainly Serb detainees at the city’s ‘Lora’ military prison during the 1991-95 Croatian war. The full article can be found here.
Serbia – 13 April 2022
The Belgrade Higher Court announced that the war crime trial of former Drina Corps commander Milenko Zivanovic will start on May 30. Zivanovic was a commander of the Drina Corps at the time of the offensive against Srebrenica in July 1995. The full article can be found here.
North Macedonia – 13 April 2022
North Macedonia arrested one border officer after an Albanian TV station filmed border officials taking bribes at the North Macedonia-Kosovo border crossing. The full article can be found here.
Serbia – 14 April 2022
Darko Saric, allegedly a major Serbian drugs trafficker, was arrested at his wife’s villa in Belgrade’s upmarket suburb of Senjak as part of an international operation coordinated by EUROPOL and EUROJUST, the EU’s agencies for law enforcement and criminal justice cooperation. The full article can be found here.
Albania – 14 April 2022
The Albanian Helsinki Committee, one of the oldest rights groups in the country, sent an open letter to Interior Minister Blendi Cuci, asking him to reverse a decision to remove it from the commission handling asylum requests. The full article can be found here.
Bulgaria – 14 April 2022
Prosecutors in the city of Varna charged mayor Ivan Portnih with inaction over the pollution of Lake Varna, a major lake on the country’s Black Sea coast, which caused public health to be endangered. The full article can be found here.