The following media round up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 27 May to 2 June 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 – 27 May 2022
Dusko Suvara, who failed to attend the pronouncement of the first-instance verdict, was found guilty of having raped two Bosniak women in the Glamoc area while a member of the Bosnian Serb Army in May and June 1992. The full article can be found here.
Serbia – 30 May 2022
The first hearing in the trial of wartime Bosnian Serb Army Drina Corps commander Milenko Zivanovic, accused of crimes against Bosniaks from Srebrenica in 1995, was postponed by Belgrade Higher Court so that Serbian officials can consider the offer of a formal transfer of the case from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The full article can be found here.
Kosovo – 31 May 2022
The Kosovo government said it needs more satellite images of a suspected mass grave site in southern Serbia to determine whether a search for buried bodies that was halted by the Belgrade authorities should continue. The full article can be found here.
Kosovo – 31 May 2022
In an interview, the former Dutch ambassador to Kosovo, Robert Bosh, was asked how he assessed the work of the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague to which he replied: “I would say that the court, so far, has done extremely bad work. Slow, without transparency and with strange decisions. The latest (decision) for the staff of the KLA Veterans Organisation was even cruel. They should prosecute the person who released the files.” The full article can be found here.
Albania – 2 June 2022
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Francesco Bechetti’s media company Agonset’s lawsuit against Albania for discrimination and violation of freedom of expression is inadmissible. It said the company had not exhausted the domestic courts before bringing the case to the European Court of Human Rights. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina - 2 June 2022
The government in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Bosniak- and Croat-dominated Federation entity voted for a draft law that will provide more wide-ranging welfare benefits to civilian victims of the 1992-95 war. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2 June 2022
The Balkan Investigative Reporting Network has selected 13 journalists, historians, artists and activists to receive grants to create small projects based on the archives of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and domestic courts in former Yugoslav countries. The full article can be found here.
Bosnia and Herzegovina – 2 June 2022
At an exhumation in the village of Medjine in the Mostar area, investigators have discovered the remains of 15 people who are believed to have died during the war in 1994. The full article can be found here.