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The Balkans Today
The Balkans Today: 21st - 27th March 2016
Our team brings you live updates of the most important events and developments in the Balkans as they happen.
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Top stories from the Balkans today:After its first six months of investigating high-level crime, Macedonia’s new Special Prosecution is on the right track despite facing serious obstructions, observers believe.
- Launching the .eu extension in Cyrillic is a milestone for the development of the European domain, although among EU members Cyrillic is used only in Bulgaria and in parts of Croatia.
Bekir Makic, an Islamic scholar from Serbia, says a false ideology is seducing lost youngsters from the Sandzak region.
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The Tirana municipality is continuing its demolishment of unapproved buildings and house extensions that are blocking drainage systems in the centre of the Albanian capital on Monday.In the past, these illegal building have contributed to severe flooding in the city and their demolishment is part of the government's flood prevention measures.
Photo: Twitter -
The EU mediator in Macedonia's crisis talks, Peter Vanhoutte has written a poem with critical tones regarding the Constitutional Court's controversial decision last week to allow the President to pardon alleged election-riggers.
"You sold our freedom at the Constitutional Court for 1000 denar and a sandwich," the mediator said in the poem, which he published on Facebook, referring to government supporters who last week barricaded the Constitutional Court, barring protesters from getting near the building.
Peter Vanhoutte | By: MIA
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Around 1,000 people protested on Monday in the southern Bulgarian town of Kresna amid fears that a refugee camp will be opened in a local abandoned military base.Kresna’s mayor, Nikolay Georgiev, said he fully supports his fellow citizens, who are afraid of robberies and are worried that people with different culture and religion may be placed in Kresna, during an interview with Bulgarian National Radio, BNR.He noted that army officials and representatives of the State Agency of Refugees, SAR, often visit the base.However, local media have reported that the Ministry of Interior still doesn’t have permission to turn it into a refugee centre.The protesters are determined not to let refugees reside in their city and have declared their readiness to block the European route E-79, which passes through Kresna on the way to Greece, to do so.
Photo: Miran Hladnik, CC BY-SA 4.0 -
An unidentified man has blown himself up with a hand grenade in the 'Petkovic' pastry shop in central Belgrade at 12:38 on Monday, Serbian police told B92 television network.'Petkovic' is a popular establishment among locals and is owned by Bratislav Petkovic, former culture minister and current adviser to Serbia's president, Tomislav Nikolic.According to police, there are no other victims.Prior to detonating a hand grenade in the 'Petkovic' pastry shop in central Belgrade on Monday afternoon, the perpertrator, a male estimated to be around 50 years old, entered the premises and told the employees to leave.The workers fled the shop, at which point the man lay down on the bomb and detonated it, Radio Television Serbia has reported.
Police and ambulance in front the crime scene | Photo: BIRN -
With 80 votes in favour and 51 votes against, Croatian Parliament agreed upon the state budget for 2016 on Monday.
The expenses have been set at 16.2 billion euro, while the expected revenue is set on 15.2 billion, putting the budget deficit at 2.2 per cent of annual GDP.
Croatian parliament. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Croatian government -
Sixteen diplomats from the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as UN experts, will work on the campaign for Bulgaria's nomination for UN Secretary General, UNESCO’s current chief Irina Bokova.The working group for Bokova’s campaign will be headed by the head of the foreign ministry's directorate on global affairs, Rayko Raychev, who announced the news on Monday.According to Raychev, Irina Bokova has a leading position in the race for the UN's top job because of her extensive diplomatic experience and leadership skills.The working group announced that it will spend 106,000 leva (around 53,000 euro) on Bokova’s campaign and will target mainly countries who are UN Security Council members, as well as Eastern Eureopean nations.
Irina Bokova | Photo: UNESCO -
Top stories from the Balkans today:
- Bulgarian politician and media mogul Delyan Peevski says he is pulling out of future business projects, blaming a 'continuous media campaign' against him.
- The Romanian government is to spend billions of euros on improving life and business opportunities in long neglected smaller towns and villages.
- Serbian opposition parties lack funds to mount a serious challenge to the governing party at April’s polls because of poor results last time around, accumulated debts and an absence of wealthy donors.
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Croatian Prime Minister Tihomir Oreskovic has expressed his country's solidarity with Brussels and the whole of Belgium while condemning the terrorist attacks that occurred in the Belgian capital on Tuesday morning.
Oreskovic gave his condolences to the families of those killed and wished a fast recovery to all wounded in the blasts.
Tihomir Oreskovic. | Photo: Betaphoto/AP Photo/Geoffroy Van der Hasselt -
President of Vojvodina parliament scheduled provincial elections for April 24, along with local and parliamentary polls. Istvan Pastor urged all parties to respect each other during the campaign.
Voters in Vojvodina will elect 120 deputies of provincial parliament. -
by Tim Judah via twitter 3/22/2016 12:34:15 PM -
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Arber Zaimi, an adviser to the Vetevendosje leadership, was arrested today in Prishtina. Zaimi is the second Albanian-citizen from the opposition party to be arrested by the Kosovo Police in less than one week.Arber Zaimi, adviser to the Vetevendosje leader Visar Ymeri and member of the General Council of the party, was arrested on Tuesday afternoon, according to a press statement released by the party.
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Bulgaria PM Boyko Borissov believes "it is obvious that [Europe] cannot integrate terrorists" after the attacks in Brussels on Tuesday.“Europe... is the only continent wanting to integrate those people. Now all those helping are being bombarded and given victims. It is unfair,” he told journalists in Sofia on Tuesday, blaming the external policies of “many countries” for the attacks in the Belgian capital.“[EU leaders] were all angry at Merkel for being too humane with those people,” the PM added.In a statement released earlier on Tuesday, Borissov said that Europe must show the world that it would not let terrorism destroy its civilization and expressed his solidarity and support for the Belgian people.
Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov | Photo: Facebook -
Albania police announced that security measures have been tightened at Tirana International Airport after the Brussels attacks.According to police, sniffer dogs trained to detect explosives in passengers' luggage and additional police members have been dispatched to safeguard the airport.
Tirana Airport | Photo: BIRN/Ivana Dervishi -
The European Parliament has propsed amendments to Albania's draft resolution on progress in 2015 to reflect its condemnation of PM Edi Rama's threats to file a lawsuit against BIRN Albania, which arose after its investigation into the criminal background of a local mayoral candidate in 2015.Two MEPs, Marietje Schaake and Ilhan Kyuchyuk, proposed the amendments to the draft resolution to state that European Parliament “deplores that the Balkan Investigative Regional Network, an independent and investigative media outlet, has been threatened with a defamation case, following its investigations into the criminal past of a mayoral candidate during the local elections in 2015.”Following a BIRN Albania study on self-censorship, the draft resolution also expresses concern about the breadth of this problem among journalists in the country.
European Parliament | Photo: Wikimedia -
Croatia's Security Intelligence Agency, SOA, allegedly cracked an operation by foreign security agents who were believed to be monitoring and tapping the country's political leadership and members of the executive board of Croatia's energy company INA, Croatian weekly newspaper Globus reported.
Citing former economy minister Ivan Vrdoljak among its sources, the publication claims that Hungarian energy company MOL, which owns 49 per cent of INA, hired the agents to collect data that could discredit the former minister and potentially cause his removal.
Besides Vrdoljak, it is alleged that two Croatian members of INAs executive board were also under surveillance in an attempt to potentially blackmail all those responsible for Croatia's dispute over INA with MOL. -
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There is no direct terrorist threat for Bulgaria, the country's interior minister, Rumyana Bachvrova, announced at a press briefing on Tuesday following the attacks in Brussels.She added, however, that Bulgaria has raised security measures at all airports, seaports, bus and train stations and is applying every possible measure for border protection.Tonight the country's security services will hold a large-scale, anti-terrorist training in Sofia, which was planned two months ago.“There will be increased police presence and whole regions will be closed off,” Bachvarova warned.
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Ukrainian state-owned company Ukrspecexport did a good job on repairing and selling 12 MiG-21 fighter jets as part of a 17.6 million euro deal with Croatia, which authorities are investigating for potential corruptive activities, Oleksandr Levchenko, the Ukrainian ambassador in Croatia, told regional N1 TV on Wednesday.
Levchenko claims that Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list, who reported on the issue, is leading a campaign against Ukrspecexport and are in the service of Romanian company Aerostar, which also competed for the tender for repairing MiG-21s.
He explained how one of the experts that commented on the deal in Jutarnji list's article was lobbying for Aerostar and that Ukrspecexport made a deal that was 5 million euro less than the Romanian offer.
Levchenko said that Russia also has its part in the scandal and that Ukraine and the company have suffered serious damage as a result, adding that Ukraine will demand that Jutarnji list and their journalist apologize, while Ukraine is ready to buy back all 12 jets, if proven that they are in bad condition.
Croatia's MiG-21. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Aldo Bidini -
Vojvodina's Leauge of Social Democrats, LSV, threatened to boycott Serbia's provincial elections unless police arrest the people who blocked party activists from entering Vojvodina's parliament early on Wednesday.The Social Democrats blamed the Socialist Party for the incident, which arose when a group of Social Democrats tried to submit their electoral list to Vojvodina's election authority. However, unidentified people barred their entrance to the building.According to the Social Democrats, it was the Socialist Party who blocked their way in order to secure the higher number on the ballot.
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A wax figure of Russian President Vladimir Putin was unveiled in the central Serbian town of Jagodina on Wednesday.
Russian president Vladimir Putin | Photo: Facebook -
Albania's ruling parties and opposition have reached a deal on the creation of a new body to fight corruption, modelled on the FBI, as part of the the country's efforts to reform the judicial system.The parties agreed, by way of a parliamentary commission, that the structure of the National Bureau of Investigation, BKH, will be under the authority of the Prosecutor, instead of the Interior Ministry, as was suggested in the first draft.
Albanian Parliament | Photo: parlament.al -
Public opinion about Radovan Karadzic remains deeply divided in Bosnia and Herzegovina, AFP news agency reports ahead of the former Bosnian Serb president’s war crimes verdict on Thursday.
“To the international community and his foes, Bosnia's Croats and Muslims, he is a power-hungry monster responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands,” the AFP report says. “But for many Serbs he was a hero… who stood up for his people.”
On the eve of his verdict being delivered, Karadzic spoke with BIRN in a defiant interview.
Photo: ICTY -
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The landmark verdict in the trial of Radovan Karadzic will be handed down at the international war crimes court in The Hague from 2pm local time today.The prosecutors have demanded a life sentence for crimes including the 1995 Srebrenica genocide and the terrorising of Sarajevo during the wartime siege, but Karadzic has insisted he is innocent. -
The Hague Tribunal’s chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz has said that today’s Radovan Karadzic verdict sends a symbolic message that senior politicians accused of mass crimes can no longer escape justice.But he warned that the continued influence of nationalist politicians in the Balkans suggests that wartime divisions have not yet been overcome.“I’m not convinced everyone has really understood the wrongdoings from the past,” Brammertz told Reuters. “Many people in all the former Yugoslavia are still using a rhetoric that is still closer to what we heard in court than we should expect.”
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Around 150 representatives of Bosnian war victims’ groups are in The Hague to hear today’s Radovan Karadzic verdict first-hand, including survivors of Bosnian Serb detention camps and relatives of murdered Bosniaks from Srebrenica.Munira Subasic from Srebrenica, whose son was one of more than 7,000 victims of the massacres, told Reuters that the “verdict is very important to show new generations, especially those in Serbia who have been poisoned with hatred already, what really happened in Bosnia”.
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Croatia will today commemorate the victims of Monday's terrorist attacks in Brussels by putting the Croatian flags at half-mast on all public institutions, cancelling any entertainment events scheduled and only airing TV and radio programmes dedicated to the event.
One of the fountains in Zagreb was also lit up last night in the colours of the Belgian flag. -
The nationalist Serbian Radical Party on Wednesday put up posters in Eastern Sarajevo, the suburb of the capital which is part of Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, displaying portraits of its leader Vojislav Seselj and of Radovan Karadzic, describing them as “Serbian heroes”.Seselj’s Serbian Radical Party is also holding a rally in Belgrade later today in protest against the Karadzic verdict and against NATO, on the anniversary of the start of the Western military’s alliance’s 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia.
Photo: Youtube -
AFP news agency has interviewed parents of children killed during the 1992-95 siege of Sarajevo, who expressed hope that Radovan Karadzic will be convicted by the Hague Tribunal today.“Our wounds still bleed, despite all these years, and I hope he will be given a deserved punishment that will bring us some peace,” said Fikret Grabovica, whose 11-year-old daughter was killed by shelling in front of their home while playing with friends in 1993.
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Before Radovan Karadzic hears his historic verdict from the UN war crimes court in The Hague today, read our articles surrounding the manhunt and trial leading up to this point.
Photo: Beta -
Dragan Daravelski, former director of the Macedonian Customs has been arrested in Belgrade, police sources in Skopje have told BIRN.
Daravelski was convicted in absentia to seven years in prison for abuse of office but has evaded prosecution since he holds both Macedonia and Serbian citizenship.
Serbian police has yet to confirm the arrest and give further information whether he will be extradited to Macedonia.
Dragan Daravelski -
Florence Hartmann, the former spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, has been arrested at the UN court after she came to follow the Karadzic verdict, Guardian world affairs editor Julian Borger reports from The Hague.Hartmann was convicted of contempt of the court in 2011 after she used some ICTY documents for her book, ‘Paix et Chatiment’. She was sentenced in absentia after France refused to extradite her for the trial, and fined 7,000 euros.For the video, click here.
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Posters bearing a portrait of Radovan Karadzic and the writing "We're all Radovan Karadzic" appeared in the city of Vlasenica in Bosnia's Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, Bosnian agency Patria reported.Vlasenica is one of the seven municipalities where Karadzic is accused of genocide in 1992, when more than 17,000 Bosniaks were expelled and almost 3,000 killed in total.
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Some of around 250 representatives of Bosnian war victims’ associations who travelled to the UN court for Karadzic’s verdict told BIRN on Thursday that they wanted him to be punished.
Hatidza Mehmoedovic from the Mothers of Srebrenica association said that she wants Karadzic to be told that he is guilty of genocide.
“I want him to hear he committed those crimes. I want him to be sentenced. I don’t care how long he gets, just so long as he is guilty,” said Mehmedovic. Read our story.
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Hague Tribunal judge O-Gon Kwon told the Karadzic hearing that the court has found that in March 1992 until the end of that year, Bosnian Serb political and goverment forces committed crimes after taking over control of 20 Bosnian municipalities.“Thousands of Muslims and Croat were unlawfully detained in around 50 detention facilities across these municipalities. They were taken here from their homes following attacks on their villages,” said the judge.“Serb forces killed Bosnian Muslims and Croats during and after taking over. They were killed in mass executions, shot in detention, or taken from facilities and killed by Serb forces; in other cases, they died after severe beatings by Serb forces, or as a result of inhumane conditions,” he said.
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The Hague Tribunal has ruled that Radovan Karadzic was not guilty of genocide in seven Bosnian municipalities in 1992, judge O-Gon Kwon announced.The judge said the court could not conclude that Karadzic had “genocidal intent to destroy a group”, despite the fact that there were mass crimes in the seven municipalities.But he said that Karadzic was guilty of extermination in the seven municipalities.Karadzic also stands accused of the Srebrenica genocide in 1995.
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The Hague Tribunal has found Radovan Karadzic guilty of being part of a joint criminal enterprise to terrorise the civilian population of Sarajevo during the siege of the city by Bosnian Serb forces from 1992-95.As supreme commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Karadzic approved military actions which prolonged the siege and the campaign of artillery and sniper attacks which resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries, the judge said.“All civilians suffered fear and hardship,” said judge O-Gon Kwon.
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The UN court has also found Radovan Karadzic guilty of taking UN peacekeepers hostage.The judge said that the court found that Karadzic was a member of a joint criminal enterprise and a “driving force behind hostage-taking” of UN peacekeepers, putting the hostages in strategic places in order to deter NATO air strikes.
Radovan Karadzic at court. -
The ICTY's livestream of Radovan Karadzic's verdict.by emma.krstic via YouTube 3/24/2016 2:20:22 PM
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Radovan Karadzic has been found guilty of genocide for the massacres of more than 7,000 Bosniak men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995.After Bosnian Serb forces attacked and seized Srebrenica, a “plan to destroy the Muslim population” was implemented in an organised way, and several thousand Bosniaks were taken away and killed, the judge at the UN court in The Hague said.“Karadzic was in agreement with the plan of the killings,” the judge said.
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