LOCAL PRESS

Dacic: Ashton objective negotiator (RTS/Politika)

Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said after a farewell meeting with the outgoing EU high representative Catherine Ashton in Brussels that she had been the only objective mediator in the Western Balkan crises. I can confirm that as, during the 24 years of my being in politics, I have witnessed many crises in the region, he said. He said he was especially grateful to Ashton for her helping Serbia enter into the EU accession process and for her patients during Belgrade-Pristina dialogue sessions. He announced that a meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs and finances of countries in the region would be held in Belgrade on Thursday, as planned, despite everything that has been going on after the incident at the Serbia-Albania soccer match. He presented Ashton, on behalf of the Serbian government and President Tomislav Nikolic, with a copy of an icon of the Three-Handed Thetotokos, which is the most significant icon in the Serbian Orthodox Church. Ashton commended Dacic for his courage of a statesman during the dialogue and for perseverance on the EU path. She will be succeeded to the position of the EU foreign minister by the former Italian foreign minister, Federica Mogherini, in November.

Serbian Olympic Committee: State bodies notified of initiative for Kosovo’s admission into IOC (Tanjug)

The Serbian Olympic Committee has stated that they have close cooperation with the state bodies after being notified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) about the officially submitted initiative by the self-declared Republic of Kosovo to be admitted to the membership of that organization. The Serbian Olympic Committee reports that all the competent bodies in Serbia have been informed in a timely manner about the attempts of the so-called Republic of Kosovo to join the IOC through various channels over the past four years. We have the information that this time the members of the IOC are ready to extend support to that initiative, although we have insisted several times that such activities are unacceptable. The admission of Kosovo would be unprecedented in recent history, being that no other national Olympic committee had been admitted without that country first having becoming a member of the UN, reads the statement of the Serbian Olympic Committee.

Stefanovic: Albanian government to detain responsible individuals (RTS)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic expects the Tirana government to bring to justice all the individuals who took part in the incidents which occurred during the soccer match between Serbia and Albania in Belgrade on 14 October. The Serbian police promptly and efficiently identified the perpetrators of almost all attacks on Albanian property which occurred over the past seven days and the individuals responsible for the attacks will be punished, Stefanovic told reporters after the session of the Serbian parliament Defense and Internal Affairs Committee. The Serbian government has demonstrated the right way to counter offenders, Stefanovic said and voiced expectation that the Albanian government would do the same and bring to justice all the individuals who took part in the incidents during the football match.
Committee for Kosovo and Metohija to discuss security situation in Kosovo and Metohija (RTS/Tanjug)

The session of the Serbian parliament’s Committee for Kosovo and Metohija will be held on 27 October, the Committee’s Chair Milovan Drecun announced. He convened the session of the Committee over the incidents in Kosovo and Metohija in which Serbs and their property were subjects of attacks, Tanjug reports. “The meeting will discuss the current security situation in Kosovo and Metohija, with special emphasis on the security of the Serb population,” Drecun told Tanjug. Drecun said that he would invite the following officials to the meeting: the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric, Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, Defense Minister Bratislav Gasic, the heads of EULEX and UNMIK, the heads of districts in Kosovo and Metohija and all Serb members in the Kosovo Assembly.

REGIONAL PRESS

Marina Pendes: B&H aims to keep actual level of engagement in UN Peacekeeping Missions (Anadolu/Vijesti)

The Deputy Minister of Defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), Marina Pendes, in her speech during the Regional meeting on increasing the participation of the Western Balkans countries in UN peacekeeping missions, held in Belgrade, said that the B&H’s point of view regarding the engagement is the following: “We will try to keep the actual level of engagement in the NATO peacekeeping missions and to investigate possibilities of increasing our participation in UN peacekeeping operations, which is provided to us by this round table too.” – Anadolu reports. Pedes also offered the support by the Ministry of Defense and by the Armed forces of B&H in the form of engagement by the Centre for training in peacekeeping operations, Centre for demining of the AF of B&H and by participating in the projects concerning building regional capacities such as Balkan medical forces, the B&H Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The two-day meeting should encourage and stimulate the participants to increase their national contribution and improve regional cooperation at the Western Balkans by sending forces to UN peacekeeping missions so that this region, which in the past used to import forces, could start to export them and contribute in that way to international peace and stability around the world. The delegation of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of B&H, beside the Deputy Minister Marina Pendes, consisted of Sinisa Ostojic, Colonel and high adviser for peacekeeping operations in the B&H Ministry of Defense and Jasmin Cajic, Colonel and Commander of the Centre for training in peacekeeping operations.

B&H Court revokes verdict for terrorist Haris Causevic (Dnevni avaz)

The Appellate Chamber of the B&H Court revoked the first instance verdict on terrorism for Haris Causevic. The news was confirmed by the defendant’s attorney Ifet Feraget. The B&H Court announced the verdict on 20 December 2013 by which the defendant Haris Causevic was found guilty and sentenced to maximum of 45 years in prison. Causevic was charged for the terrorist attack on a police station in Bugojno, when during the attack, he activated the explosives which fatally injured the police officer Tarik Ljubuskic and seriously wounded his colleague Edina Hindic, while five other officers have suffered minor injuries. “I have written an appeal on 130 pages in which I challenged the verdict by all possible legal means. I can confirm with confidence that the judgment is revoked. The biggest irregularity in the first trial was hiding the evidence. I never got all the evidence which confirmed the indictment. I have received evidence selectively. I must say that it is a shame to write such comprehensive complaint because it then mirrors the justice department,” said attorney Feraget.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbian Police Official to Be Jailed in Germany (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 22 October 2014)

Former high-ranking Serbian interior ministry official Vlastimir Djordjevic will be sent to a German prison to serve his 18-year sentence for war crimes against Albanians in Kosovo.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia announced on Tuesday that Djordjevic, who was convicted of the murder and persecution of Kosovo Albanians during the conflict in 1999, will be transferred to Germany.

The name of the prison where he will serve his sentence will be made public once the transfer takes place. Djordjevic, the former assistant Serbian interior minister and chief of the Public Security Department, will remain in the UN detention centre in The Hague until then.

The Tribunal upheld Djordjevic’s war crimes conviction on appeal in January but cut his sentence from 27 to 18 years in prison.

The verdict said that Yugoslav and Serbian forces, “acting at the direction, with the encouragement, or with the support of Vlastimir Djordjevic perpetrated crimes which resulted in the forced deportation of approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians”.

Forces directed, supported or encouraged by Djordjevic “murdered hundreds of Kosovo Albanian civilians and other persons taking no active part in the hostilities and sexually assaulted Kosovo Albanians, in particular women”.

The court also found him guilty of “persecutions through sexual assaults as a crime against humanity”.

In May last year, during closing arguments in his case, Djordjevic admitted that crimes were committed against Kosovo Albanians during the conflict and apologised to civilian victims.

“In Kosovo in 1999, war crimes took place. I didn’t want those war crimes and if I could turn back time, I would act differently,” Djordjevic said.

“I have deep regrets about all the victims in Kosovo and for the suffering their families lived through. Without any reservations, I apologise to all Albanian civilians who lost their lives,” he added.

“I apologise to refugees as well. I hope the future of this region will be dedicated to peace,” he concluded.

Djordjevic was arrested in 2007 in Montenegro after being on the run for four years.

Serbian Party Outlines Bosnian Coalition Plan (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 22 October 2014)

Bosnia’s main Serbian party has urged the largest Bosniak and Croatian parties to join it in a new coalition government.

The main party representing Serbs in Bosnia, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD, has called on the country’s largest Bosniak party, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ, to start talks on forming a government.
Igor Radojicic of the SNSD said on Tuesday that the SDA and HDZ should be talking with his party about the formation of a new Council of Ministers, as the executive is called in Bosnia and Herzegovina – and there was no time to waste.
“We can already say there is a clear majority in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina for the formation of a new Council of Ministers,” Radojicic said in Banja Luka.

“The winning party in both entites, the SNSD and its coalition partners in Republika Srpska, and the SDA and HDZ in the Federation already have a mathematical capacity to form a new Council of Ministers.”

Bosnia comprises two autonomous entities, the Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the general elections held on October 12 – for posts in the state-level parliament, which are chosen from the two entities – the SNSD won around 230,000 votes in Republika Srpska. The rival Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, won around 195,000.
In the Federation entity, the SDA won most votes – around 235,000 votes – followed by the Democratic Front, DF, with around 130,000 votes and the HDZ, which won just over 100,000.
The DF has said that it is still pondering whether to take part in the government. The head of the SDS, Mladen Bosic, said his party wanted to be in the Council of Ministers.
The Council of Ministers must by law comprise three ministers from each of the three main ethnic groups, making nine, plus a tenth minister from the category of “others”, meaning ethnically undeclared or minorities.
By the agreed principle of rotation, the position of the Prime Minister should be a Bosniak this time round.
In the mainly Serbian entity, Radojicic said the SNSD and its partners, the Democratic People’s Union DNS and the Socialist Party have enough lawmakers in the Republika Srpska assembly to form the entity government.
Official talks between the parties on the formation of a new government have not yet started, and some estimate that it could be months before all the structures are in place.
Adil Osmanovic, of the SDA, said the cantonal assemblies in the Federation and then the Federation entity government have to be formed first.
Afterward, he said, the parties from the two entities should form the state-level government. By his estimate, this could take until next February.
He said it would be best for the parties that form majorities in the entities to replicate the same pattern at state level.

“The experience of the last four years in the Federation is that when we have different political parties at different levels, the authorities cannot function,” he said.
At the meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on Monday, the ministers underlined the importance of forming a government in Bosnia as soon as possible.

Bosnian native living in Forest Lake may be tied to 3 slayings (Star Tribune, by Jim Anderson, 21 October 2014)

Zdenko Jakisa, facing deportation, is accused of immigration fraud and of hiding war crimes in 1990s.

A Forest Lake man accused of coming to the United States under false cover as a refugee while hiding war crimes he committed during the Bosnian conflict may have been involved in as many as three murders there, according to new documents filed in a federal case which could lead to his deportation.

Zdenko Jakisa, 46, was indicted by a grand jury in April on a charge of immigration fraud for allegedly lying on documents that allowed him and his wife, Anna, to emigrate to Minnesota in 1998 as refugees sponsored by a local church. He has since been free on $25,000 bond pending a Dec. 8 trial date and is living in a quiet Forest Lake neighborhood while helping run a taxi company owned by his wife.

Jakisa is alleged to have killed Nevenka Elezovic, a 62-year-old Serbian woman, in September 1993 as he sprayed her apartment with an AK-47 while she stood in front of her bedroom window in the war-scarred town of Capljina, according to an investigator with the Homeland Security Investigations unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Now, documents filed this week show that Jakisa was questioned for an alleged role in three slayings. However, seven witnesses said he was not involved in the killings.

Details on the alleged slayings are contained in hundreds of pages of prosecution documents not yet made public. The lengthy investigation into Jakisa’s past, complicated by language differences, has turned up four criminal cases involving two Bosnian courts, documents show.

The April indictment alleges Jakisa did not disclose when applying for his permanent residency card that he was a member of the HVO, the Hrvatsko Vijece Odbrane, which is composed of brigades of shock troops under command of the Croatian Defense Council notorious for carrying out atrocities, including massacres in villages, during that 3½-year war.

He also failed to disclose that he was arrested, indicted and imprisoned for unspecified crimes in Bosnia and committing crimes of “moral turpitude” there. That legal term in U.S. immigration law encompasses a number of crimes that can be grounds for deportation.

Key witness is dead

According to defense motions filed this week on Jakisa’s behalf, another man with Jakisa when Elezovic was killed implicated himself in her death. But that man has since died, while a police officer involved in the investigation also is suffering from serious mental health issues. The alleged murder weapon also has been lost.

Those issues, Jakisa defense lawyers assert, point to the problems created by the government’s long — illegally long, they say — delay in investigating Jakisa. And it’s the basis for their request to dismiss the indictment.

The FBI knew of Jakisa’s alleged murder of Elezovic as far back as 2005, but five years passed before an investigation was launched and it took another three years for charges to be filed. Jakisa applied for refugee status in 1998, then sought permanent resident status — a “green card” — in 2001. That’s when the clock began ticking on a five-year statute of limitations for filing false information, defense lawyers argue.

“Allowing this stale claim to proceed undermines the congressional intent of establishing a statute of limitations, it violates [Jakisa’s] right to due process and significantly impairs his ability to mount a defense,” the defense attorneys argue.

Prosecutors will respond to those arguments next week.

When applying as a refugee, Jakisa acknowledged his service in the Yugoslav People’s Army, which was compulsory in the days of Communist rule. But he never admitted to later being a member of the HVO, or that he was convicted (in absentia) in Elezovic’s death, or to crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 1990s.

In addition to several drunken-driving convictions and arrests on assault and resisting arrest, Jakisa has a history of threatening behavior since arriving in Forest Lake, including instances where he told a police officer, a county sheriff’s deputy, his probation officer and a bouncer at a local bar that he would kill them.

Prosecutors argued that was cause to detain Jakisa until trial, but he was released under strict conditions.

Nine people detained in Macedonia corruption probe (www.aa.com.tr/en, 21 October 2014)

Former Defense Ministry official and businessmen held over alleged $2.77 million defense scam

Nine people, including former Defense Ministry officials businessmen, have been detained by police in Macedonia investigating an alleged defense scam involving the state being overcharged by $2.77 million.

The nine were held after police launched operation “Arsenal” on Tuesday, said Macedonian Interior Ministry spokesman Ivo Kotes.

The suspects are accused of charging bogus costs to the Macedonian Ministry of Defense for the maintenance of six helicopters by both domestic and foreign companies and overcharging by 135 million denar ($ 2.77 million).

Kotes claimed the former head of the Logistics Department in the Defense Ministry had overcharged for the servicing of six helicopters by the two firms which were established abroad between 2004 and 2009.

The suspect has also accused of “irregularities” involving the purchase of spare parts for army tanks.

The Ministry of Defense said in a statement it was fully supporting the police in their investigations.

Mladic Witness: Muslims Started Conflict in Foca (BIRN, by Denis Dzidic, 22 October 2014)

Bosniaks refused a peace deal that could have averted fighting in the city of Foca in 1992 and began military operations first, a former Bosnian Serb official told Ratko Mladic’s war crimes trial.

Testifying in Mladic’s defence at the Hague Tribunal on Tuesday, the wartime president of the executive council of Foca municipality, Radojica Mladjenovic, said that the political representatives of Bosniaks in the city did not agree to implement an agreement in April 1992 which could have preserved peace in the area.

“The Muslim side started first with operations in the city and their representatives didn’t want to say whether they rejected or accepted the deal, and then [military] actions intensified,” Mladjenovic said.

He also accused Muslims of opening fire on a church in Foca.

According to the witness, Foca’s Muslims left the area of their own free will, alongside their leadership, after seeing that their army would be defeated.

Under cross-examination, Mladjenovic said that he heard in May and June 1992 that Muslims were detained in a local prison facility, KPZ Foca.

“I guess they were held against their will. I think an investigation was carried out in those months to ask if they had weapons and whether they were engaged in the business of obtaining weapons,” Mladjenovic testified.

He said that he was never inside KPZ Foca, but that he later heard reports about harassment there.

“The only thing that I could not understand in those statements was information that people were beaten with baseball bats, because it’s not possible that there were those kind of bats in Foca,” he said.

Former Bosnian Serb military chief Mladic is being tried for the persecution of Bosniaks and Croats in 15 municipalities controlled by his forces, including Foca. He is also on trial for genocide, terrorising the population of Sarajevo and taking UN peacekeepers hostage.

The trial continues.

* * *

Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.