LOCAL PRESS
Vucic: Seselj is not the topic (Tanjug/Beta/RTS/B92)
“In the following days the Serbian government will decide in regard to the request of the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY to revoke the decision on releasing the SRS leader Vojislav Seselj,” Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic told the press at the Serbian government building. “I am not in a situation to hide my anger to the news over the immoral decision that they had passed.” Vucic says he thinks that Seselj is not the topic, adding: “If I were to state everything that I feel someone would think that I didn’t manage to suppress my anger.” He noted that it is obvious that his speech on the occasion of the marking of the bombardment on 24 March was not seen with general sympathies in the world. “I wish to warn that my pride and my moral and Serbia’s stability do not have a price.”
Ljajic: Problematic decision of the ICTY on Seselj’s return (Blic)
The Head of the National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY Rasim Ljajic tells Blic that the decision on lifting the temporary release to Vojislav Seselj is another in a series of strange decisions of the ICTY. “They didn’t ask us when they were releasing Seselj. The guarantees that we gave were under the condition that he accepts them, just as he needed to accept the conditions set by the ICTY for temporary release. They disregarded all that, and now they made a decision that will be problematic again,” said Ljajic.
The Appeals Chamber of the ICTY Trial Chamber ordered to immediately revoke the decision on releasing the leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS) Vojislav Seselj and ordered his return to the ICTY prison.
Dacic: ICTY decision threatens stability of Serbia and region (Radio Serbia)
“The decision of the ICTY for the SRS leader Vojislav Seselj to return to The Hague is perfidious, scandalous and threatens the stability of Serbia and region,” Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic has stated. He pointed out that Serbia had not been acquainted with a single document in regard to the decision on Seselj’s release, or now with the decision on his return.
Seselj: I am not returning, let them arrest me (Beta/Novosti)
The SRS leader Vojislav Seselj says he will not voluntarily return to the ICTY and that he remains with everything that he had said when he returned to Belgrade. “Let’s see how Aleksandar Vucic and Tomislav Nikolic will arrest me now,” the ICTY indictee told Novosti, adding that he was currently at the SRS headquarters, engaged in party business. He announced that he would travel to the town of Bor in eastern Serbia in the afternoon, where he will address a panel organized by the SRS. “Let the police come. They are the ones who do arrests. If the Gendarmerie shows up, they beat people up, I must watch my back. It won’t be an easy task arresting me,” Seselj added. He also claims that the state will have to honor the time procedure regarding extradition and that he will in this period try to counter The Hague’s demand since all my rights are threatened in Holland.
Nikolic: Pristina blocks Brussels agreement implementation (Tanjug/RTS)
By signing the Brussels agreements and implementing the agreements reached with Pristina so far, Serbia has proved that EU entry is its foreign policy priority, Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said on Friday in a meeting with the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. However, Pristina has completely blocked the implementation of the Brussels agreement, Nikolic said, underlining that the role of the EU is very important in that, the President’s press service stated in a release. “I have an impression that we are in a critical phase. We are doing everything that is expected of us, but chapters are not opened yet. If we are expected to wait another 10 years, while Kosovo’s independence is being strengthened bit by bit, and the economic situation becoming increasingly difficult, Serbian citizens will stop believing in the perspective of EU accession,” Nikolic said. He said that the harsh rhetoric can only be counter-productive in Serbia, if there are no grounds for such a tone. Nikolic cautioned that while the Belgrade-Pristina talks are being conducted, a Greater Albania is being created before the very eyes of the international community. “Albanian representatives come to Serbia and provoke with no consequences. Just imagine what would happen if we began creating joint institutions with the Republika Srpska,” the press service quoted the President as saying. “The attempt to create a big Albanian state in Europe is impermissible,” the Serbian President said. Regarding the alignment of Serbia’s foreign policy with that of the EU, Serbia sticks to the position that it is unacceptable to it to impose sanctions on Russia, Nikolic said, noting that on the other hand, the state backs the territorial integrity of any country, Ukraine included. “We were bombed because we were trying to preserve the territorial integrity of our country, so we understand the efforts aimed at ensuring this,” President Nikolic said. “There are no new preconditions for Serbia’s accession to the EU,” Mogherini said during a meeting she had with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic. Mogherini, however, stated that there was a requirement to achieve reasonable results in normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina, the Serbian President’s press office said in a release. Expressing satisfaction about progress made in the talks between Belgrade and Pristina, Mogherini said she was aware of all the problems involved and knew that solving them would take time. She said that she would personally advocate for opening the first chapters in Serbia’s accession negotiations with the EU during the current year. Mogherini said that the Serbian chairmanship of the OSCE had made significant contribution to the EU’s common foreign policy. During a meeting she had with Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic, Mogherini said that the alignment of Serbia’s foreign policy with that of the EU should end in Serbia’s full membership of the EU, the Serbian President’s press office said in a release. When it comes to introducing sanctions against Russia, Mogherini said that the EU could not impose anything on Serbia and that aligning positions took time. All members can express their positions on a foreign policy issue, and bringing them all in line is a complicated and lengthy process. Only when all opinions are aligned can a common foreign policy be decided, she said. Commenting on President Nikolic’s warning that a Greater Albania was being created while talks on the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina were underway, Mogherini stressed that the EU found creation of a Greater Albania unacceptable.
Vucic: Return of Serbs to Kosovo institutions depends from fulfillment of conditions (Radio Serbia)
Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has stated that the decision of the Serb representatives to return to the Kosovo institutions depends on whether the conditions that they had set to the government in Pristina will be fulfilled. “We set several conditions and several important issues to the Pristina government and we are waiting to see what their answer will be,” Vucic said in response to the question when there will be a decision on the possible return of Serbs to the Kosovo institutions. He added that he had conveyed to the Serb representatives that it was important for them to be satisfied with the fulfillment of conditions they had set to the Pristina authorities. “We are cooperating with the Kosovo Serbs, but we want to hear their opinion and proceed according to their wishes,” said Vucic.
Pavicevic: We know what is Serbian (Novosti)
“Not one person from the civil defense will be left without a job and responsibility. I don’t expect that those people who have so far worked for their state will stop doing this now. They will continue to do the same jobs without the sector for emergency situations and various other institutions in Kosovo and Metohija,” the Liaison Officer in Pristina Dejan Pavicevic explains for Novosti what implies the agreement on civil defense that was reached last week with the Albanian side and where members of this service, who don’t want integration into the new system, will be employed.
Will the Union of Serb Municipalities (ZSO) have greater competencies from those that the existing law envisages for the association of other Kosovo municipalities?
“We don’t want to create with the ZSO some entity or feudality in Kosovo and Metohija. We want elementary conditions that would guarantee long term safety and prosperity of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, and the competencies that we insist on are only guarantee of that. Everything in regard to the ZSO is specified with the Brussels agreement and we neither can nor want to accept anything less than that.”
Do you have insight into the state of the Serb property in Kosovo and Metohija? Is there a mechanism to protect ownership rights of Serbian companies?
“A systemic solution of this issue must be found within the Brussels dialogue. If everybody speaks of establishing full rule of law in Kosovo and Metohija, then this must imply legal and any other protection of Serbian property. The origin of property is easy to prove regardless of whether this is generation investment into a family house or investment of our state and nation in economic subjects in Kosovo and Metohija.”
What do the numbers say, how many Serbs have returned to the province, and how many have departed in two years during the period of your duty?
“I don’t dare to speak in numbers because the fluctuation of the population is permanent and two-way. A significant number of people, due to the nature of their jobs, spend half a month in Kosovo and Metohija and half in Serbia proper. Since we don’t have full administrative control over this region, we can only pass indirect conclusions, based on the number of pre-school children who enroll in first grade. It is a constant tendency of the emptying of economically under-developed regions, but this is not only for Kosovo and Metohija. Unlike the Albanians who gravitate towards Western Europe in search for a job, the Serbs turn towards urban regions in Serbia proper. That is why the focus of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija is on creating economically self-sustainable regions as the only way of ensuring long term survival of the Serb, but also other non-Albanian population in Kosovo and Metohija.”
Dragan Vladisavljevic acting head of the Office for coordinating affairs in the negotiating process with Pristina (Beta)
The Serbian government appointed Dragan Vladisavljevic as the acting head of the Office for coordinating affairs in the negotiating process with Pristina,it was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia. Vladisavljevic was appointed to this post on 26 March, and the decision on establishing the Office was passed on 5 March. Vladisavljevic is a brigadier general, while he was the head of the Military-Intelligence Agency until January last year when he was relieved.
Dikovic attends conference on UN operations (Tanjug)
The Chief-of-staff the Serbian Army Ljubisa Dikovic took part in the first conference of chiefs of staff of the countries participating in the multinational UN operations held in New York, the Serbian Defense Ministry said in a statement. This is the first conference of the kind organized by the UN since its establishment. Friday’s conference in New York brought together chiefs of staff of over 100 UN member states and the high military officials were addressed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The goal of the conference is to inform the chiefs of staff about the current political, strategic and operative circumstances of the ongoing UN peacekeeping operations, current challenges and opportunities for support to these operations, as well as to analyze the perspectives of the UN peacekeeping operations. The talks were held on possibilities to use joint efforts to improve efficiency of the UN peacekeeping operations.
Krousti: Cyprus will not recognize Kosovo (Tanjug)
The Ambassador of Cyprus to Serbia Nafsika Krousti said that Cyprus, one of the five EU member-states that have not recognized independence of Kosovo, would adhere to that resolution and would also continue supporting Serbia on its EU course. “Cyprus and Serbia have clear political and economic relations and we are bound by almost the same fate, and that is why we do not recognize the government in Pristina. Serbia’s key moment will be joining the EU and we support that, which is why we will continue helping Serbia in EU integrations, said Krousti.
REGIONAL PRESS
Novalic: Tomorrow FB&H government (Fena)
The candidate for the Prime Minister of the Federation of B&H) Fadil Novalic (SDA) has signed today the appointment of Milan Mandilovic as a Minister of Labor and Social Policy, i.e. the candidate from among the Others, what was lacking in order to have constitutional FB&H government. The future FB&H Prime Minister, confirmed to reporters in Sarajevo the news, pointing out that the Deputy Prime minister from the ranks of the Serb people is to be proposed by the Democratic Front. Novalic is convinced that the new government of the FB&H will be formed tomorrow, because, the main obstacle has been solved. “There is a minor obstacle, and that is that the FB&H government and the Council of Ministers should be established at the same time. Now we are waiting for the verification of the Council of Ministers, and we got a promise that we will have it today,” said Novalic. As announced by the Chairman of Representatives House Edin Music, two emergency sessions of this home should be held tomorrow, at which the vote on the new entity government’s convocation is expected, following the budgetary discussion. In this sense, Novalic reiterated that 94 percent of the content of the budget is fixed and six percent is variable. The FB&H budget for this year is about 2.3 billion KM.
SDP: Council of Ministers without Others unacceptable (Oslobodjenje)
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) of B&H considers devastating the fact that the new session of the Council of Ministers has not a single minister from among the Others. With that, a statement from the party reads, the new ruling coalition proves that it isn’t concerned about the possible upcoming implementation of the European Court of Human Rights ruling in the Sejdic-Finci case, which is still one of the conditions for progress in European integrations. They consider the new coalition majority a disgrace for failing to recognize the constitutional methods for filling ministerial positions in the Council, which has led to a point where a minister and deputy are from the same people. For the SDP it is a disgrace also on the Federal level, where, in order to form a government, ministers overnight must change their nationality by order of the party. “The situation in which on the state level there are no ministers from the Others once again proves the incapability of those who, for six months after the elections, are not in a state to form a government,” the statement reads. They say that the governing coalition, the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ B&H), and the Democratic Front (DF), have reduced the process of establishing a government to the level of ‘ethnic trading’. For the SDP, such an omission, aside from the fact that it represents a violation of the law on the Council of Ministers, sends a very bad message to those who believe that B&H will become a society in which everyone is equal. They therefore called on the parties of the coalition to not permit the appointment of an illegal Council of Ministers in which there is no place for someone from the hundreds of thousands of citizens who do not declare themselves as members of the constitutive peoples, because with this they will show that that this is their country as well. “If they are deaf to this call, this will be clear proof that the greatest cost of such political alliances will be paid by the citizens, who in the next four years will not be offered anything that would make their lives in this country better,” the statement concludes.
The House of Peoples of the PA: Follow-up session without the disputed points (Srna)
For today, a continuation of the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of B&H is scheduled. Previous session was terminated on March 17th due to the absence of Serb delegates from the SNSD and DNS who were dissatisfied by a proposed composition of a joint committee of the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H). The session was scheduled after the agreement at the Extended Collegium of the House of Peoples was reached on removing from the agenda the point on election of the Joint Commission for the Oversight of the B&H Intelligence and Security Agency (OBA). At the meeting of the Extended Collegium, held on 23rd of March, it was agreed that this point will not be discussed at the meetings of the House of Peoples until this matter is resolved at the Joint Collegium of Representatives and House of Peoples. Following the election of members of other joint committees of both Houses of Parliament the delegates should analyze a report on the implementation of the 2014 general elections in B&H, and the annual report of the B&H High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (VSTS) for 2013. At the session, the House of Peoples should elected the members of the B&H Parliament delegation for the Inter-Parliamentary Union, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Central European Initiative, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly of the South Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Francophone areas. The problem with the election of members of the Joint Commission for Supervision of the OBA originated in the House of Representatives where, contrary to the original agreement, Sadik Ahmetovic from the SDA was elected instead of Nikola Spiric from the SNSD. Representatives of the SNSD and DNS at the House of Representatives and the House of Peoples pointed out that it is unacceptable that from 12 members of the commission, three are Serbs, five are Bosniaks and four are Croats and that the strongest political party in opposition – the SNSD has no members from the House of Representatives. Joint Commission for Supervision of the OBA is composed of six members of the House of Representatives and House of Peoples of B&H, and the chairman shall be elected from among the opposition parties.
Valentin Inzko: The interests of citizens should finally get priority (Oslobodjenje)
Last year’s February protests should have been a wakeup call to politicians in B&H and a warning that something must change fundamentally and that citizens want political representatives who were elected to do far more, not only to fight for personal interests and privileges of the party, said in an interview for Oslobodjenje the High Representative Valentin Inzko. He warns that citizens want elected politicians to govern and not to run away from their work. “Citizens want work, not inaction. From that perspective, I am disappointed that the political parties in the Federation seem to spend all their energy since the elections till today in a dispute with its coalition partners on the distribution of positions,” said Inzko. He estimated that five months after the election, the most pressing issue is establishment of the government at all levels. “This country and its citizens are now faced with many challenges: every day that passes, and that the government is not formed, is another day lost in the struggle for a better life, employment, the fight against corruption and crime, and to achieve progress on a path towards the European integration. This is not what the citizens voted for. Citizens expect the fulfillment of the promises made during the election campaigns – promises in regard to economic development, employment and better work of the public services. Now it is necessary for political parties to focus their energies on concrete measures to improve the living standards of ordinary people,” he said. He stresses that stagnation must be stopped and that is what the parties have to keep in mind when negotiating the allocation of tasks within the newly established authorities. “’During these conversations, it seems to me that no one is mentioning one important thing: the leaders are elected to represent the interests of citizens and work in service of citizens, not to satisfy their own desires and interests. The interests of citizens should finally get priority, and for this to happen a thorough change in the way of how the politics are done in this country is required – said, among other things, Inzko for Oslobodjenje.
INTERNATIONAL PRESS
Serbian nationalist rebuffs order to return to war crimes court (Reuters, 30 March 2015)
BELGRADE – Serbian ultra-nationalist leader Vojislav Seselj rebuffed an order on Monday to return to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which released him on health grounds in November. “Let the police come. They arrest people. If the Gendarmes come, they get violent, I’ll have to watch my back. It won’t be easy to arrest me,” Seselj was quoted as saying by the Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti. Judges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal revoked Seselj’s provisional release, saying the politician – whom doctors say has cancer – had violated the terms by announcing publicly that he would never return to jail.
(Reporting and writing by Matt Robinson; Editing by Ivana Sekularac)
EU wants Serbia accession talks to begin in earnest this year (Reuters, 27 March 2015)
BELGRADE – The European Union said on Friday it was a priority to open the first chapters in accession negotiations with Serbia by the end of the year, after a delay caused by foot-dragging in relations between Belgrade and its former Kosovo province. The EU formally launched membership negotiations with Serbia in January 2014, following a landmark deal to regulate relations between Serbia and Kosovo. But since a first formal accession conference, none of the so-called negotiation chapters have been opened, because of failure to fully implement the Serbia-Kosovo deal. “It is a priority for the European Union to open chapters this year,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, told a news conference in Belgrade. “I cannot at this stage define when and which chapters we will be ready to open. “There is some work to be done here, there is some work to be done in Brussels and in the capital cities, but I think that we share a common engagement to do it before the end of the year.” Serbia is impatient to begin in earnest the process of aligning legislation with the 28-nation EU in preparation to becoming a member. But implementation of the deal with Kosovo has been slow, in part because of how politically unpalatable some of the elements are, as well as the absence of a government for six months in the former Serbian province. Serbia, a landlocked country of 7.3 million people, wants the boost of membership talks to help attract foreign investors to its struggling economy. Actual accession, at this rate, is unlikely before 2022.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Writing by Matt Robinson)
Macedonian political crisis hampers EU membership bid (EUbusiness, 30 March 2015)
(SKOPJE) – Bitter exchanges between Macedonia’s government and the opposition, including wiretapping and claims of million-euro bribes, have pushed the Balkan state into a deep crisis that could further hamper its already stalled bid for EU membership. Since the beginning of the year, conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski’s government and the centre-left opposition have communicated only through public exchanges of accusations. The crisis has not only undermined Macedonia’s already weak institutions, but it also sparked concerns in the 28-nation European Union, which it is seeking to join. “It is a dangerous political game that causes disastrous collateral damage. The already fragile institutions are further weakened and passions ignite,” political analyst Biljana Vankovska told AFP. As soon as the crisis started Brussels voiced alarm over the “deterioration of political dialogue” in the former Yugoslav republic and called for a thorough investigation. In January, the government filed a complaint against opposition leader Zoran Zaev and several other people for espionage and violence against officials. Zaev rejected the allegations and in turn accused the government of wiretapping at least 20,000 people, including politicians, journalists and religious leaders. On Thursday, he also accused Gruevski of accepting a 20-million-euro ($22-million) bribe from Chinese firms to grant them concessions to build motorways. Zaev heads the centre-left opposition Social Democrats (SDSM), which have been boycotting parliament for almost a year, alleging electoral fraud in April 2014 polls. He has called on the prime minister to resign, form an interim government and organise “fair and democratic” early elections. The country has been governed in a delicate power-sharing deal between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians since the end of a seven-month conflict in 2001 between the country’s armed forces and ethnic Albanian rebels. Ethnic Albanians make up around one quarter of Macedonia’s population of 2.1 million. Gruevski’s VMRO-DPMNE has ruled in coalition with the country’s main ethnic Albanian party since 2006. The government is now facing mounting obstacles in its attempts to join both the EU and NATO. Macedonia obtained EU candidate status in 2005, but is yet to begin accession talks, partly due to opposition from Greece. Athens denies its neighbour the right to use the name of Macedonia, arguing that it implies a claim on the northern Greek region of the same name. Macedonia is also tormented by economic hardship with unemployment reaching 28 percent. In a sign of the febrile political atmosphere, Gruevski even warned that the opposition might make moves that could provoke “possible inter-ethnic destabilisation” between Macedonians and ethnic Albanians. “The situation is very serious … it is of the utmost importance that EU accession talks be opened as soon as possible,” Ivo Vajgl, a European Parliament rapporteur for Macedonia, told reporters recently.
– EU mediation needed –
“The rule of conservatives showed that the elites still lack political culture and that basic principles of democracy were violated (and) an authoritarian populist system was introduced,” warned political analyst Nano Ruzin. Meanwhile, faced with a loss of support, Zaev has been desperately trying to seize the initiative. “The opposition is looking for a life jacket, a way to destabilise the government or to attract the attention of the international community which does not seem interested in the situation in the country,” Ruzin said. Some analysts criticise Brussels’ policy towards Skopje and the stalling of accession talks. The EU has “complicated things” by failing to grant a date for the accession talks to start, said political analyst Aleksandar Dastevski. Ruzin echoed that view and said the international community seemed to be interested only in the “security aspect and the situation regarding ethnic relations in the country, while neglecting the political aspect.” Most analysts believe that it would not be possible to resolve the crisis without help of the international community. Representatives of the rulers and the opposition were to hold EU-mediated talks Monday at the European Parliament aimed at overcoming the crisis.
Montenegro Protests Over Croatia’s Adriatic Oil Probes (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 27 March 2015)
Montenegro has accused Croatia of jeopardizing an earlier border agreement between the two countries by allowing oil and gas exploration in the disputed border area near Prevlaka
Montenegro’s Foreign Minister, Igor Luksic, on Thursday said his government had sent four protest notes to Croatia over a planned oil and gas probe in the waters of the disputed Prevlaka area, south of Dubrovnik. In an address to parliament, Luksic said that Croatia had violated 2002 border protocol between the two countries by which the Prevlaka peninsula remained in Croatia while Montenegro won some rights over the surrounding waters. Montenegro has also sent a diplomatic note to the UN Division for Oceans and the Law of the Sea, complaining about Croatia’s announced start oil exploration in the Adriatic. Luksic said Montenegrin diplomats has been tasked with alerting companies that have applied for a Croatian tender that they may be violating the international agreement. Protest notes have been sent to all countries from which these companies come. “Our diplomats have informed the companies of the legal consequences of closing the deal with Croatia. On several occasions we discussed [it] with representatives of those countries in Montenegro at the highest level,” the minister explained. Both Montenegro and Croatia have invited public bids for the exploration of oil and gas reserves in the Adratic Sea. Several foreign companies have expressed interest. Last week, Croatia postponed signing a deal because of concerns raised by Montenegro, Italy and Slovenia. Montenegro’s dispute with Croatia over the Prevlaka peninsula, south of Dubrovnik, dates back to the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. In 2008, both countries agreed to let the International Court of Justice in The Hague decide the issue, but a comprehensive settlement has yet to be reached.
Saga of a Croatian Polo Resort, Alleged Corruption and the European Parliament (The Wall Street Journal, by Matthew Dalton, 27 March 2015)
The saga began with an international businessman’s simple dream of building a €75 million resort for polo players in Croatia. On Wednesday, it landed in the cavernous hall of the European Parliament, which voted to lift the legal immunity of a member who faces a defamation complaint for suggesting the businessman was an “idiot.” It’s a case that features allegations of Balkan corruption, a scheming bank, the flood of foreign land-developers into Croatia and the peculiar fact that being accused of defamation appears to be an occupational hazard for European lawmakers. Since 2002, Georg List, a German businessman, has been trying to build said polo resort near the charming, medieval village of Motovun in northern Croatia. Fourteen years and €2.7 million of his own money later, the project has barely begun, he says. For that he blames in part Ivan Jakovcic, former governor of the Istrian region in which Motovun is located, and a member of the European Parliament since July 2014. Mr. List and his lawyers say a neighboring chicken farm has repeatedly used the land he legally purchased for the resort. Hypo Group Alpe Adria, the now-defunct Austrian bank that stands accused of financing shady deals in the Balkans and across Europe, gave him a loan to develop the polo resort but also controlled the company that owned the chicken farm, his lawyer Dario Cehic says. Mr. Cehic speculated that as a favor to Croatian politicians who were angry with Mr. List for refusing to bribe them, Hypo used the chicken company to block his resort development. “This gentry came to the brilliant idea to use an old statute from the Republic of Yugoslavia dating back the year 1946 and no longer in use in Croatia, to take away building land (18 hectares, or 180.000 square meters) I purchased in an orderly manner,” Mr. List said in an email. A spokesman for Hypo’s Croatian division referred questions about the chicken company to Heta Asset Management, the “bad bank” created by the Austrian government to manage Hypo’s questionable assets. A spokesman for Heta didn’t immediately respond to request for comment. To unblock his project, Mr. List claims Mr. Jakovcic asked him at a meeting in 2009 to pay €500,000 to the consulting company of a local tourism official. Mr. Jakovcic calls the assertion that he “was looking for something” from Mr. List a “most disgusting lie.” “Mr. List is, unfortunately, very shady entrepreneur who wanted to smear my name and reputation using the worst lies,” Mr. Jakovicic says in an email. “For all these insults, last year I sued Mr. List and expect to face him in court soon.” Mr. List responds: “He’s really speaking a lot of bull****.” So parliament waived Mr. Jakovcic’s immunity to allow a corruption investigation to proceed? Well, no. After Mr. List went public with his allegations, Mr. Jakovcic said he was hounded one night with phone calls from a Croatian journalist seeking comment. Eventually, Mr. Jakovcic acknowledges, he fatefully told the journalist: “I do not comment on idiots.”That remark drew a criminal complaint of defamation from Mr. List. In September, his lawyer asked the parliament to waive Mr. Jakovcic’s immunity. On Wednesday, the Parliament agreed: Parliamentarians are only immune from prosecution related to actions they perform as part of their official duties. Calling someone an idiot apparently doesn’t qualify. Mr. Jakovcic declined to stand by his “idiot” comment, but he did say of Mr. List: “Of him I have the worst possible opinion. If I wanted to offend him I could do it a thousand times in the media, but that’s not my style.” Defamation accusations appear to be a relatively common occurrence for parliamentarians. On Wednesday, the parliament also voted to waive immunity to allow defamation cases against two other lawmakers. In November, the parliament refused to waive the immunity of Portuguese lawmaker Ana Gomes in a defamation case. Part of Mr. Lists’s problem may be that he’s running into increasing local ambivalence about foreign-funded development in the area, which is by all accounts lovely and (still) unspoiled. Motovun is “simple, unspoiled, genuine,” Mr. List said. “Since I travel a lot, it is not easy to impress me, I can tell you that.” Developers trying to build golf courses near Motovun have already run into opposition from local residents. A course in Istria planned by Jack Nicklaus’s golf course design company seems to be still “under development” nine years after it was announced. Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said Hypo no longer exists. In fact, Hypo still exists, but more or less in name only: The Austrian government has created a “bad bank” to manage the company’s troubled assets, while the rest of the bank’s operations are being split up and sold.
Man facing deportation in Bosnia war crimes case seeks new trial, argues flawed conviction
(Associated Press, by Wilson Ring, 27 March 2015)
MONTPELIER, Vermont — A man convicted on charges he lied on a U.S. immigration form about his role in Bosnian war crimes is asking for a new trial, claiming jurors based the conviction on allegations prosecutors made during the trial rather than charges in his indictment.
Attorneys for Edin Sakoc claim in court papers that jurors in his January trial found him guilty of making false statements about memberships in military and political organizations in Bosnia although he was not charged with failing to disclose his affiliation with the groups.
Jurors indicated on a verdict form, however, that Sakoc lied when he said on an immigration form that he never gave false or misleading information to immigration officials. Sakoc, 56, a Bosnian Muslim who arrived in the United States in 2001, was charged with lying about his role in the crimes committed in July 1992 in the town of Pocitelj when he applied for citizenship in 2007. Federal prosecutors contend he raped a Serb woman and aided in the killing of two elderly people she was caring for. Defense attorneys, however, say jurors rejected the government’s argument that Sakoc lied about his participation in the crimes because they did not indicate so on the verdict form that included the allegations. “If you are going to be charged with a felony, it’s got to be a felony that was returned in the indictment by the grand jury,” defense attorney David McColgin said Friday. “What they did in their closing argument was to effectively amend their indictment.” Acting U.S. Attorney Eugenia Cowles said she had not read the defense arguments, and her office could not immediately respond. If the conviction is upheld, Sakoc could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, fined $250,000, lose his citizenship and be deported. He is free pending appeal. During his eight-day trial, Sakoc’s attorneys argued the war crimes were committed by a powerful Bosnian Croat army commander and that Sakoc couldn’t be held accountable, even though he was aware of the killings after they took place. Jurors were given a verdict form to indicate which of four statements Sakoc made on his naturalization form they determined to be false. The jury did not indicate that he lied when he denied he had committed any crimes or persecuted anyone. Late in the trial, prosecutors introduced evidence that Sakoc “failed to disclose during the naturalization process that he was in a political organization of Muslims in Bosnia called the ‘SDA,’ and that he failed to disclose that he was in the ‘HVO’ — a military organization of Croats and Muslims — where he participated in reconnaissance,” according to the defense filing. “The special verdict form strongly suggests that the jury rejected the government’s argument that Mr. Sakoc lied about committing crimes or persecuting the three women, as alleged in the indictment,” the attorneys argued. “Instead, the jury appears to have found Mr. Sakoc guilty based on the alleged false statements raised for the first time during the trial regarding Mr. Sakoc’s participation in SDA and HVO.”
