LOCAL PRESS

Nikolic: Vatican, guided by principles, will not recognize independence of Kosovo (Radio Serbia)

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic had talks in Belgrade with the Secretary of the Holy See for Foreign Relations Dominique Mamberti and thanked him for the fact that Vatican, guided by principles, has not recognized independence of Kosovo. Speaking of the issue of the property seized from religious communities after WWII and nationalized, Nikolic said that Serbia would perform the restitution process as fast as efficiently as possible, in line with the law and potentials. He sent a letter of gratitude to Pope Francis, for his direct help to Serbia after the severe floods in May.

Djuric banned from entering Kosovo and Metohija (Tanjug)

The Kosovo police banned the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric from entering the territory of the province of Kosovo at the Jarinje crossing. Djuric assessed that at issue is a flagrant violation of the agreement, disrespect of the agreement on the freedom of movement and violation of all principles agreed in regard to this topic. “I’m afraid this will not remain without consequences and it certainly will not prevent the Serbian institutions to operate normally, but I’m also afraid that this is a bad signal when it comes to the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. That is why I appeal with the international community to help in overcoming problems, our wish is not to create additional tensions but for problems to be resolved through dialogue. No one will prevent and stop us from performing our job normally,” Djuric said at the Jarinje crossing. Asked what the reason for his stopping at Jarinje was, he said he received a “shameful explanation” from the police that the ban arrived from Pristina. After a short stay at the crossing, situated near the town of Raska in south-central Serbia, Djuric returned to Serbia proper. Djuric was supposed to lay the foundation stone for a 41-square meter building with 12 residential units, a project funded by the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, in the village of Banjska in northern Kosovo today. Djuric was also to visit Zvecan and the Trepca mining complex in the town, where he was supposed to meet with its management and talk with representatives of Serbs from northern Kosovo at the end of his visit.

Djuric: Rate of returns of internally displaced from Kosovo unsatisfactory (Tanjug)

The Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric held a meeting on Monday with Peter Due, the representative of the UN Secretary-General and the Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade. The talks encompassed issues that are under the jurisdiction of the UN Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, UNMIK, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1244. The return of internally displaced persons has been unavoidably imposed as the main topic, for which Director Djuric said that it had remained in the shadow of political events over the past period. Director Djuric noted that the rate of returns was unsatisfactory and that this problem should be approached in a new way. Mr. Due presented the stand that the approach to the problem of internally displaced should also include UNMIK and the UNHCR, as a specialized agency from the UN system that has the mandate to work with refugees and displaced persons. He added that the UN Office in Belgrade remains at disposal for further cooperation in issues that refer to internally displaced persons and their return.
Sixteen mandates with two lists (Novosti)

If the Kosovo Albanian parties do not reach agreement on the ruling coalition, the elections held on 8 June will be repeated, and such an outcome would be in favor primarily to the Serb list. Having experienced the “maneuvers” of the Central Election Commission (CIK), which dictated election rules before the very beginning of the campaign, erasing the possibility for the Serbs to receive reserved mandates along with the ten guaranteed, the Kosovo Serbs will not miss the opportunity this time to prepare two lists that would grant then certain 16 mandates. One list would represent the Serb community and would ensure 10 guarantees seats with only several votes. The second list would represent parties and it would compete for the distribution of 100 mandates for which the Albanian parties are also competing, so if it repeats the results reached on 8 June, the Serb list would have 6 deputies. All together, the Serbs would reach 16 seats. The option of repeated elections is not so far according to the Pristina media, since there is no agreement on the assembly speaker, and with this the assembly will be disbanded and elections will be repeated. In the meantime, the Serb list has already submitted an objection to the Appeals Panel and CIK member Nenad Rikalo confirmed for Novosti they were waiting for a response. The head of the Srpska (Serbian) Civic Initiative Vladeta Kostic explains that the appeal requests the redistribution of mandates according to the Law on general elections, based on which the elections were held, and not based on the interpretations of the CIK. Accepting the appeal would bring the Serb list another six mandates along with the nine that belong to it from the group of guaranteed mandates. The Progressive Democratic Party (PDS) led by Nenad Rasic, which won one of the ten guaranteed seats, also addressed the Appeals Panel. The PDS doubts that the votes of non-valid ballots from the north should go to their party, and they also have objections to the votes from Serbia proper, considering it impossible that 8,000 people voted for the same list and for five identical people.

REGIONAL PRESS

B&H Council of Minister decides to withdraw seventh and eighth tranches of stand by arrangement (Fena)

The B&H Council of Ministers at the session made the decision on withdrawal of seventh and eight tranche of IV stand by arrangement from IMF funds and authorized the Ministry of Finance and Treasury to issue a promissory note in the amount of 370.058.320, 84 BAM.

From the seventh and eighth tranche in the amount of 185.029.160, 42 BAM, two thirds are allocated for the FB&H and one third for the RS, and the repayment of this debt, entities shall do in accordance with applicable regulations. The IMF has approved a further debt along with eighth tranche in the amount of 185.029.160, 42 BAM for rehabilitation of flood consequences in May 2014. Two percent of these funds will go for Brcko District and 49 percent for FB&H and 49 percent for the RS. The seventh and eighth tranche are confirmation that the B&H government has fulfilled earlier reform commitments agreed with the representatives of the IMF, the public relations service of the B&H Council of Ministers announced.

Three indicted for killing Serbs near Trnovo (FoNet)

Prosecutor of the Special Department for War Crimes of the B&H Prosecutor’s Office issued an indictment against two Bosniaks and one Croat for involvement in the killing of at least 90 persons of Serb nationality in the wider area of Sarajevo’s Trnovo municipality. Charges for war crimes committed in the summer of 1992 against Serb civilians and prisoners of war are raised against Edhem Godinjak (63) of Sarajevo, Medaris Saric (46) of Hadzici, near Sarajevo, and Mirko Bunoza (46) of Ljubusko. The three former members of the B&H army and police and Croatian armed forces (HOS) are charged with involvement in a joint criminal enterprise aimed at killing Serb civilians. The indictment also includes unlawful arrest and detention of Serbs in facilities in the area of Trnovo, setting fire to their property, murder and inhumane treatment of captured members of the Army of Republika Srpska (RS). The victims were mostly elderly (some over 80 years of age), a large number of women, and a child born in 1990. One of the most extensive indictments raised by the B&H Prosecutor’s Office, with the assistance of their Serbian colleagues, proposes to call around 140 witnesses to the stand and provides over 300 pieces of physical evidence, the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office released on Monday. After a long and thorough investigation, evidence has been collected against tens of identified perpetrators of war crimes committed in the territory of several villages in the area of Trnovo. These cases will be forwarded to relevant judicial authorities in B&H entities for further processing, the release states. The mostly Serb-populated Sarajevo municipality of Trnovo fell to the Muslim Army of B&H in the summer of 1992, when 124 Serb civilians were killed, including 48 women and four children. Among the victims were all nine members of the Tesanovic family, who were executed in the village of Ljuta, near Kalinovik. The youngest victim, Milun Tesanovic, was only 18 months old. The RS investigation team came into possession of the video footage recorded at that time by TV Gornji Vakuf, showing that nearly all houses in Trnovo were burned to the ground and only the walls of a Serbian orthodox church remained standing. The footage shows Serb women in the Muslim camp in Trnovo saying that the prisoners include 50 women and children and around 40 men, the youngest being 14 and the eldest 80 years old. The RS investigation team sent this footage to the B&H Prosecutor’s Office back in 1994, along with extensive documentation, and raised charges against 54 persons for these crimes.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Serbia seeks to preserve good relations with Russia — Russian ambassador (ITAR-TASS, 30 June 2014)

MOSCOW, Russia’s high-ranking diplomat said Serbia’s accession to the European Union will have no impact on its friendly relations with Russia.

“Belgrade does not see any contradictions between its drive for entering the EU and developing friendly relations with Russia,” Russian Ambassador in Belgrade Alexander Chepurin told ITAR-TASS on Monday. “Serbs are categorically against the ‘either-or’ message. This is right,” he said.

“The term of Serbia’s ‘drift’ towards Brussels can be hardly considered correct.  Over the last 20 years, Serbia has named the accession to the EU as its foreign policy priority. Now Belgrade is holding talks and hopes to join the EU in 2020,” Chepurin said. “Simultaneously, Belgrade stresses its willingness to preserve and develop good relations with its historical friend – the brotherly country of Russia,” he said.

“Today the message ‘never against Russia’ is very popular among the Serbian public. Unlike its neighbors, Serbia said it would not impose any sanctions against Russia. Serbian President Tomislav Nicolic and Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic confirmed it,” he said. “Serbia demonstrates itself as Russia’s real friend. And it refuses to come against its economic interests,” Chepurin said.

He praised Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s successful visit to Belgrade. “Serbs are optimistic about the upcoming talks between (Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic) and Russian leaders. Sincerity and centuries-long friendship help our contacts,” Chepurin said.

Bosnian slaves have been exploited at constructions of Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan (Panorama.am, 30 June 2014)

Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina has declared about the arrest of 13 members of an organized criminal group which in 2007-2009 had taken out hundreds of workers to Azerbaijan, where in the future they have been exploited as slaves, reports the Azerbaijani news portal “Haqqin.az.” As noted in the article, the group members had sent for a total of more than 600 workers from Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia to Azerbaijan. “Once these people found themselves in Azerbaijan, they were kept in inhumane conditions. They were not receiving wages and were forced to work in intolerable conditions,” the prosecutor’s office statement reads.
The gang members earned more than four million dollars by selling the slaves in Azerbaijan, the article reads. Portal reminds that it was the radio “Liberty” who reported for the first time about the exploitation of the Bosnian workers in Azerbaijan. In the result of the journalists’ investigation it was discovered that these workers were used in constructions being erected for the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Azerbaijan. The construction was carried out by the contractor LLC “SerbAz.” Slaves from the Balkan countries worked on such constructions as Mingachevir Olympic Complex, Buta Palace and the Mall “28 May”. It is noteworthy that the office of the “SerbAz” company was located at the training base of national Olympic teams.
According to a report of the U.S. State Department “Trafficking in Persons Report 2014”, Azerbaijan is considered a country where men, women and children are trafficked to other countries for forced labor and sexual exploitation. In addition, in Azerbaijan cases of exploitation of foreign nationals are recorded. In the report Armenia is attributed to the first group of countries, and Azerbaijan – to the second, which means that the Armenian government is making significant efforts to combat trafficking and fulfills all the minimum standards in this area.

Macedonia Albanian Activists Slam ‘Terrorism’ Murder Verdict (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 1 July 2014)

An ethnic Albanian NGO said that the terrorism convictions of six alleged Islamic extremists over the killings of five ethnic Macedonians in Skopje was a political set-up.

The NGO called Wake Up condemned the court’s verdicts on Tuesday, insisting that the convictions of the six ethnic Albanians were politically motivated and had left the real perpetrators of the gruesome murders in 2012 unpunished. “The conclusion of this case was sealed from the very beginning when the suspects were labelled as terrorists even before the start of the investigation,” the NGO said in a press release on Tuesday.

The Skopje Criminal Court on Monday found Alil Demiri, Afrim Ismailovic, Agim Ismailovic, Fejzi Aziri, Haki Aziri and Sami Ljuta guilty on Monday of killing the five Macedonians at Orthodox Easter in 2012 and gave them the longest possible sentence for terrorism offences, life in prison.

The court said that the murder was planned and carried out in a “vicious manner” in order to provoke inter-ethnic turmoil between Macedonians and Albanians.

On account of lack of evidence, the court acquitted a seventh man, Rami Sejdi, who was initially charged with helping the group commit the murders.

Wake Up said however that the sentences were absurd in a case in which the murder weapon has not been found and where the exact motive for the killings remains vague.

“These circumstances create the maximum amount of doubt about the credibility of the court, the prosecution and the entire judicial system in the country,” the NGO said.

Police Minister Gordana Jankuloska declined to comment on the outcome of the case on Tuesday but said that “the court should not be subjected to pressure regarding the verdict”.

News of the murders in 2012 raised ethnic tensions, after groups of ethnic Macedonians staged protests, some of which turned violent, blaming the killings on members of the country’s large Albanian minority community.

But the verdict has so far been greeted calmly, although police are still deployed near the court and in the centre of the capital in case of protests.

Relatives of the convicted men have said they will decide in the coming days whether they will call for a protest.

The verdict is not yet final as the defendants have the right to appeal to a higher court.

The corpses of Filip Slavkovski, Aleksandar Nakjevski, Cvetanco Acevski and Kire Trickovski, all aged between 18 and 20, were discovered on April 12, 2012. Their bodies had been lined up and appeared to have been executed.

The body of 45-year-old Borce Stevkovski was found a short distance away from the others.

Albanians make up a quarter of the country’s 2.1 million population.

In 2001, Macedonia went through a brief armed conflict between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces. The conflict ended the same year with the signing of a peace deal that increased Albanian rights.