LOCAL PRESS

UNMIK Head Zahir Tanin condemns violence in Gorazdevac (Tanjug/RTS/B92)

Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and UNMIK Head Zahir Tanin condemned the armed attack that took place in the village of Gorazdevac on Tuesday, the UNMIK press office said in a release. “I strongly condemn this serious attack, which damaged property and a monument,” Tanin said, noting that such events risk undermining confidence in overall security and community relations. “I urge the authorities to swiftly investigate these incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice,” he added. Tanin also expressed concern over another attack that happened in the municipality of Istok on Monday evening, where shots were fired at a tobacco store with two Serbs inside, the release noted.

Stojanovic: Almost nothing happens by accident in Kosovo (RTS)

Kosovo Deputy Prime Minister Branimir Stojanovic voiced concern over the latest attacks on the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija. He told the evening news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the atmosphere is such that many radical elements wish to raise the temperature to the boiling point. Then, according to him, those most vulnerable suffer – people living in settlements quite remote from the Serb majority municipalities. “We have been listening to many declarative promises, yet there are no results and this is a bitter experience that we have been dragging from the past,” says Stojanovic. “We are closely watching and we are quite concerned since it seems that all this is gaining momentum,” says Stojanovic. He points out that he will do everything in the following period, and that he will alarm the international community, because their obligation is to create relatively decent living conditions. “What life has been teaching us over the past 15 years is that almost nothing happens by accident in Kosovo, without some plan or background,” says Stojanovic, recalling that the Serbs have been attacked since 2000 in order to give up this region. Now, in light of the political events in Pristina, one part of those who always hate Serbs are trying to seize the moment to get hold of the very valuable Serb property, says Stojanovic. Speaking about the meeting between Kosovo Serb representatives and Prime Minister Isa Mustafa, Stojanovic says something had been promised to them, but they had been promised in the past as well. “We requested more policemen in Klina, improvement of security conditions, video surveillance,” he says, pointing out that the Albanians need to assume responsibility for the safety of Serbs and stop looking for excuses for undiscovered perpetrators.

Maric: There must be will to punish perpetrators (RTS)

The Minister for Local Self-Administration in the Kosovo government Ljubomir Maric has told the morning news of Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) that the latest attacks on the Serbs in Kosovo is a message that they will not be at peace and that they are not welcome. Maric recalls that the attacks occurred three days after the visit of Serb representatives to Pec and Gorazdevac. He pointed out that they visited yesterday the residents of Gorazdevac and talked with the police about measures to be undertaken, including check points at the entrance and exit of Gorazdevac. He says police members from the Serb community need to be engaged urgently. Maric says the residents had requested in the past for the monument to the murdered children in Gorazdevac to be kept and that the residents are losing trust in the central institutions, because of which they request that KFOR returns to protect them. Maric says that Serb representatives discussed this with the Kosovo Prime Minister, pointing out that if something is not undertaken, they will also request KFOR’s return. “We requested this time the engagement of those who know their job, there must be institutional will,” he said. He assesses that at issue is a demonstration exercise for institutions as to whether they will change the manner of their work or whether attacks on Serbs will remain unpunished again. “The residents are resolute to stay, we will be with them every day and we will insist that this be investigated and perpetrators be processed,” said Maric. He reiterated that he expected concrete answers from the Kosovo Prime Minister, but noted that the international community was responsible for security in Kosovo and Metohija.

Fear has become life (Politika, by Zivojin Rakocevic)

“It occurred to me to tell my daughter that a movie was filmed, that these are actors…But I see that she understood everything in her own way, even though she is a child, and that my ‘explanation’ is futile,” says professor Sasa Petrovic who is trying to help his seven-year-old daughter Stefana after seven shots that hit their house in Gorazdevac, near Pec. Shots from automatic weapons and a car burning in front of the house at 2.50 a.m. woke up this part of the village and this child, while 300 meters away another burst of gunfire split in half the monument to murdered boys Panta Dakic and Ivan Jovovic and victims of NATO bombing in this part of Metohija. “This is a vicious circle between the international community, Albanians and Kosovo institutions that either cannot or do not want to resolve anything. We are left to ourselves, all this is one chaotic situation that is getting out of control,” says this English language professor. An especially poignant impression is that all attacks and crimes that occurred in Gorazdevac can be discovered very quickly and that they are known to everyone, but it seems that the multi-ethnic idyll essential for the international community implies that the only Serb settlement that has survived in the Pec region in 1999 needs to remain without any protection. Two Serb Ministers in the Kosovo institutions, Ljubo Maric and Dalibor Jevtic, came to Gorazdevac several days ago and received assurances from the police and municipal leadership that security was at a satisfactory level. “We concluded that the security situation in the Pec municipality is good, it seems that it bothers someone,” says the Pec Mayor Gazmend Muhaxheri. When asked who is bothered, he responds with a smile on his face: “I don’t know, gosh, the police needs to determine who is bothered by peace”. He had this same smile and repeated these same phrases in July when they were rampaging Gorazdevac and when the monument to victims was sprinkled with gas and set on fire, and revenge announced with graffiti. The unbearable lightness of security and forgotten Serb victims have been built into the Kosovo system. Dozens of incidents, attacks, humiliations, ethnic mimicry have become part of institutional action. The aggravating circumstance is that such situation is presented to the public and foreigners with the language of European laws and standards. That phraseology incorporated into statistics, according to which local incidents are child’s play compared to what is happening in the democratic world. This summer’s attacks for the lady from the United Nations, who was composing a report and taking photos of the monument with her pink smart phone, were just ordinary statistics. Her report was covered by dust in international drawers, it didn’t warn anyone of what is happening here, just as it will not be written in yesterday’s reports that, several minutes after the attack, electricity was turned off in Gorazdevac and that fear is the dominant feeling and way of life of this ghetto. “The children are very intimidated, you cannot get rid of fear, so I ask the perpetrators, the Kosovo government and police what kind of future these children should expect tomorrow,” the Head of the provisional organ of the Pec municipality Milos Dimitrijevic tells Politika. Since the last attack and the memorial service for the murdered boys in mid-August, yesterday was the liveliest day in Gorazdevac. Serb officials, rare vehicles of the Italian KFOR and Kosovo police were arriving to the village center. The Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said in front of the monument to Gorazdevac victims, which was shattered by projectiles of larger caliber, that this is an attack on children, freedom and represents an act of aggression towards the entire Serb nation. He warned about the poor presentation of Serbs in the Kosovo police and that Serb representatives in the Pristina institutions will insist on finding the perpetrators of the attack. After his address to the journalists and gathered Serbs, he visited the house of Sasa Petrovic and talked with his family. Those who lost and suffered the most believe and know that this is part of the plan. ‘The shooting is occurring in the same places; fortunately it is winter otherwise who knows how many children would have been killed, in the summer they stay out late into the night. We know this will happen again and again… We are aware where and who we are, we are just cannon fodder and we are just waiting in line,” says Mirjana Srbljak, the mother of girl Dragana who was severely wounded while she was bathing in the Bistrica River. It is the end of the day; fog is falling on the Serb ghetto and the last guests are departing. Gorazdevac residents remain, covered with fear and uncertainty.

McAllister’s report on Serbia’s progress presented (Novosti)

The European Parliament (EP) Rapporteur for Serbian David McAllister presented yesterday to the Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels the report on Serbia’s progress in which he called on EU leaders to open chapters with Serbia, but also requested Belgrade to harmonize its foreign policy with that of the EU. In 24 points of the proposal of the resolution, McAllister welcomes Belgrade’s constructive role in building regional stability and good neighborly relations. He calls on “Serbia and Kosovo to refrain from negative rhetoric and head towards full implementation of the reached agreements”. The first reading of the resolution on progress was attended by the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. Members of the EP have a deadline until 16 December to submit amendments, while it has been announced that there will be more than 222 amendments, how many were submitted to McAllister’s report last year. McAllister said yesterday he hoped Chapters 35 and 32 would be opened on 14 December at the intergovernmental conference in Brussels.

REGIONAL PRESS

What has Dodik said at the trial of Ratko Mladic? (Klix.ba)

The RS President Milorad Dodik testified before the Hague Tribunal in the trial to former General of the RS Army Ratko Mladic, who is accused for committing serious war crimes and genocide in B&H in the period from 1992-1995. “Right after the formation of the SDA, the tension was general. The formation of the HDZ and the SDS appeared as a reaction to the formation of the SDA, which was promoting radical Islam. These parties got 80 % of votes, and our party got around 12 %,” said Dodik. He added that these parties formed a government and that it looked like they would be able to preserve the peace. “There was already an armed conflict in Croatia, since Croatia and Slovenia declared their independence. This actually meant disintegration of Yugoslavia. The party to which I belonged was advocating the preservation of Yugoslavia, but we were no relevant political factor anymore. The parties in authority were formally cooperating and the cooperation of the SDA and HDZ in coalition was obvious. Sessions of the Parliament were difficult to hold and they were lasting for day and night,” emphasized Dodik. “Muslims wanted to impose their will on the Serbs and Croats, and to declare independent B&H. Alija Izetbegovic violated the principle of constituent before the war and this led to the war. He also put the suspicious signature on the Dayton Agreement, because he was not the president of B&H. Alija Izetbegovic was trying to misrepresent himself. He led the nation to war and he was seeking to achieve the domination of Bosniaks in the whole country. Today, as a consequence, we have majorization of Croats in B&H and the attempt to impose that to the Serbs as well,” stated Dodik.

B&H general arrested for war crimes (Bosna danas)

Acting on the orders of the Special Department for War Crimes of B&H Prosecutor’s Office, police officers of SIPA arrested General Sakib Mahmuljin (1952), former commander of the 3rd Corps of the Army of RB&H, on suspicion that he had failed to prevent the murder of 50 Serb civilians. He is suspected of crimes committed in the period from July to October 1995, during the combat operations of the 3rd Corps of the Federation of B&H Army in a wider area of Vozuca. Unit “El Mujahidin” participated in those operations and its members committed murder of about 50 war prisoners of Serb nationality, the Prosecution stated. Previously, the civilians were abducted from the other unit of the 3rd Corps. Mahmuljin is also suspected of inhumane treatment of about 20 war prisoners and civilians. As commander of the 3rd Corps of the B&H Army, Mahmuljin is accused of having failed to prevent the commission of the war crime against prisoners of war and civilians by members of the “El Mujahidin,” and having failed to punish them after committing the crime. Prosecution claims that he had information about those crimes but did nothing to prevent them or punish perpetrators. He was arrested this morning in Sarajevo.

SDA strongly condemns this morning’s arrest of Sakib Mahmuljin (Dnevni avaz)

The SDA strongly condemns this morning’s arrest of Sakib Mahmuljin. Although we are fully committed to the prosecution of war crimes, we cannot escape the impression that the State Prosecution has succumbed to an inappropriate political pressure leading in the direction of equalizing the warring parties and the creation of artificial balance in prosecuting war crimes.

The SDA has warned about this issue in the cases of the arrests of prominent commanders and soldiers of the B&H Army who unnecessarily went through the legal ordeals to be released at the end, just like the General Sefer Halilovic, Naser Oric and others. Once again we remind you that the forces that were defending Bosnia and Herzegovina have systematically prevented and punished these crimes in their ranks, while the forces that committed aggression against B&H systematically planned, organized, encouraged and carried out these crimes. Number of crimes committed by the forces that carried out the aggression against B&H is incomparably greater than the number of crimes committed by individuals in the ranks of the B&H Army, and is therefore unacceptable to create the artificial balance in the number of criminal proceedings. The SDA believes in the innocence of General Mahmuljin and we are confident that his innocence, as in a number of the earlier cases, will eventually be proven.

Macedonia: Terror suspects were “defending against police” (Telma TV/Time.mk)

The 29 suspects accused of committing acts of terrorism in Kumanovos Divo neighborhood last May – most of them Albanians from Kosovo – have pleaded not guilty. Moreover, the told a court in Skopje they were “defending themselves against the police that was attacking”. Eight policemen were killed, and more than 30 injured during the incident. Seven months later, the same group was back together again in Skopje on Monday, this time in the courtroom and handcuffed, while Special Forces provided previously unseen security as helicopters were monitoring the area, reports the Macedonian Telma TV website.  The defendants have not admitted to committing terrorist acts and instead claim that the police attacked them, and that they were defending themselves. Their lawyers said they can prove that the police “had a warrant to search the houses and that they attacked the defendants”. According to the defense, no search warrant has been included as evidence.  The prosecution confirmed that the criminal group was under surveillance through “special investigative measures”. After the attack on a police outpost in the village of Gosince, when a large amount of weapons was stolen, and after an incident in Kumanovo, “biological traces and swabs were collected that confirmed, through comparative analysis in cooperation with the authorities in Kosovo and through forensic investigation, that the same people were in both places where the police was shot at”. The lawyers do not consider the investigation complete and demand that Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva to takes over the case.  The defense complained that the defendants “cannot speak because they were beaten heavily by the police and did not receive medical help”. They also claim that “the policemen who were supposed to say to what end, when and why the police raided the village” had not been questioned.  The court heard the arguments of the defense and has eight days to decide whether to accept the indictment or return it to be amended.  The trial is monitored by the OSCE, while a U.S. Embassy vehicle was parked in front of the Prosecution for Organized Crime ahead of the start, where a high embassy representative was being informed about the course of the preparations for the trial.  The 29 defendants, at the request of investigative organs, have been assigned members of the court police and three plainclothes policemen each, who are escorting them “even to the bathroom” while “heavily armed police” were deployed in the building.  The Albanian language website time.mk said that “neither the families of the defendants nor the ambassador of Kosovo in Skopje have been allowed to attend the trial”.

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

While PM remains silent on Debono Grech, Serbia PM fires minister over sexist remark (The Malta Independent, 7 December 2015)

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has remained silent after the incident in which Labour MP Joe Debono Grech verbally abused independent MP Marlene Farrugia, telling her that he was going to beat her up (Nigi ghalik u nifqghek). No action was taken by the Speaker, and PM Muscat did not condemn Joe Debono Grech’s behaviour. It seems there is a different world out there, as Serbia’s prime minister says he will fire the defence minister for making a sexist remark to a female journalist – and this in spite of an immediate apology. But the pressure from the media as well as the country’s equality watchdog led to the minister’s dismissal. Vucic said that Bratislav Gasic “can no longer be the minister of defense.” Gasic sparked outrage after a journalist from B92 Television knelt down in front of him to avoid being in the way of cameras as he spoke to a group of reporters during a visit to a factory on Sunday. He commented: “I like these female journalists who kneel down so easily.” “I think we have to protect all women in Serbia,” Vucic said. “There is no excuse or apology that can justify what Bratislav Gasic has done.” Opposition parties and journalists’ groups in Serbia earlier had called for the ouster. The left-leaning Democratic Party described Gasic’s remarks as “bullying, sexism and verbal violence.” The country’s equality watchdog also said the comments were “inadmissible and insulting.” Gasic has publicly apologized to the journalist, saying he “sincerely regretted” what he said. Vucic responded that “it is good that he has apologized and that he regrets what he has done, but that is not enough.” He added that the formal replacement will take place in the coming days after “technical details” are worked out. Gasic, a 48-year-old previously unknown businessman from southwestern Serbia, is one of Vucic’s closest allies and a vice-president of his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party. The opposition in the past has demanded Gasic’s ouster many times over several reported scandals, but Vucic had previously refused to let him go.

Bosnia Parties Edge Towards Deal on Mostar (BIRN, by Rodolfo Toe, 8 December 2015)

Bosnia’s main Croat and Bosniak parties are locked in talks on ending the political deadlock in the city of Mostar, where local elections have not been held since 2008.

Bosnia’s two main Bosniak and Croat parties, the Party of Democratic Action, SDA, and the Croat Democratic Union, HDZBiH, are reportedly edging towards ending the deadlock that has paralyzed political life in the ethnically divided southwestern city. “Talks between the two parties have become very intensive lately,” Salem Maric, the President of the SDA Mostar committee, told BIRN on Monday. “We hope to reach a compromise on a new electoral law for Mostar before the end of April, so that we can organise local elections in the city together with the other municipalities of Bosnia in October 2016,” he added. In June 2012, Bosnia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the electoral statute of Mostar was unconstitutional. Since then, attempts to change the law have failed. As a result, Mostar is the only municipality in Bosnia where local elections were not held in 2012, a state of deadlock that is creating major problems for the city’s inhabitants. Last week, Bakir Izetbegovic, the Bosniak member of the country’s three-member Presidency, and president of the SDA,  confirmed that he would be willing to move the government and all the ministries of Bosnia’s Federation entity to Mostar. The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of two entities in the country. Even if this issue is separated from reform of the city’s electoral law, the offer was seen as a major concession to the HDZBiH, which has long argued that Mostar should become the centre of the Federation. Salem Maric confirmed the offer – but stressed that this would not mean Mostar becoming the formal capital of the Federation entity. “The constitution of the Federation clearly states that the capital of the entity is Sarajevo”, Maric noted. However, he said that the offer to move government offices to Mostar should “be considered a sign of good will to proceed with the negotiations and hopefully also with reform of the electoral law.” Denis Lasic, the Federation entity’s Transport Minister, a member of the HDZBiH, told the media that the initiative was a positive step. “Mostar is a true example of coexistence and as such it fully deserves to become the capital city of the Federation,” he said. “This city is an important economic and cultural centre, so it would be totally normal for the institutions of the entity to be transferred here,” Lasic told Vecernji List. By law, the 2016 local elections must be announced in May in order to be held on October. Any change to the electoral statute of Mostar must therefore be approved before the beginning of May.

If the main political actors find no compromise before that date, local elections will not be organised in Mostar for the second time in a row.