LOCAL PRESS

 

Stefanovic: If Thaqi comes to Belgrade, we will arrest him (RTS)

Serbian Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Thursday that Kosovo Foreign Minister Hashim Thaqi will be arrested if he comes to Belgrade. “If he appears in Belgrade, the Interior Ministry will take action in line with the law and bring him to justice,” Stefanovic said, replying to reporters’ questions at the Palace of Serbia.

 

EU: New round of dialogue on 21 April (Tanjug)

A new round of the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue with the mediation of the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini will be held on 21 April, it was announced in Brussels. The EU High Representative’s spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said the meeting will examine the progress made in implementing the agreements reached so far, and exchange opinions on the further course of normalization of relations. It has also been announced that Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Isa Mustafa will take part.

The EU expects the procedure envisaged in the Brussels agreement to be respected in case of the announced visit of Kosovo Minister of Foreign Affairs Hashim Thaqi to Belgrade, spokesperson Maja Kocijancic stated. In the dialogue on normalization of relations, an agreement was reached concerning the procedure of mutual visits by Serbian and Kosovo officials and it envisages that all matters should be solved through liaison officers, Kocijancic said during a news briefing. She noted that the EU expects the procedure to be respected in this case as well.

 

Djuric: Pristina seriously lagging behind schedule (Novosti)

A preparatory meeting ahead of the new round was held in Brussels on Thursday, attended by the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija, Marko Djuric. He told reporters after the meeting that he had informed it about the desire of the Serb people in Kosovo and Metohija to form the Union of Serb municipalities (ZSO) as soon as possible. “It is a great wish of citizens of Serb nationality that this be resolved as soon as possible,” Djuric told reporters after conferring with Mogherini’s associates. He made it clear that Belgrade is very concerned, as are the Serb people in Kosovo, because of the deteriorating security situation and the series of serious incidents in northern Kosovo. Djuric told EU officials that Pristina is seriously lagging behind the schedule for meeting the obligations arising from the Brussels agreement. “Not only is there a delay in the set-up of the ZSO, but there is also a postponement in decisions concerning the energy sector, Telekom and air transport,” he said. Djuric announced that the Serbian government will soon prepare a comprehensive report about the normalization process so far, meant above all for the citizens of Serbia. “It is our goal that what has been done so far is transparent, rather than be according to past practice what is agreed in Brussels, stays in Brussels,” he said.

 

Djordjevic, Bartels: Goal of Serbia and NATO preservation of peace and stability (Beta)

The common goal of Serbia and NATO is the preservation of peace and stability in the Western Balkans, it was pointed by the State Secretary in the Serbian Defense Ministry Zoran Djordjevic and Chairman of the Military Committee of NATO, General Knud Bartels. Djordjevic has stressed that the adoption of the Individual Partnership Action Plan confirms the devotion to strengthening the partnership with NATO, and it enables the better cooperation that will contribute to the building of the inter-operational capacity of the Serbian armed forces for their engagement in the international environment. Serbia is striving for even more intensive participation in the multi-national operation under the mandate of the UN and EU, Djordjevic said. The two officials have pointed to the significance of the cooperation between the Serbian army and KFOR, which will be a priority in the upcoming period.

 

Selakovic for higher level of cooperation with Brussels (Tanjug)

Serbian Justice Ministry will reinforce the cooperation with competent EU services in order to accelerate the preparations for the opening of the first chapters in the accession talks, stated line minister Nikola Selakovic, after the meeting with EU Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova in Brussels. We will take the cooperation to a higher level, Selakovic said, adding that he informed Jourova about Serbia’s hitherto accomplishments in the preparation of the final version of action plans for the Chapters 23 and 24, which relate to the judiciary and basic rights. The Minister has stressed that during the preparation of those plans Serbia was taking care of their being doable in practice. We will not repeat the mistake of some countries in the region, which tried to make it all look nice on paper, and then realizing it was difficult to implement in practice, Selakovic emphasized.

 

Nikolic’s plane breaks down, visit to Vatican canceled (Tanjug)

As Tanjug learned, a plane carrying Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic to Vatican had to make a forced landing at the Belgrade airport early Friday due to failure of one engine, so the president's visit to the Holy See has been canceled. The engine failure occurred on the Serbian government’s Falcon. Nikolic was scheduled to meet Supreme Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, as well as with the State Secretary of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. The Serbian President was also supposed to confer with the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Peter Gallagher, and the head of the Department for Western Balkans.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Radoncic: Izetbegovic wants to govern the Serbs and Croats (Srna)

The leader of the Alliance for a Better Future (SBB) Fahrudin Radoncic said that the SDA and Bakir Izetbegovic are the main obstructers of reform processes in B&H and that they want to control and govern both the Serbs and Croats in B&H. “It is clear that the SDA wants to return political life in B&H to the level of 1997, 1998, or even 1992, when their word was dominant when they played majoritarianism,” said Radoncic. He said that the SDA is positioning the war-time personnel who should govern not only Bosniaks, but also control other national and political projects of the Serbs and Croats. “Izetbegovic is the leader of the Muslim mafia. Until he reveals how fifteen of our commanders and senior political officials were killed and until gives back billions of marks which his family has stolen and hid in Turkey, we have nothing to talk about with him or the SDA,” said Radoncic, responding to the question whether the SBB was ready to enter into power in FB&H and at the state level. He said that Izetbegovic is an ambitious politician, who wants to rule everything and everyone in B&H.

 

Republic Day being defended by referendum, Assembly invited to take the position on all who violate the constitutional status of RS (Nezavisne)

If the Constitutional Court of B&H declares Republika Srpska’s Republic Day, January 9^th, unconstitutional, Republika Srpska (RS) might hold a referendum at which the people would comment on the decision. This is one of the conclusions of the declaration that the National Assembly has discussed, signed by all parties clubs based in that entity, which was read before the delegates by the RS Assembly speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic. The Declaration was written after Bakir Izetbegovic, member of the B&H Presidency, asked the Constitutional Court to declare the Republic Day unconstitutional because, as it is stated in his appeal, this day is a religious holiday of only one people, and that the unrecognized RS has committed numerous crimes. Cubrilovic in his address invited the Assembly to take a position on the possible implementation of plebiscitary vote by citizens in connection with the decision of the Constitutional Court, as well as the decisions of the other organs and institutions which violate the constitutional status of the RS and disputes the Republic Day. He stressed that it is unacceptable that the foreigners are still positioned at the Constitutional Court, and the fact that the Court continues to operate without the law on the Constitutional Court, and this fact was pointed out by almost all of the speakers and caucuses. The Assembly is invited to assess numerous decisions of the Constitutional Court that led to changes in the Constitution and the constitutional status of the RS. “We’re also asking for and improvement of the judiciary so that after the reforms and the enactment of the law on the Constitutional Court the existence of their jurisdiction to review decisions of the entity courts is prevented,” said Cubrilovic. In his closing argument he said that the RS Assembly adopted a declaration as a political act, and given the attitude of Valentin Inzko, the High Representative in B&H, who said that the declaration of the RS National Assembly is a direct challenge to the Constitutional Court and an attempt to exert political pressure, Cubrilovic said that exactly what the High Representative in B&H is doing, is a kind of pressure. “His attitude and the attitude of the SDA are not different in any way,” concluded Cubrilovic. All of the Serb caucuses in their discussions noted that the RS has already aligned its legislation on holidays with the decisions of the Constitutional Court in a way that the Republic Day is defined as a secular holiday, separated from St. Stephen, who is a religious holiday of the Serb people. Radovan Viskovic, President of the SNSD, said that RS will not implement any decision that would dispute the RS’ Republic Day. “We just want to apply the same standard for all, we do not want anything more for the Serb people than what  the other two peoples have,” said Viskovic. Dragan Cavic, the NDP leader, said that for his club the abolition of Republic Day is unacceptable because, as he said, this day symbolizes the day of founding of this entity, which is verified in Dayton and in Paris. “For us, that is the base on which we view B&H, whose sovereignty do not deny, but at the same time within it, we do not want to allow the dispute of something that is the symbol of RS’s founding, and is not an insult to anyone, because it is a secular holiday, which is being held on the same day when the religious holiday for Orthodox believers is held,” said Cavic. Slobodan Protic from the SP said that the dispute of the Day of the Republic would be an open negation of the RS’ founding, which is absolutely unacceptable for his party. During the discussion almost all delegates have pointed out that this is a country composed out of two entities and that only as such it can exist, and that Izetbegovic wants to appeal to the Constitutional Court to pass a political and not a legal decision. “The Day of the Republic doesn’t badger anyone, unfortunately we did not provide sufficient resistance when they abolished our coat of arms, flag and the anthem,” said Nenad Stevandic, Vice President of the RS National Assembly from the SDS. Head of the PDP Caucus in the Parliament of RS Branislav Borenovic stressed that this party supports the proposal of the declaration and that it is very important to fully respect of the Dayton Agreement. The Bosniak parties in the RS Assembly have expressed their disagreement with the declaration, while Senad Bratic from the SDA, Vice President of the RS Assembly, said that the declaration is unnecessary, because it prejudge the decision of the Constitutional Court and puts pressure on judicial institutions.

 

The sentencing of the B&H criminal organization (Fena)

The convicted in the case of “Zijad Turkovic” were sentenced to a to a total of 95 years in prison according to the decision of the Panel of the Appeals Division of the Section II for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Court of B&H. According to the decision of the Court, Zijad Turkovic was sentenced to 40 years in prison, Sasa Stjepanovic to 12, Muamer Zahitovic to three years imprisonment and Fadil Aljovic was sentenced to five years. All sentences were confirmed from the first instance verdict except that Lakic was sentenced to 40 instead of 35 years in prison. Zijad Turkovic was found guilty of the criminal offense of Organized Crime as read with the criminal offenses Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs, Robbery, Attempted Murder, Causing General Threat, Illicit Trafficking in Weapons and Military Equipment of Dual Use, Preparation of a Criminal Offense, Murder, Extortion and Money Landry and convicted to the compound prison sentence for a long term of 40 years. Sasa Stjepanovic is found guilty of the criminal offense of Organized Crime as read with the criminal offenses Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and Robbery and convicted to the prison sentence for a term of 12 years. Muamer Zahitovic is found guilty of the criminal offense of Extortion and criminal offense of Money Laundry and convicted to the compound prison sentence for a term of 3 years. Milenko Lakic is found guilty of the criminal offense Organized Crime as read with the criminal offenses Preparation of a Criminal Offense, Murder in violation of Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of B&H, Murder in violation of Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of B&H and Murder in violation of Article 149 of the Criminal Code of the RS and convicted to the prison sentence for a long term of 35 years. Fadil Aljovic is found guilty of the criminal offense Organized Crime as read with the criminal offenses Murder in violation of Article 166 of the Criminal Code of the Federation of B&H, as read with Article 31 of the Criminal Code of B&H and convicted to the prison sentence for a term of 5 years. The organization was active from early 2005 to September 2010.

 

Moore: Achieved level of consensus must be maintained (Fena)

The Head of the OSCE Mission to B&H Jonathan Moore told Fena today that positive things happened after the general elections in October, such as the adoption of the Written Commitment of B&H after the British-German initiative. He believes that the positive developments and processes in B&H will continue especially when it comes to the implementation of commitments from the joint statement in order of achieving the economic and social progress in the country.

“The level of consensus, joint work and the language is good for which we hope to continue,” says Moore. “The big problem is that too often these decisions are not respected, such as the decision on Mostar or decisions on public broadcasting. If the country wants to be a member of the European Union all judicial decisions must be complied with,” says Moore. Moore assessed that B&H’s assuming the six-month rotating Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which begins in May, is a step forward for B&H. He highlighted as positive the fact that Ivica Dacic, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, the country chairing the OSCE, is to visit B&H at the time of B&H’s committee chairmanship. He announced that several joint projects will be realized in connection with the departures to the foreign battlefields and other regional priorities such as flood recovery.

 

Cormack: Potential untapped due to political corruption (Oslobodjenje)

Maureen Cormack, the U.S. Ambassador to B&H, said that three months after taking over her duties, she is “already very frustrated” because she feels that the current suffering “is not necessary and can be overcome”. In an interview with B&H news agencies, Cormack said that she has been in B&H for three months already, has traveled some around the country, met with many people in Sarajevo, and her first impressions on B&H citizens are excellent. “Honestly, what frustrates me is that in this country there is so much potential, not just when it comes to citizens, but there is beautiful nature here, extremely great potential for tourism, there is potential in the energy sector… However, none of this is advancing because of political corruption and obstacles that prevent it,” said Cormack, stressing that she is “already very frustrated because [she feels] that the current suffering is not necessary and could be overcome”. She says that she truly hopes that during her mandate she will be able to cooperate not just with governments but with B&H citizens, to support people in achieving progress toward a better future. “You here are in an amazing location and I hope that people will be able to take advantage of that location,” she said.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia will arrest Thaçi if he attends Belgrade conference (EurActiv/Reuters, 17 April 2015)

Serbia warned yesterday (16 April) it would arrest the foreign minister of its former province of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi for alleged terrorism if he turns up in Belgrade next week to attend a conference, which ironically is dedicated to the reconciliation following the Yugoslav wars.

Thaçi, who led a guerrilla insurgency against Serbia in the late 1990s, has been invited to the conference on reconciliation in the Serbian capital on April 24 and is "ready to go", an adviser said earlier. "If he turns up in Belgrade, the Ministry of Interior will act according to the law and bring him to justice," Serbia's Tanjug state news agency quoted Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović as saying. Serbian politicians have long branded Thaçi a war criminal for his role in Kosovo's 1990s conflict. He was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in jail for "terrorism" by Serbia in 1997. Thaçi was a leader of the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army, which took up arms in the late 1990s after a decade of passive resistance to Serbian rule by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority. Serbian forces began a counter-insurgency war, and NATO launched air strikes against Serbia in 1999 to halt massacres and expulsions of ethnic Albanian civilians. In 2008, Thaçi oversaw Kosovo's declaration of independence, and for years has been involved in European Union-mediated negotiations aimed at settling relations with Belgrade. Just last month, he shared coffee and a joke with his Serbian counterpart, Ivica Dačić, in Pristina. Thaçi has been invited to the regional conference on reconciliation in Belgrade organised by the Belgrade-based Youth Education Committee. One of his advisers, Ardian Arifaj, told Reuters: "Thaçi has received the invitation and is ready to go. Now it depends on the Belgrade authorities whether Thaçi will go or not." His arrest would create a major diplomatic incident and anger the EU, which has invested much capital in trying to improve relations between Serbia and Kosovo, both of which want to join the bloc. Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, Vladimir Vukčević said a further war crimes investigation against Thaçi had been on hold, as he was out of reach of the Serbian authorities. But Vukčević was quoted as telling the Serbian daily Blic: "if he comes here, we can arrest him."

 

Rights group accuses Serbia of harassing migrants (AP, 15 April 2015)

BELGRADE — Migrants fleeing wars and persecution are experiencing widespread harassment and abuse by police as they cross Serbia while trying to find shelter in Western European states, a leading rights group said Wednesday. Human Rights Watch said thousands of people fleeing Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and other violence-ravaged countries in Asia and Africa have been targets of assaults, threats, insults and extortion as they pass through Serbia on their way to the border with Hungary, where they try to sneak into the European Union. "Serbian authorities should be protecting asylum seekers and immigrants, including children fleeing war and persecution, not allowing the police to victimize them," HRW researcher Emina Cerimovic said. The police denied the accusations Wednesday, saying the migrants have not complained to the Serbian authorities. "The claims made by migrants and asylum seekers (to HRW) have not been supported by facts and evidence which would help in the establishing of concrete responsibility of police employees and border police," a police statement emailed to The Associated Press said. HRW's report specified various cases of harassment and abuse that included forced expulsion of the migrants and asylum seekers, including children, to neighboring Macedonia from where they originally crossed into Serbia. The report said that in one instance, police found some 20 migrants, mostly Syrians and Afghans, on the streets and in a makeshift camp on the border with Hungary. The migrants said the police forced them to hand over their money and mobile phones, insulting them and threatening violence and deportation. Five, including children, said policemen hit, kicked, and punched them. Two said police sprayed them in the eyes with pepper spray. Cerimovic urged Serbia, which is seeking EU entry, to adhere to international refugee conventions. "If Serbia truly aspires to join the EU it should put a stop to any police abuse and promptly investigate allegations of ill-treatment," she said.

 

Bosnian Serb Leader Pays ‘Historic’ Visit to Srebrenica (BIRN, by Elvira M. Jukic, 17 April 2015)

Milorad Dodik, the president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity Republika Srpska, paid tribute to the victims of the 1995 massacres by Serb forces during an unusually reconciliatory visit. Dodik visited the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica on Thursday, laying flowers at the memorial centre that commemorates the Bosniak victims and paying tribute to the thousands who were massacred after the UN-protected enclave fell to Serb forces in July 1995. “It is true that a crime happened here and I am sorry for all the victims, but the fact is that this event is also being politicised a lot,” Dodik told local media. Bosnia and Herzegovina is preparing to mark the 20th anniversary this year of the mass killings, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II, which has been classified as genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. Former US President Bill Clinton and current Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are among those expected to attend commemoration events in July. Dodik however has been known for his firm denials that the killings represented genocide. Srebrenica is now a part of Republika Srpska. Its Bosniak mayor Camil Durakovic greeted Dodik and praised his decision to visit. “The very act of him coming into the memorial centre, laying flowers and paying respect to the victims says enough about his behaviour, both official and individual,” Durakovic told media. “For me, this is a historical act, a positive visit which will significantly ease relations between the municipality of Srebrenica and the government as well as the entity of Republika Srpska,” he added. Durakovic also said that Dodik had offered to help the financing of events to mark the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacres and that the Republika Srpska government would contribute around 25,000 euro, which has never happened in previous years. But the vice-president of Republika Srpska National Assembly, Ramiz Salkic, from the leading Bosnian Party of Democratic Action, SDA, accused Dodik of hypocrisy. Salkic said Dodik had denied genocide took place in Srebrenica but had recently proposed to the RS Assembly a declaration about the genocide of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire 100 years ago. “It is inappropriate to behave this way and demand a condemnation of crimes that were committed elsewhere, while at the same time never to submit - after all these years that Dodik has been in power in Republika Srpska - a declaration to the People’s Assembly about the condemnation of genocide in Srebrenica, calling it by its real name, as the whole world is doing,” he said. Dodik also used the visit to Srebrenica to discuss the local economy, security and infrastructure with the local authorities.

 

Macedonia Steps Backward (The New York Times, by Nikola Dimitrov, 16 April 2015)

THE HAGUE — Last year, I turned down an ambassadorial posting to Moscow and ended my 18-year diplomatic career. Serving my government and my country, Macedonia, had become very different things, and I felt there wasn’t much I could do from within to make a difference. Recent events have only reinforced this view. Once praised as a success story in a region riven by war, Macedonia is in crisis and urgently needs European Union intervention. In February, Zoran Zaev, head of the opposition Social-Democratic Alliance for Macedonia, or SDSM, accused Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski of orchestrating the illegal surveillance of some 20,000 people, including judges, foreign ambassadors, opposition politicians, journalists and police officials. According to Mr. Zaev, some were under surveillance for about four years. As proof, Mr. Zaev has released a series of recorded conversations, allegedly featuring himself and other political leaders, including Mr. Gruevski’s supporters. Mr. Gruevski denies the allegations, insisting that the recordings were concocted by a foreign intelligence service — which he has yet to name — to instigate a coup. Mr. Zaev says the material came from whistle-blowers within Macedonian intelligence. He has been charged with “violence against representatives of the highest state authorities.” Five others, including police and intelligence personnel, were charged with espionage. One has since been sentenced to three years in prison. Mr. Gruevski and ministers in his conservative VMRO-DPMNE party claim the recordings were doctored. But that charge is unlikely to stick. The SDSM has provided transcripts to journalists who were allegedly surveilled, and a number of them have confirmed the accuracy of those documents. Rufi Osmani, founder of the Albanian minority National Democratic Revival party, and Ljupco Svrgovski, a former public prosecutor, have also verified the accuracy of transcripts in which they appear. If the recordings are legitimate, as looks increasingly likely, it would seem that no Macedonian public institutions are free of government control. The conversations suggest a series of nefarious electoral practices by the VMRO-DPMNE, including manipulating voter lists and IDs and threatening to fine private companies suspected of supporting the opposition. On one tape, a voice widely attributed to be that of Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska is heard asking if a particular appellate court candidate can be considered “one hundred percent ours.” Another recording, according to Mr. Zaev, indicates that the country’s intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, accepted bribes in exchange for concluding a surveillance equipment deal with Israel in 2011. Macedonia peacefully gained independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. In 1999, it sheltered over 300,000 Albanian refugees from Kosovo, and served as a NATO base. Ethnic tensions persisted, but in 2001, when fighting between ethnic Albanian militants and Macedonian security forces threatened full-blown civil war, a peace deal that included power-sharing provisions kept the country together. That year, Macedonia became the first Western Balkan country to sign a Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, opening the door to accession. In 2006, when Mr. Gruevski became prime minister, Macedonia was a functional, multiethnic democracy with a prospective future in both the European Union and NATO. Mr. Gruevski, a former finance minister, pledged to improve the economy and fight corruption, and was widely perceived as a successful reformer. His early attempts to make the country more business-friendly were promising. But somewhere along the line he lost his moral compass. Macedonia’s potential has gone unfulfilled. Reporters Without Borders ranks Macedonia 117th globally (and last among E.U. and West Balkan countries) in its World Press Freedom Index, down from 45th in 2006. News of the wiretapping scandal is getting out, mostly via the Internet and independent media. But the country’s main outlets have refused to air the recordings, leaving many Macedonians unable to judge the extent of corruption. In March, the SDSM, which has boycotted Parliament since general elections last April, urged the formation of an interim government to hold elections and ensure the independence of state institutions. This is commendable, but it’s hard to see how this will be achieved without outside help. The European Union, which last year expressed “serious concerns” about the “increasing politicization of state institutions and government control over media,” has made efforts to mediate. European Parliament members have met with VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM representatives in Brussels, and there is consensus on the need for further talks. But the European Union must take a tougher line. It must make clear that Macedonia is no longer a functioning democracy, call for the government to resign, and support the formation of an interim government. Once in place, the European Union should work to help reform state institutions, ensure an independent investigation of Mr. Zaev’s allegations, and prepare free and fair elections. If the VMRO-DPMNE won’t cooperate, the European Commission should threaten to freeze Macedonia’s E.U. accession process. Macedonia became an E.U. candidate country in 2005, and has since been allocated over 600 million euros in pre-accession funds. It has made little progress toward membership, however, mostly due to Greek objections over the country’s official name (Greece’s northern region is also called Macedonia). But Mr. Zaev’s revelations suggest much more legitimate reasons to shelve accession for now. Once Macedonia is back on its feet, its path to E.U. membership must be freed from Greece’s grip. This is as significant for the credibility of union enlargement as it is for Macedonia’s future. The crisis my country faces represents a failure of Europe’s much-applauded enlargement policy. Had accession negotiations been allowed to start years ago, Macedonia’s reformist forces would today be much stronger, and the current problems could likely have been avoided. It is my fervent hope that, if this impasse can be overcome, I will be able to proudly serve my country again.

Nikola Dimitrov, a former Macedonian ambassador to the United States and the Netherlands, is a distinguished fellow at The Hague Institute for Global Justice.