LOCAL PRESS

 

Who is to blame and who will pay for the delay in implementing the Brussels Agreement between Belgrade and Pristina
All are responsible (Danas, By Marija Stojanovic - Jelena Tasic, 13.08.2014)

Berlin, London, Belgrade - Implementation of the Brussels Treaty is one of the three areas for which Belgrade, as announced, will not receive a positive assessment at the annual report of the European Commission, which should appear covering about fifty pages in the first half of October. Due to mutual accusations of official Belgrade and Pristina, owing to the facts that the elections swallowed nearly a year on both sides and a post-election political crisis in Kosovo and Metohija, the European Commission has lowered the criterion for full implementation of the Brussels Treaty, whose constitutionality is being assessed before the Constitutional Court of Serbia; the integration of justice in northern Kosovo in the Kosovo system and acceleration of the continuation of political negotiations in Brussels. For this situation, according to most political analysts, both Belgrade and Pristina are responsible, but Belgrade interlocutors include the EU here as well.

Johana Dajmel, Deputy Director of the German Association for South East Europe, told “Danas” that Kosovo still has no government, and Serbia is "very focused on its work," so that neither side can particularly be blamed.

- Neither Belgrade nor Pristina showed great enthusiasm in implementing the Brussels agreement. Both sides continue to see the agreement as a "zero score" instead of understanding that it will be a victory for all if the agreement is implemented as soon as possible and supplemented by new talks and agreements. One should not forget that we will witness personal and institutional changes in Brussels. Of particular importance will be the question of who will succeed the High Representative, Catherine Ashton, i.e. mediate negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina - Dajmel evaluates. Tim Judah, a correspondent for the British Economist for the Western Balkan states for “Danas” that since an interim government functions in Pristina, the process of negotiation on the details of the agreement, which is "vague in many respects," is now "more or less stopped", and will continue when Kosovo gets a new government.

 - I think that we should not point the finger at one or the other side. It is normal that if one side has only a transitional government, "adding meat to the bones of the agreement" will be slow. We should not forget that, when it comes to Kosovo, part of the question relates to the fact that those who wish to form a new government have to talk with the Self-Determination movement, which began negotiations about forming a new government with the condition of stopping the talks with Serbia. This has changed since, but is still a part of political reality - indicates Judah. Political analyst Dusan Janjic also points out that Belgrade and Pristina, from September 2013, are actually involved in various early elections, for which "the responsibility is shared by all the signatories of the Brussels Treaty - political leaders of Serbia and Kosovo, as well as Brussels ". He believes that part of the blame is on Catherine Ashton, who has been "accelerating the signing of the Brussels Treaty so much, that with spending time with the Balkan people, she became a bigger Balkan person than them".

- The international community is in chaos, and in the minds of people here, there is still the opinion that the Agreement does not have to be implemented in full. Belgrade pretends it is not informed that now it is the turn of cooperation with the OSCE, the UN, CoE (Council of Europe); discussion of property and missing persons. Unlike Pristina, Belgrade has not informed and politically prepared either the Parliament or the public, including the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, about what was agreed. Belgrade should know that the separation on Ibar will not achieve anything. Pristina also bears part of the responsibility, because it does not accept that the process of normalization of relations is a lengthy one that does not have be completed with full international recognition of an independent state of Kosovo. Pristina is constantly pushing the implementation of the Agreement, and wherever possible, it opens the question of status - Janjić explains. He says that the price of delays in implementing the Brussels agreement will not be paid only by Belgrade, but also Pristina, because it will not get visa liberalization, it will be late with the feasibility study and will not be able to participate in international and regional organizations.

Two scenarios
The European Commission expects that "the Kosovo chapter" will not block the start of negotiations between Serbia and the EU, writes Deutsche Welle, referring to officials in Brussels. There are talks in diplomatic circles that there is a scenario in which Germany wants Chapter 35 to be opened first, according to news agency Beta. In the second scenario, Chapter 32, relating to financial control should be opened first.
Pristina is insincere
Director of the Center for Strategic Alternatives Dušan Proroković told “Danas” that "the culprits should be sought between Brussels and Pristina." He believes that Belgrade had "fulfilled all that was required, and under pressure from Brussels met all requirements", while Pristina is "insincere, and Brussels indifferent to the formation of the Union of Serbian municipalities.

 

President: We would lose friends by taking sides (B92, 14.08.2014)

Tomislav Nikolić says he wishes to see an end to hostilities in Ukraine, "not only because of Serbia's specific position - but for the sake of people there."

"If they reach an agreement, it will be for the good of the people. If not, then it will be bad for the people, people in eastern Ukraine will suffer, it's obvious. I had a chance how people suffer on the example of the former Yugoslavia and what it's like when big (powers) get involved and start deciding alone on someone's fate."

In an interview on Wednesday for the Tanjug news agency ahead going on his summer vacation, the president said he was convinced that Serbia, when it comes to the Ukrainian crisis, must continue to insist on international law and justice, "which clearly means that Serbia recognizes Ukraine within the borders it has as a UN member - and seek the same for itself."
"If Serbia determined its position based on whom it likes, who knows how it would behave in any, including this crisis, but Serbia determines its position based on international law and according to its own interests, and our interest is not to one day lose Russia as our protector in the UN Security Council, but our interest is also not to be in dispute with the EU," Nikolić said.
Adding that "pressures probably exist," the president said he "personally was not told a single word" to that effect by anyone, and was not aware that others were coming under pressure over Serbia's policy. Nikolić stated that "in this situation everyone should have in front of them the fate of Serbia, its Constitution, and primarily their spoken words and the wishes of citizens of Serbia."
And these wishes, the president said, "are clear: just as we must not recognize Kosovo, so we must not recognize Crimea's independence or it joining the Russian Federation."
Noting that in 1999, NATO bombed Serbia "for alleged excessive use of force, although it did not fire a single shot in an attempt to establish control over its territory," Nikolić added that in Ukraine other rules apply - where the army has gone to war against its own citizens, "while some countries are bombing other countries and what's more, receive support for it."
Because of these circumstances Nikolić warned that anyone who would put Serbia in a position to take sides would simultaneously put it in a position to lose "half of our friends in the world."
"Serbia is aware that by opting for one of the parties in the conflict it would lose one of two precious friends, the European Union or the Russian Federation, and thus, our position should be respected in Moscow and in Brussels," said the president.
Announcing a very dynamic diplomatic activity in the near future, Nikolić said that Russian President Vladimir Putin should arrive in Belgrade in October, and senior officials from China should come to attend the ceremony of opening a bridge over the Danube in Belgrade, built by Chinese companies in a project funded by a Chinese loan.
These two visits would be proof that Serbia is open to the world, Nikolić said.
The Serbian president said that he had visited all the countries in the neighborhood the year before and it was now time for the heads of those states to reciprocate a visit.
“With the exception of Slovenia and Croatia, which should be visited, we have visited all the others,” said Nikolić, announced his attending the next meeting of the UN General Assembly.
Also, Serbia will probably be visited by the president of Austria, as part of marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, he said.
"It is planned that delegations of the two countries pay tribute to the victims together, probably in the church in Lazarevac, western Serbia, where thousands of Serbian and Austria-Hungary soldiers were buried together," he said.
“This year should be spent in symbolically marking friendship and separating from hostilities,” said Nikolić.
Stating that he "did everything within his purview to ensure the greatest possible assistance to the country in the wake of the floods," Nikolić said he would continue to work to attract investors.
In this sense, he said he was confident that Russia and the EU, because of their mutual interest, will have to agree on South Stream, and that Serbia, as a transit and hub country on the pipeline's route, can only benefit from this project.
"The EU will certainly have to negotiate with Russia about whether South Stream could be some sort of precedent, as Britain was, or must completely conform to the rules of the European Union. And Russia must consider whether her interest to sell gas via South Stream to seven or eight more countries is more important than achieving a monopoly on the pipeline," he was quoted as saying.
"Serbia therefore believes there is no reason for concern when it comes to the benefits from South Stream, but there is reason to worry about the current situation in which the transit of Russian gas via Hungary is expensive," he added.
"By temporarily abandoning the project Bulgaria is, with every right, protecting its interest in the EU, but Serbia, meanwhile, in anticipation of an agreement between Brussels and Moscow, can begin construction works with funding from Russia," Nikolić stated, and added:
"We have agreed to build a gas pipeline through Serbia and wait for Bulgaria to join, because later there will be much less time than we have today, and I think we could, by the end of December, build at least 30 kilometers of the pipeline through Serbia."
According to him, this work will mostly be done by construction companies from Serbia, which will directly, without intermediaries, make business deals with the South Stream company.
"We are, therefore, getting a completely free investment that provides us with energy security and allows us to charge for gas transit even from such developed countries as Austria and Italy," concluded Nikolić.

 

Vucic: "I am a small man, why would somebody pressure me," (Vecernje Novosti, 13.08.2014)

There has been no "concrete pressure" on Serbia related to the crisis in Ukraine, but "there has certainly been indirect pressure," says Aleksandar Vučić.

"I am a small man, why would somebody pressure me," the Serbian prime minister was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

According to him, "there is no pressure in some brutal manner, like some people think, but indirectly, there certainly is."
But Vučić went on to say that "sometimes, it isn't exactly indirect, but is also done directly" - and explained this concerned "European integrations and some other things."
"But we have simple answers, we respect international law, we do not interfere in the conflicts of others, but Serbia needs to survive," he said, and offered "a concrete example - what would we be doing now if gas was turned off for us."
"In that case it would be cold during the winter, there would be power cuts, and no company undergoing restructuring could operate," said the prime minister, and added that his cabinet will "in one of the upcoming sessions deal with the issue of energy security, because that is one of our problems."

 

Ambassador Alexander Chepurin:Serbia would harm itself with sanctions (Vecernje Novosti, 14.08.2014)

If Serbia imposed sanctions against Russia it would "shoot itself in the foot," Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin has told the daily Vecernje Novosti.

He pointed out that "such a decision could only be made by a politician prone to suicide, because your country would have no benefit, but only huge damage."

"The measures against Russia have been introduced only by thirty countries out of 193 UN member states, and among them none from BRICS. Most of your neighbors did not do so, and those who did, when they saw the Russian counter-sactions, realized what they had done," says Chepurin.
The diplomat noted that Russia understands the specific situation of Serbia and the government's policy of pursuing EU membership, and also appreciates the balanced position Serbia has taken when it comes to events in Ukraine - "where the main thing now is to prevent mass killing of civilians in the southeast."
"The Kiev authorities have already de facto turned Donetsk into Stalingrad, Guernica, or, if you will, Vukovar," said Chepurin.
According to him, Serbia could provide constructive contribution to resolving the conflict between Kiev and Donetsk and become a generator of positive decisions.
"The issue of Ukraine will not be solved by sanctions, but only by preventing violence and conflicts. We hope that Serbia will not take sides and will be making constructive contribution to resolving the conflict," he said.
When Serbia takes over the chairmanship of the OSCE, Russia above all expects it to "have a spine," be as neutral as possible in the whole dialogue, and delegate professional staff who will be able to cope with all the challenges in Europe, said the ambassador.
When asked "which benefits Serbia can count on if it does not join the sanctions," Chepurin replied that "Serbia and Russia are natural partners and our relationship is not based on some benefits, but already exceeds these dimensions."
"Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić recently in Moscow sought and received additional benefits for Serbia in the project South Stream. It is the largest investment in Serbia, in the amount of EUR 2.1 billion. We hope that stupidity and hatred towards Russia or Serbia will not jeopardize what you can get," said Chepurin.
Asked if he Russia could, "on the occasion of Crimea," and looking after its own interests, "recognize Kosovo after all,", the ambassador said:
"Kosovo and Crimea are different cases. Russia will continue to unequivocally support the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Serbia. We would like those who now require Serbia to recognize the integrity of Ukraine with Crimea - to first recognize the integrity of Serbia with Kosovo."

 

Govt. seeks to criminalize participation in wars abroad (Danas, 14.08.2014)

The government will discuss amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure that would treat participation of Serbian citizens in wars abroad as a criminal act.

Serbian Minister of Trade and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić announced this in an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Danas.

He said that in case the government adopts the bill, his initiative for sanctioning "mercenaries" could be soon added to the Criminal Procedure Code, Tanjug reported.
According to Ljajić, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić and the entire Serb Progressive Party (SNS) would back the proposition so there would be no formal obstacles to the adoption of the announced amendments.
The bill of amendments which the Social Democratic Party of Serbia (SDPS) headed by Ljajić has been trying to include in the agenda for several years now envisages prison sentences of 2 to 12 years for organizers, while the volunteers themselves could receive a prison sentence of 1 to 5 years for their criminal activity.
Nevertheless, Ljajić said that these changes are still just proposals and that his party is ready to leave the initiative for the amendment adoption to the government.
“We have tried to push the proposition according to which 'dogs of war' would be deprived of their Serbian citizenship, but this is not in keeping with the Constitution. Therefore, the amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code seem to be the right path, whereby participation in clashes in other countries would be treated as a grave criminal act,” Ljajić said.
The SDPS parliament caucus proposed on July 7 to amend the criminal code and penalize recruitment and involvement in foreign wars by a prison sentence of up to 12 years.
Since it has been noticed that a certain number of Serbian citizens have joined foreign paramilitary forces in groups or on their own, for financial or other reasons, and then returned to Serbia to recruit others to commit the same crime, it is necessary to amend the criminal code by defining a special criminal act, the proposal says.

 

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Deadline for submission of compensation list (Srna, 14/08/2014)
SARAJEVO - The deadline by which political actors, whose participation in general elections in BiH was certified, may submit the lists of candidates for compensatory mandates to the Central Election Commission, has expired today at 16.00.
The deadline for publication of the final lists of candidates in the official media is 28th of August, as regulated by the Directive of the Central Election Commission on the terms and order of election activities for the general elections in BiH to be held on October 12.

 Lists of candidates for the compensatory mandates will not be printed on the ballot.
Compensatory mandates include mandates to be distributed to the list of political parties or coalitions based on the number of valid votes obtained and is used to compensate for the lack of proportional representation at the entity level, which is carried out by adding the results for each of the multi-member constituencies in the entity.

Out of 14 delegates from Republika Srpska at the Chamber of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, five deputies are from the compensatory lists, and out of 83 representatives from the National Assembly of Republika Srpska, 20 of them will be selected from compensatory lists.
Out of 28 MPs in the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Federation of BiH, seven of them are from the compensatory lists, while out of 98 seats at the House of Representatives of the Parliament of FBiH, 25 are compensatory.

 

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia’s president points to world community’s duplicity over Ukraine(ITAR-TASS, August 13, 2014)
BELGRADE - Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic has expressed surprise over how different the world community’s attitude to similar situations may be sometimes.

“Serbia was bombed and rocketed (by NATO’s forces in 1999) for alleged excessive use of force, although not a single shot had been fired in an attempt to restore control of its territory. These days in relation to Ukraine some other rules are at work. The army there is waging a war on its own people, while some countries bomb others and get support for it,” he told the TANJUG news agency in an interview.

About Belgrade’s attitude to the Ukrainian crisis Nikolic said that “Serbia is interested in retaining Russia as its ally in the UN Security Council, but at the same time not to quarrel with the European Union.”

“Serbia is aware that if it takes the side of either party, it will lose one of the two equally precious friends - the European Union or the Russian Federation. Therefore Moscow and Brussels must have respect for our stance,” he said.

Nikolic expects that Russia and the European Union will achieve agreement on laying the South Stream gas pipeline and Serbia as a transit country will get benefits from that project. He believes that Serbia has no reason to get worried when the advantages of South Stream begin to be discussed, but it does have reasons for concern about the current situation, in which it has to pay dearly for the transit of Russian gas through Hungary.

 

Premier: Serbia’s investigation into NIS privatization not to damage relations with Russia

(ITAR-TASS, 13 Aug 2014)

BELGRADE - Serbia has launched an investigation into the selling of Serbian gas giant Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS) to Russia’s Gazprom.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday the investigation was supposed to reveal everything that should be known but would pose no threat to Serbia’s relations with Russia.

Vucic said he had raised the question of NIS privatization during his contacts with Russian leaders.

“We talked about certain things and would continue our discussion,” Vucic said.

Last Monday, Serbia’s Interior Ministry said it would investigate how NIS had been privatized by Gazprom Neft, a company affiliated with Russian oil giant Gazprom.

Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said an investigative group would be set up to study the deal’s circumstances.

NIS went private in December 2008 under a contract signed in Moscow by Gazprom Neft’s Director General Alexander Dyukov and the then Serbian Energy Minister Petar Skundric.  Russia’s Gazprom Neft owns 51% of shares. The majority stake was sold for 400 million euros. But

Russia committed itself to invest 500 million euros into modernization of an oil refinery in Panchevo near Belgrade what it did as promised.

NIS was sold as part of the Russian-Serbian intergovernmental agreement which also included the construction of the South Stream gas pipeline and an underground gas storage facility near the Banatski Dvor village in Vojvodina province.  Later, Gazprom bought another 5.15% of shares from the NIS minority shareholders thus increasing its stake to 56.5%.

In previous comments, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic described the NIS contract as an example of an unprofitable deal for Serbia concluded by the previous Democratic-led government.  In 2008, the Deloitte & Touche audit company, which carried out an independent assessment of the NIS deal, considered the deal to be beneficial to Serbia.  NIS was evaluated at 2.2 million dollars.  Together with the majority stake, Gazprom Neft also inherited NIS debts worth about one billion euros.

 

Bosnian Struggles to Stem Flow of Islamist Warriors (BIRN, By Elvira M. Jukic, 14 Aug 2014)

As another Bosnian is reported dying in the war in Iraq, a minister says the country cannot easily prevent its citizens from joining conflicts in other countries.

Bosnia's Deputy Security Minister says police and intelligence agencies cannot stop hard-line Islamists from going to fight in foreign wars.
Last weekend, the Muslim news portal Vijestiummeta.com reported that a Bosnian linked to the attack on the US embassy in Sarajevo had died in action in Iraq.

According to the website, Emrah Fojnica, 23, “went to Iraq to conduct a shaheed operation and passed away in the fighting... sources say that his father was all joyful when he heard his son was shaheed,” Vijestiummeta said.
Fojnica, together with Mevlid Jasarevic, was accused of attacking the US embassy in Sarajevo in 2011. Charges against him were dropped later when Jasarevic was named as the sole attacker.

Deputy Security Minister Mladen Cavar recalled that Bosnia adopted a law this year that forbids its citizens from taking part in armed conflicts in other countries.
“This is a big problem for Bosnia and Herzegovina and different agencies are committed to solving it and preventing them from going away,” Cavar told Balkan Insight.

“This is a problem that the EU and the US are also fighting - and BiH is part of that story," he added.
“But it is hard to prevent those persons from traveling,” he continued. “At least three agencies are tracking those people. But, as the data are confidential, we cannot share them with the public.”
The embassy attacker, Jasarevic, used to live in Gornja Maoca, the village widely considered as the centre of the hard-line Islamic Wahabbi movement in Bosnia.
One of Bosnia's police agencies a few years ago estimated that around 3,000 Bosnians held hard-line Islamist views.
The Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina distances itself from such movements and condemns violent, radical Islam.
“The Islamic Community has condemned leaving the country to join conflicts in other countries,” Ekrem Tucakovic, of the Islamic Community, said. “There is just no need for that,” he added.
“The Islamic Community is working continuously to prevent this from spreading, through its institutions, communities and mosques,” he continued. “We are repeating our standpoint that Muslims here need to practice their Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

 

 

Montenegro's Only Albanian Paper Pleads for Help (BIRN, By Dusica Tomovic, 14 Aug 2014)

The editor of Montenegro's only Albanian-language newspaper says the government should step in to save it from the bankruptcy proceedings engulfing its owner, the state-owned publishing company, Pobjeda.

The editorial team of the only Albanian newspaper in Montenegro, Koha Javore, are calling on parliament and ethnic Albanian parties to keep it alive.
The problem facing the weekly Koha Javore is that it is part of the bankrupt state-owned Pobjeda company, which is millions in debt and facing closure or sale.
In an open letter to Montenegrin deputies in parliament, the paper's editor-in-chief, Ali Salaj, called on politicians to keep the Albanian-language newspaper alive.
Salaj said that Koha Javore should not exempted from the bankruptcy proceedings concerning Pobjeda, and from its possible privatization.

He said that funds to keep the paper alive should come from the assembly, the government and the fund for the protection of minority rights.
"Minority media should be retained and supported by relevant state institutions for their mission in a multi-ethnic society, but also due to the fact that these media cannot be profitable," Salaj said.
Koha was founded by the Assembly of Montenegro in 1999, but the first issue was not published until February 2002.
Until 2009, the paper received funding from the Montenegrin state, but, due to budget cuts, a decision was made that Koha Javore was an "unnecessary expense".  
A few months later, Koha ceased to appear as a separate weekly and become an appendix to the daily Pobjeda.  
Albanian political parties, the civil sector and intellectuals have protested over the threat to  the newspaper.

They said that the disappearance of Koha Javore represented "an attack on the Albanians’ right to free information".

 

Croatia War Veterans Draw Comfort From Court Ruling (BIRN, By Sven Milekic, 13 Aug 2014)

Campaigners against bilingual signs say the court decision vetoing a referendum on the issue is not a total blow to their cause.

Supporters and opponents of a proposed referendum on minority rights in Croatia both claimed victory for their side on Wednesday, after the Croatian Constitutional Court delivered its ruling on Tuesday.
On the face it, the opponents won hands down, as the Court ruled that the proposed referendum on amending the Law on National Minority Rights could not go ahead because the question was unconstitutional.
However, although a referendum will not now be held, a lawyer for the campaigners said they drew some comfort the ruling.
This is because the court essentially left the decision on whether to erect signs in Serbian Cyrillic script in Vukovar – the heart of the issue – to the local authorities.
The call for a referendum centred on the question of whether language rights should apply only where minorities make up at least half the local population - as supporters of the referendum suggest – or one-third, which is what the current law demands.
Serbs make up just over one third of the population of Vukovar and thus are entitled to public use of their language and script.
Opponents of the proposed change said it would undermine human rights in general and was thus unconstitutional.
The initiators of the “Anti-Cyrillic Referendum” as some called it, were war veterans who called themselves the Committee for Defence of Croatian Vukovar.
Ex-fighters against the Serbian forces who besieged and overran Vukovar on 1991, they were angered by the installation of bilingual signs in Latin and Cyrillic script in the iconic town.
The Committee, formed in January 2013, first demanded the suspension of plans to erect bilingual signs, and when the first plates appeared in September 2013, supporters smashed and removed them, confronting the police.
In November, the Committee started collecting signatures for a referendum on the law on national minority. They duly collected 650,000 signatures, 200,000 more than they needed to trigger a referendum (10 per cent of all voters), and handed the list to the parliament in December 2013. Parliament ignored the initiative until this April and in July sent it on to the constitutional court for a ruling.
Vlado Iljkic, a legal specialist for the Committee, told BIRN that the Committee was satisfied with the court’s decision, because, according to him, the court had made it clear that such issues could be resolved under local municipal statutes.
“The decision has shown that all these issues… can be managed in a more sensitive manner, having in mind the moral, ethical, victim-based, legal, historical and economic aspects,” he said.
For him, the decision was favourable because it said that it is within Vukovar Town Council’s own jurisdiction to reach a decision on the extent of individual rights of minorities.
Thus, Iljkic concluded that the ruling enables the local community to settle things in “a local-based dialogue”.
He also welcomed another part of the ruling, which said the government should not enforce the installation of bilingual signs.
“This confirms not only that the government shouldn’t do so in future, but that it shouldn’t have done so from the start,” Iljkic added.
Iljkic stressed that the Committee “praises the Court’s decision” suspending the enforced implementation of the law.
Regarding around 650,000 signatures they had collected, Iljkic said that he could not answer for reaction to the ruling of all those people.,
However, the petition had at last forced the authorities to respect the “rights of the Croatian majority”, he maintained.
Additionally, according to Iljkic, this campaign had helped to open up a public discussion of the war from 1991-95, Serbia’s role in it, and unresolved issues between communities.
“Regarding the Government, we expect them to proceed according the decision of the court, and let this issue be settled by a local statute,” Iljkic concluded.

 

Germany charges Croatian former Yugoslav top spy (NEW EUROPE, By Dan Alexe, 14 Aug 2014)

A former top spy in Yugoslavia's feared secret service has been charged with complicity in murder in Germany in connection with the killing of a political dissident 31 years ago.

German federal prosecutors announced that 72-year-old Zdravko Mustac was charged July 22, after his extradition in April from Croatia, whose citizenship he now holds.

Prosecutors said in a statement that, in his position as head of the Yugoslav secret service, Mustac likely gave the order to murder Yugoslav dissident Stjepan Durekovic, who was killed on July 28, 1983, near Munich.

The prosecutors wrote that Mustac probably ordered his subordinate Josip Perkovic to plan the murder. Perkovic was also extradited to Germany earlier this year.

Croatia initially refused to extradite Perkovic, but eventually bowed to German pressure. Before joining the EU, Croatia had even introduced a law granting immunity to crimes committed before the breakup of Yugoslavia. The law, known as the Perkovic law, by the name of the former spy Perkovic it was supposed to absolve, had to be scrapped after EU (and mostly German) pressure.