Belgrade DMH 131113

LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: State’s clear message for Kosovo elections (TVB92)

Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has told TVB92 that the state had sent a clear message when it called the Kosovo Serbs to vote in the local elections, and assessed the result of the elections was a difficult blow for Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaqi. He says that almost the same number of voters turned out in Leposavic as during the parliamentary and presidential elections, as well as in Zubin Potok and Zvecan, but that the problem was in northern Kosovska Mitrovica. According to him, Thaqi absolutely lost, because the intention was not to form a Union of Serb Municipalities, with the idea that elections would fail in four northern municipalities and two south of the Ibar. “Now this project has failed, as there are nine Serb municipalities, and we’ll see about the tenth.” Vucic warned that it would be a problem if the mayor of northern Kosovska Mitrovica became either Agim Deva or Adrijana Hodzic. He explained that if either won, some are thinking of not letting them take office, which would lead to conflicts. “We do not need conflict, but peace and work and to deal with the economy, the economy, and the economy,” said Vucic, and admitted that he made a mistake when he did not travel to northern Kosovska Mitrovica on 3 November. “The government respects the Kosovo Serbs and it is very important that they respect their government, without which they stand no chance. The Serbian authorities know who caused the incidents in Kosovo during the local elections on 3 November and an operation against them will take place as soon as they are within reach. These are groups that are connected to different extremist organizations. We have the individuals’ names. Many of them cannot be reached because they are in Kosovo,” Vucic said. 

Vulin, Ivantsov: Russia invites Serbs to vote in Kosovo (RTS)

Russia is in support of the establishing of the Union of Serb Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija and believes the Serbs should approach the second round of the local elections in northern Kosovska Mitrovica in the largest possible number, stated Pyotr Ivantsev, a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry in talks with Serbian Minister without Portfolio in charge of Kosovo and Metohija Aleksandar Vulin. Ivantsev has assessed that the Union of Serb Municipalities should be a strong mechanism to guarantee Serbs’ rights and a more efficient organization of the existence in the territory of Kosovo. Vulin has expressed deep gratitude to the Russian Federation for its consistent support to Serbian stances in view of the Kosovo issue, reads the statement of the Serbian Government Office for Kosovo and Metohija.

Djuric: Constitutional law after negotiations with Pristina (Danas)

“The Serbian Constitution envisages the issue of the status of the autonomy of Kosovo and Metohija will be regulated by a special constitutional law, so it is more logical to conduct political negotiations that will create preconditions for passing such a law that will reflect the reached agreement, which will then be discussed by the government and parliament, and if necessary, other state institutions,” Serbian President’s advisor Marko Djuric tells Danas. He thinks that this reply explains why the authorities had not first amended the Constitution, and then went to the negotiations in Brussels, when the Serbian President admitted that the platform for Kosovo and Metohija is unconstitutional.

Why has Belgrade accepted elections with disorderly election rolls and municipal borders according to the Kosovo laws, taken over from Ahtisaari’s plan?

“The Brussels negotiating process regarding the elections in Kosovo and Metohija has not been passing smoothly and the path towards reaching the first agreement was not flat and without obstacles. Much more needs to be resolved so all reached agreements can be fully realized, and we are regularly faced with Pristina’s obstructions regarding all aspects that envisage promotion of the position of the Serb community in the province, so then you have the situation with the lists, where we had been practically brought before a fait accompli several days before the elections. The lists were made in such a way to enable Albanians voting in northern Kosovo and Metohija on the basis of residence during 1999, but at the same time to have only 13,000 Serbs on the lists out of almost 300,000 Serbs who could fulfill the same criteria. We have informed all included factors, including Baroness Ashton, about our disagreement with such double standards. We want to create in the following period more favorable and regular conditions for the upcoming parliamentary elections, which doesn’t mean that we should completely give up the battle to do everything, through the local elections, for the Union of Serb Municipalities to start operating in full capacity envisaged by the agreements.”

Why the fear that the mayor could be a Kosovo Albanian in northern Kosovska Mitrovica, especially since many Serbs south of the Ibar River will have Albanians at the helm of their municipalities, and Albanian deputies will also be in the Union of Serb Municipalities?

“The character of the relations among ethnic communitiess in Kosovo and Metohija is such that the domination of former KLA fighters in the local assembly in a municipality where Serbs are a majority certainly can’t be good news for Serbian interests. In other parts of Kosovo and Metohija we saw on the skin of our fellow nationals what the implications are when the followers of the KLA ideology are in power. There is also justified fear that citizens will be deprived of the possibility to decide on their future in a regular way and in a democratic atmosphere. That concretely means it is necessary that the ambience on the election day enables peaceful and dignified achieving of the election right for all those who wish to use it, which was not, nor can it be the case if peaceful, family people were hostages of violent, hooligan groups who call themselves ‘boycotters’ while recording their neighbors on their way to the polling stations, writing their names, insulting them, threatening them personally and their children, throwing stones at them, but also physically attacking them.”

Are the authorities “exploiting” – as the Democratic Party claims, the term Union of Serb Municipalities, which nobody knows what it means?

“The institutions are not ‘exploiting’ the Union of Serb Municipalities, but are trying to ensure, through the Union, survival of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija that remains an alienable part of Serbia. The Union represents an institutional framework where the Serbs in our southern province will achieve the most direct form of administering processes of crucial importance for daily life, completely legitimately, recognized and adequately supported and assisted by Belgrade, Pristina and the international community, which hasn’t been the case so far. Communication and coordination with Belgrade and Pristina will be realized in a manner precisely established by its statute in all aspects, including financing and practical functioning of institutions. The Union will have numerous strategic jurisdictions: it is envisaged to receive adequate representatives in judicial institutions, freedom in administering and planning infrastructural, educational, healthcare and other issues on their territory, they will have their representative before Pristina institutions in the Consultative union of municipalities, while they will be able to freely communicate with Belgrade as before.”

Why wasn’t the statute of the Union of Serb Municipalities published before the elections so citizens would know what they were voting for?

“The plan is to first complete the election process, then the Management team, and following consultations with elected legitimate representatives of local communities with the Serb majority to draft the statute of the Union and submit to the international mediators, whereby the newly established municipal councils will join, in the most direct and democratic possible manner, the preparation of a framework for their future summation under the Union of Serb Municipalities.”

How do you comment the fact that the First Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic offered on 3 November, only two days after he had said in Gracanica that he will not and cannot wage a war for Kosovo and Metohija, offered for Belgrade to introduce order in northern Mitrovica?

“The First Deputy Prime Minister has not offered representatives of the international community for Serbian state organs to start a war on 3 November but sent a clear signal that our country has adequate information about the troublemakers and disposes with operative capacities to get even with them adequately, quickly and efficiently on the territory on northern Kosovo, if they receive consent from the authorized world political factors in accordance with the decrees of UNSCR 1244. We have once again confirmed, along with other numerous activities, the principled constructiveness of our state institutions in the ongoing process and readiness for concrete contribution for resolving problems. The Serbian institutions will be maximally engaged, in the period until the completion of the entire election process by 1 December, in undertaking all necessary measures in the domain of its competencies towards creating preconditions for complete regularity of voting.

DSS supports slating of elections by Serbian parliament (RTS)

Deputy Serbian parliament speaker and member of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Nenad Popovic met with officials of the Provisional Assembly of the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija and supported their request for the Serbian parliament to slate local elections in four municipalities in northern Kosovo. The request from the Provisional Assembly for the Serbian parliament to call local elections in northern Kosovo are legitimate and justified, Popovic noted. “The only legitimate elections are the ones called by the Serbian parliament,” he stated, adding that the assemblies of four municipalities in northern Kosovo predominantly populated by Serbs were dissolved two months ago. The Serbian Government decided in September to dissolve those assemblies based on the law on local government, but gave no explanation, deputy president of the Provisional Assembly Dobrosav Dobric stated, adding that the deadline to call the elections expired on Tuesday. That is why officials of the Provisional Assembly visited the Serbian parliament, to see if the parliament speaker would apply the law and call the elections in the four municipalities. The DSS asked the parliament speaker earlier to call local elections in the four municipalities in northern Kosovo.

Vladeta Kostic on the second election round (Radio Serbia, by Snezana Milosevic)

In a statement for International Radio Serbia, the leader of the Serbian (Srpska) Civil Initiative Vladeta Kostic says that the coalition he leads awaits the second round of the local elections in Kosovo and Metohija with optimism. This list’s candidates for mayors will be running for the second election round in all the six municipalities south of the Ibar River and they have very good chances of victory, he emphasizes. Kostic hopes that in Gracanica there will be no need for the second round. Our candidate Branimir Stojanovic is just some one hundred votes short of triumph and there are 400 so-called conditional votes and 90 ballots of citizens with special needs to be counted yet, says Kostic. I believe Stojanovic is certainly to win the majority of votes in the first round and we will know that on Tuesday evening or on Wednesday, when the Central Election Commission (CIK) of Kosovo announces the final returns, says Kostic. As for the returns of the elections to local municipal assembly, Kostic stressed that the best result has been achieved in Gracanica, where the Serbian list has 10 deputies out of 19. Although we have absolute power, we are open for everyone whose priorities are national interests and not their own profit. I believe that most of the people on other elections lists share my opinion and I do not doubt that citizens voted for the most honest and best people, emphasizes Kostic for Radio Serbia. Kostic also underlines that in the other five municipalities, Serbian list’s deputies stand very good chances of winning and that, after the completion of the election process on 1 December, the formation of the Union of Serb Municipalities will start.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

B&H leaders more interested in personal advantage than joining EU and NATO (Dnevni Avaz)

Valentin Inzko, the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, expressed regret that with less than a year left until the next general elections the country’s elected leadership has failed to make a serious effort towards progress on Euro-Atlantic integration. Inzko addressed the U.N. Security Council shortly after it voted unanimously to renew the mandate of the 900-member European Union peacekeeping force in Bosnia, known as EUFOR, for a year. Inzko said Bosnia’s leaders have failed to make changes required by the European Court of Human Rights to the constitution, which now bars minorities from running for parliament or president. Similarly, he said, progress has been “elusive” on the question of the ownership of military property, which has kept Bosnia from activating its “Membership Action Plan” with NATO. “The failure of the ruling parties and the relevant institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina to agree on these limited reforms has been symptomatic of an overall lack of urgency in carrying out basic political and economic reforms to move the country forward,” he said. “And so while the other countries in the region move forward, Bosnia and Herzegovina's leaders seem less interested in delivering long-term change in the interests of the people, and more interested in the zero-sum politics they believe will ensure them personal political and financial advantage,” Inzko said. Inzko said an exception to the negative political developments was the country’s first census since 1991 which showed that the population shrunk by half a million over the past two decades from 4.37 million to 3.79 million.

B&H delivers war crimes cases to Serbia and Croatia (Fena/Srna)

“The B&H judicial authorities have already delivered several cases to the judicial institutions of Croatia and Serbia so that they can prosecute these war crimes,” B&H Chief Prosecutor Goran Salihovic has confirmed. “Around 80 cases are being prepared, and two or three have already been forwarded to Serbia and Croatia for prosecution,” Salihovic specified. The prosecution authorities of the three countries have been exchanging the data on war crimes for quite some time, said the B&H public prosecutor, satisfied with the level of cooperation that has been achieved up to this point. Representatives of the public prosecution authorities of B&H, Serbia and Croatia will soon hold a meeting in Sarajevo, which will be backed by the European Commission, Salihovic announced. This will be a very important meeting, which is expected to further strengthen cooperation and ensure that the persons guilty of war crimes be brought to justice, he noted. In June, the prosecution authorities of Croatia and B&H signed a protocol on the prosecution of war crimes, while previously the authorities in Zagreb and Belgrade, and Belgrade and Sarajevo, agreed a similar cooperation. The protocols stipulate the mutual exchange of court cases so that the authorities could prosecute the individuals that are not within reach of the countries in which the crimes were committed.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

Albanian Family Prospers in Serb North Kosovo (BIRN, by Zana Cimili, 13 November 2013)

The north of Mitrovica is a risky and volatile place for most Albanians - but for the Fetahu family it’s home and a livelihood.

You need a thick skin to live in the Bosniak Mahala. Violence is a fact of life in this ethnically mixed neighborhood of North Mitrovica, and the area has seen its share of shootings, stabbings and grenade attacks over the years.

But the Fetahu family, owners of the Te Moni bakery, are not going anywhere. “We’ve become accustomed to life here. I’m not afraid, and personally, we’ve never had problems,” says Suzana Fetahu.

Save once, when a group of masked men broke in. “It resolved itself peacefully,” Fetahu recalls. When the masked men saw they were making bread, they just left, she says. Such is life in the Mahala.

The Fetahus, all six of them, are Albanians, members of a small community of Albanians who continue to live in the mainly Serbian north of Mitrovica.

Originally from the Prizren area, the family has lived in the Mahala since 1954. “Despite everything, I cannot abandon this place,” Haki Fetahu, Suzana’s husband, says.

Diverse clientele

As the family tells it, the bakery was the first business to set up shop in the Mahala. Over the years since then, the area has become a bustling marketplace. While the shops are largely Albanian owned, the customers reflect the diversity of the Mahala, and include a mix of Serbs, Bosniaks and Albanians. Te Moni is no exception.

“I ask them for the Albanian names for things, so I can ask them in their native tongue when I’m at the bakery,” one older Serbian customer of the bakery says.

But language is not much of an issue, as the family converses freely in Serbian, which is not uncommon among inhabitants of the Bosniak Mahalla.

The small bakery offers a variety of local pastries and bread, stored in a glass display, surrounded by tiled walls and rows of freshly baked bread.

Business is going well. Haki has even opened a second bakery, further north, in a more solidly Serbian part of town. Two Serbian women work there. Haki’s brother, Teki, has opened a bakery near Te Moni.

“We’re a large family with many members, and we all depend on this business,” Haki continues. “If we left, we would have nowhere to go.”

The Fetahus are not only surviving, they’re thriving to some extent. The family recently bought a house from a Serb.

Dangerous reality

Still, they acknowledge that life here can be perilous. Before the 1998-99 war, the whole of Mitrovica was ethnically mixed. Since then, it has been divided between the Serb north and the Albanian south, with the Ibar River separating them. Violence flares up from time to time.

The Serb north of town, like rest of the northern tip of Kosovo, has been under effective rule from Belgrade since the end of the war.

The divisions became especially pronounced in 2011, when Serbs erected barricades to block routes from north to south in protest against the Kosovo government’s attempt to restore its authority in the region.

“We received provocations and threats, but we continued,” Haki says, recalling the difficult times.

The couple’s 16-year-old daughter, Egzona, encounters this division nearly every day when she and her siblings walk to school on the south side of town.

“We’re constantly waiting for the situation to get better. There are times when groups of Serbs have tried to provoke us, but nothing serious,” she says.

“However, I worry when it is calm. It seems suspicious, like there’s something bubbling below the surface,” she adds.

For young people, the Mahala offers few diversions, as it lacks its own cafes and bars. So, they frequently travel south to visit friends.

The family is acutely aware of the risk that the children take when they travel back and forth.

“I have other family members calling me, asking me whether the children went to school, because they heard that a bomb has gone off,” says Suzana.

Other Albanians in the Mahala say nagging fears are a fact of life.

“When something happens, we hide at home. There is a form of curfew; most of us stay indoors after 5pm for safety reasons,” says Luljeta Bytyci, who works in a local boutique.

“There is always the possibility that things will escalate, that a bomb might go off somewhere, or things will get violent,” says Nehat Jusufi, a resident of the neighbourhood.

No change on the ground

Despite the major strides made between Kosovo and Serbia to normalize relations, including the landmark April agreement between the two governments, locals say they have yet to see any dividends.

Sunday’s attacks on polling stations in north Mitrovica on election day served as another stark reminder of that.

Suzana Fetahu has grown tired of the promises made over the years to make life better in the north. “I’m afraid to venture deep into the north of town, where there are more Serbs,” she says.

Haki hopes that Serbs will begin to embrace a different reality in Kosovo, one not defined by Belgrade.

“They don’t see themselves as inhabitants of Kosovo, yet they are, and should be a part of the elections and all other processes currently occurring in Kosovo,” he says.

He, too, agrees that recent political developments have yet to translate into tangible benefits for people living here.

“Fourteen years have passed since the war ended, and there haven’t been any positive changes in Mitrovica,” he says.

“There’s no guarantee for Albanians in the north.”

Bosnia's leaders fail to move forward with region (AP, 13 November 2013)

UNITED NATIONS - Bosnia's international administrator accused the country's leaders Tuesday of being more interested in "personal political and financial advantage" than in moving forward with the rest of the region to become part of the European Union and NATO.

Valentin Inzko. the High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations Security Council, expressed regret that with less than a year left until the next general elections the country's elected leadership have failed to make "a serious effort towards progress on Euro-Atlantic integration." Inzko addressed the Security Council shortly after it voted unanimously to renew the mandate of the 900-member European Union peacekeeping force in Bosnia, known as EUFOR, for a year.

Inzko's position was created in 1995 immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the vicious 1992-1995 civil war between Bosnia's three ethnic groups Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs to oversee the civilian implementation of the accord.

The country was split down ethnic lines into a Serb part Republika Srpska and another shared by Bosniak Muslims and Croats after the war that killed an estimated 100,000 people. The two semi-autonomous mini-states each have a president, government and parliament and they are linked by a joint parliament, government and a three-member presidency.

Inzko said Bosnia's leaders have failed to make changes required by the European Court of Human Rights to the constitution, which now bars minorities from running for parliament or president. Similarly, he said, progress has been "elusive" on the question of the ownership of military property, which has kept Bosnia from activitating its "Membership Action Plan" with NATO.

"The failure of the ruling parties and the relevant institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina to agree on these limited reforms has been symptomatic of an overall lack of urgency in carrying out basic political and economic reforms to move the country forward," he said.

"And so while the other countries in the region move forward, Bosnia and Herzegovina's leaders seem less interested in delivering long-term change in the interests of the people, and more interested in the zero-sum politics they believe will ensure them personal political and financial advantage," Inzko said.

Britain's Michael Tatham, a deputy ambassador, cited the April agreement between Serbia and Kosovo and the accession of Kosovo to the EU but said that "unfortunately there has been no sign that regional progress has influenced Bosnia and Herzegovina's leaders" because politicians "are unwilling to put the needs of their electorate and their country above their own interests."

He said Britain therefore supports "as a regrettable necessity" a decision by the EU Commissioner for Enlargement Stefar Fule to begin cutting Bosnia's funding for 2013 by 47 million euros.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina's political leaders are locked into short-term, narrowly-focused, zero-sum-game mindsets," Tathan told the council. "This is a road to nowhere in terms of the country's future. Indeed it risks undermining the hard earned gains of the past 18 years."

Inzko said an exception to the negative political developments was the country's first census since 1991 which showed that the population shrunk by half a million over the past two decades from 4.37 million to 3.79 million. Data showing how wartime ethnic expulsions and killings have changed the country's ethnic composition are expected at the beginning of next year.

"It will be important that the results of the census not be used to promote divisions or exacerbate ethnic tensions," Inzko said.

Serb Refugees Call for Croatia War Crimes Deal (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 12 November 2013)

Serbia’s refugee association asked Zagreb to allow Belgrade to prosecute suspects accused of committing war crimes in Croatia but now living in Serbia.

Miodrag Linta, a Serbian MP and president of the Coalition of Serbian Refugees, urged the authorities in Zagreb and Belgrade to sign a new agreement that will ensure that more war crimes suspects face trial.

Linta said that Serbs who fled Croatia during wartime but are wanted for alleged war crimes should be prosecuted in Serbia.

“Our proposal is that if Croatian side has evidence that some of the expelled Serbs committed a war crime, then they should forward the evidence to our prosecution, and the same should be done other way around,” Linta said on Monday.

He added with this regulation the trust of the Serbs in Croatian institutions will be returned, while those Serbs “would finally be able to consume one of the fundamental human rights – freedom of movement”.

According to the justice ministry in Belgrade, 1,557 Serbs are currently wanted by Croatia or under investigation by the Zagreb authorities for alleged crimes committed during the war in the 1990s.

Belgrade is also investigating an unnamed number of Croats who Serbian police are unable to arrest, mainly for alleged involvement in war crimes committed during the Croatian Army’s Storm and Flash military operations in 1995, which saw it take back territory occupied by Serb forces, causing many thousands of Serbs to flee the country.

Speaking after a weekend meeting with representatives of Croatia’s Serb minority in Zagreb at the weekend, Linta also spoke of several other issues, such as confiscated property, pensions and missing persons as crucial problems that still burden the post-war relations between the two neighbours.

Resolving the fate of people missing since wartime has also been listed by Croatian president Ivo Josipovic as a precondition for the withdrawal of a genocide lawsuit filed by Croatia against Serbia at the International Court of Justice in 1999 over the killings of Croats during the war.

Serbia responded with a genocide law suit against Croatia at the same court in 2009 over the killings of Serbs during the same war. The Serbian suit also contains allegations that Croatia committed genocide against Serbs during World War II.

Croatian daily newspaper Jutarnji list reported on Monday that Croatia is currently preparing its new team for the first session at the international court scheduled for the beginning of next year.

The team is leaded by Croatian law professor Vesna Crnic-Grotic, while Zagreb has also engaged three well-known international experts: James Crawford from Cambridge University, Philippe Sands from University College London and Keir Starmer, the former public prosecutor for England and Wales.

“The task of this team is to present a lawsuit in the best possible way and explain to the world what really happened,” said Croatian justice minister Orsat Miljenic.

Responding to this, Serbian foreign minister Ivan Mrkic told Vecernje Novosti that Belgrade also has a strong legal team, but said that he still hopes that Zagreb will withdraw its lawsuit.

Serbian Wreath Slights Montenegro, Party Says (Balkan Insight, 12 November 2013)

The smaller member of Montenegro's ruling coalition has criticised the Serbian Ambassador  Zoran Bingulac for laying a wreath to commemorate the end of World War 1 - after which Montenegro lost its independence.

The Social Democratic Party on Monday accused Ambassador Bingulac of undiplomatic behaviour for laying a wreath in front of a memorial dedicated to the liberators of the port of Budva.

"That was a provocation and sign of Serbia's aspirations toward Montenegro," the party said in a statement.

Montenegro does not celebrate Armistice Day, because World War I ended in the country losing its independence and being joined to the new kingdom of Yugoslavia.

Opponents of unification staged an uprising late in 1918 to fight for Montenegro's independence, but were crushed.

Montenegro declared independence from a loose state union with Serbia in 2006, after which it renewed its independence.

War over Alexander the Great to rumble on (thearatnewspaper.com, by Gareth Harris, 13 November 2013)

Skopje museum plans sculpture of the Macedonian king and other famous ancient figures

Museums, Issue 251, November 2013

The director of an archaeological museum opening later this year in Skopje, the capital of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, says it will have 15 wax sculptures of historical figures, including Alexander the Great, his father Philip II and the philosopher Aristotle, which will do little to improve relations with Greece or Bulgaria.

Greeks and Bulgarians have bitterly contested Macedonia’s claim to figures such as Alexander. Greece has also been involved in a 22-year naming dispute with Macedonia, the name adopted by the Balkan state in 1991 after the break-up of Yugoslavia. The Greek government fears that Macedonia may stake a territorial claim to a northern area of Greece, which is also called Macedonia.

Ian Worthington, a professor at the University of Missouri, says the display is controversial—“clearly emphasising to all and sundry their claim to Alexander and Philip II”. He says, however, that Skopje is in the heart of the ancient Macedonian kingdom and having a statue of Alexander is “rather like putting up a statue of a famous son in his home town”.

Paul Cartledge, the professor of Greek culture at the University of Cambridge, is sceptical. “The so-called Republic of ‘Macedonia’ is located in what was ancient Paeonia, and the ancient Paeonians were non-Greeks whom the (Greek) Macedonians conquered and incorporated in their European empire,” he says. The Greek Embassy in London declined to comment.

Ex-Police Minister Sues Macedonia in Strasbourg (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 13 November 2013)

Former police minister Ljube Boskoski has taken Macedonia to the European Court of Human Rights, claiming he was unjustly jailed for various crimes because he opposed the government.

Boskoski, who is serving a five-year jail sentence for illegally financing his election campaign, is suing Macedonia in Strasbourg, alleging that the case against him violated his human rights.

His party, United for Macedonia, said that Boskoski, who was police minister during the armed conflict with ethnic Albanian insurgents in 2001, was jailed for political reasons.

“The Macedonian political prisoner, who in 2001 defended Macedonia in every legal way, is now paradoxically forced, once again in every legal way, to wage a process against his own country in order to defend himself,” United for Macedonia said in a statement.

The lawsuit, which is being brought with the aid of the Macedonian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, is based on claims that several basic legal principles were breached in Boskoski’s case.

The suit disputes the legitimacy of the key protected witness against Boskoski. Taking examples from past Strasbourg rulings, it notes that a protected witness cannot be an acquaintance of the defendant, which was the situation in the Boskoski case.

Boskoski was arrested in 2011, one day after parliamentary elections. Policeclaimed they caught him red-handed, illegally taking cash from a donor, when they detained him.

But the lawsuit against Macedonia says the police orders concerning his surveillance had no date and stamp or other information about who issued them.

Boskoski also says his defence had no access to evidence that was procured in this way, which broke the principle of equality in court.

Boskoski also complains about the alleged violation of the legal presumption of a suspect’s innocence, arguing that his prolonged detention suggested he was being treated as if he had already been found guilty.

Apart from the jail sentence that he is already serving, in July this year, the criminal court in Skopje also sentenced him to 12 years in jail in another case, for plotting to cover up a gangland murder that took place in 2001. The second case is now before an appeals court.

Boskoski’s defence in both trials argued that the authorities fabricated the case in retaliation for the ex-minister’s outspoken criticism of the government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

The government has denied all such claims.

Boskoski was earlier prosecuted by the Hague war crimes tribunal for violating international humanitarian law during the 2001 conflict in Macedonia, but was acquitted after spending four years in detention.

On his return from The Hague, he used his public image as martyr to form a political party that soon clashed with Gruevski’s ruling VMRO DPMNE party.