LOCAL PRESS

 

Vucic: EU to recognize Serbia’s efforts in dialogue with Pristina (Tanjug)

In talks with the Chairperson of the Progressive Alliance of Socialist and Democrats in the European Parliament Gianni Pittella, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has voiced hope that the EU member states will recognize the efforts invested by Serbia in the dialogue with Pristina. Vucic voiced hope that the EU member states would also recognize other political and economic reform processes and support Serbia’s progress on the EU path by opening the negotiating chapters. Pittella assessed that Serbia’s membership is of great political and economic importance for the EU and stressed that he would advocate in the European Parliament, but also in contacts with colleagues from Germany and other countries, the opening of the negotiating chapters with Serbia.

 

Dacic: Right decision of Serbia on participation at Moscow parade (RTS)

Serbia’s decision to take part in the parade on the occasion of the Victory Day on 9 May in Moscow is right, since at issue is the marking of the victory over fascism to which Serbia made a great contribution and suffered enormous losses, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic told a Radio and Television of Serbia broadcast. According to Dacic, Serbia has a balanced treatment and takes part in all commemorations of victory over fascism. “I will take part, on behalf of the government, in the commemoration in Ukraine,” said Dacic. Asked whether there had been pressures for President Nikolic not to be in Moscow and for him to travel to Ukraine, Dacic said there had been negative stands against the parade in Belgrade and against the South Stream because some think that Serbia’s closeness with Russia is not in the interest of the West. “We are not interested in that. We are concerned with our interests,” said Dacic.

 

EULEX not investigating disappearance of Serb journalists (Politika, by Dejana Ivanovic)

Ljubomir Knezevic, a journalist of the Pristina newspaper Jedintsvo and an associate of the Belgrade newspaper Politika, disappeared on this day 16 years ago near Vucitrn where he lived with his wife. When his son Goran Knezevic received last spring the Decision of the UN Human Rights Advisory Panel (HRAP), according to which UNMIK should request from EULEX to continue the criminal investigation over the disappearance of journalist Ljubomir Knezevic, but also to publicly admit responsibility in connection with its omissions to adequately investigate this disappearance, the family of the disappeared journalist started hoping there would be some progress in the investigation. “HRAP’s documents clearly show that the investigation of the disappearance of my father was badly conducted. Despite HRAP’s decision, nobody from the mentioned institutions has been in contact with us,” says Knezevic. “Even though there is no new information in connection with this case, there is enough data in the case of Ljubomir Knezevic, but also in other cases of disappearance of journalists, with which the official organs could start working,” points out Dragana Bjelica from the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS). “Unfortunately, the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution is not conducting processes, and it also turned out that EULEX has not been doing anything for the cases of disappeared and murdered Serb journalists. Apparently, they are not interested precisely in these cases, and there is no political pressure, because these are ‘little people’ and high politics are not being directly associated with their disappearances and murders. UNS representatives in Kosovo have acquainted the EULEX prosecutor with the data for seven disappeared and murdered colleagues as well as with the HRAP decision that established that no investigations had been conducted; this also goes for Knezevic’s case, that the families need to be financially compensated, apart from the apology, over the omissions. The most important thing is that HRAP is requesting EULEX, which assumed jurisdictions from the UN Mission, to investigate disappearances and murders and punish the culprits. They haven’t done anything so far,” says Bjelica. In the Serbian government’s white book “Albanian Terrorism and Organized Crime in Kosovo and Metohija”, Bekim Shuti is mentioned as the suspect for the disappearance of Ljubomir Knezevic. According to that data, Knezevic was taken to the KLA headquarters in the village of Osiljane, where he was tortured and murdered, but his mortal remains have not been found. The name of Ljubomir Knezevic is among the 39 disappeared or murdered representatives of the Serbian media in the UNS records. This is data form period between 1991 and 2001. “There is progress only in the murders in the jurisdiction of the Commission for the investigation of murders of journalists led by Veran Matic, because investigations are being conducted again, and in the case of Slavko Curuvija the trial to the defendants has started. UNS supports the idea for the Commission to become regional, in order to investigate all remaining cases,” says Dragana Bjelica.

Prosecution: We are working on all cases of missing

Asked by Politika what has been done in the case of the disappearance of Ljubomir Knezevic and whether this is still investigated, the Prosecution responds that they are working on this case, but also on cases of all other missing in Kosovo and Metohija at the end of the 1990s, but that unfortunately, there is no progress in the mentioned case. “We are working with the EULEX Mission on all cases and we are trying to determine the truth. Unfortunately, there is no progress in the investigation of the case of Ljubomir Knezevic. We are not investigating only cases of missing journalists, but of all missing,” said the Prosecution.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

“Macedonian Spring” on the horizon (B92 Skopje correspondent)

The injured citizens and police, the remains of broken eggs, bottles and scattered rocks, remain as a result of chaos that occurred after the protest in the center of Skopje. The protests, organized by the opposition, took place after the publishing of “29^th bomb” by the opposition leader Zoran Zaev and it is a recording of intercepted conversations of government officials who speak about the alleged cover-up murder of Martin Neskovski. Presenting the recordings of telephone conversations between the representatives of the government to the media, the SDSM accused the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, and his closest associates that they have tried to conceal the whole truth about the murder of Martin Neskovski, who was killed by a member of the special Police “Tigers” Igor Spasov, four years ago at the election victory rally. According to the published audio material Igor Spasov, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for the murder, but as an individual, not as a police officer on duty. Recordings show that he was verbally invited for a night duty on that fateful night by Dejan Mitrovski, who was at that time the chief bodyguard of the FYROM Prime Minister and a leader Nikola Gruevski. The protest was reportedly spontaneously organized through the social media. According to certain estimates, several thousand demonstrators gathered in front of the Government of the FYROM and demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska. During the protest the crowd broke through the police cordon in front of the government building and started throwing eggs and stones at the building, the police responded by using the smoke bombs and water cannons. The FYROM Interior Ministry has not yet officially issued a comment on last night’s protest in which several people were injured and the arrested. The outcome of yesterday’s violent protests is 30 injured policemen and 4 civilians, demolished police cars and burned containers. During the protest, demonstrators threw various objects and tried to enter the government building. The pro-government media reported that the violence was caused by a preplanned scenario that was created by the SDSM, however, the picture on the ground tells quite different story, reports Plusinfo. The majority of FYROM’s non-governmental media say that the protest was peaceful and non-violent, up to the point when the police began a brutal suppression of the demonstrators, during which the part of the demonstrators has been brutally beaten. The use of tear gas and water cannons was confirmed by the Radio Free Europe.

 

Report to the UN Security Council: The RS supports the EU initiative (Srna)

The Republika Srpska has addressed its 13th Report to the UN Security Council, in which the government expressed their views on the issues that are facing B&H. The special emphasis is placed on a strong support of the EU initiative, as well as on the necessity of a decentralized federal structure of B&H. Together with the report, a letter by the RS President Milorad Dodik was submitted to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, stating that the RS, which is a signatory party to the General Framework Agreement for Peace in B&H (Dayton Agreement) and of the annexes which are an integral part of it, submits its 13th report with the aim to assist the Security Council in the upcoming debate on B&H. “The report first briefly presents a number of adopted reforms that are in accordance with the B&H Constitution and the activities of the RS aimed at fulfilling the obligations from that document,” reads the letter. The letter explains that those obligations are: the continuous work of RS on the implementation of the economic reforms, the review of costly and inefficient institutions at the state level, the development of judicial reform necessary for the achievement of European standards and the negotiations on the coordination mechanism for government levels in B&H. “Further, the Report examines the necessity of a decentralized Dayton structure of B&H, in order to preserve the stability and functional control of B&H. It also explains that the B&H is Europe's largest, per capita, exporter of fighters for the “Islamic State”, and expresses the need for B&H to be vigilant and prevent terrorism at home "states the letter to the UN Secretary General. The report examines the reasons: why the Office of the High Representative (OHR) must be closed, why the UN members should oppose the counterproductive resolution on the crimes in Srebrenica and why the UN Security Council, after more than 19 years of peace in B&H, should stop referring to the Chapter seven of the UN Charter.

 

B&H must implement reforms (Oslobodjenje)

Denis Zvizdic, Chair of the Council of Ministers, Vjekoslav Bevanda, Minister of Finance and Treasury, and Mirko Sarovic, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, spoke today with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) led by Chief of Mission Ron van Rooden. Van Rooden said that it is essential to work on fiscal consolidation in order for debt to have a decreasing trend, as well as an increase of revenue to control expenses in a higher quality manner. He said that there is a visible commitment and higher level of coordination of all governments, and that this is a quality and positive step. He said that for any new IMF program with B&H there must be enough previous measures for the intention of improving the business climate in B&H to be visible. They discussed reforms in the tax sector, customs regulations, the financial sector, and expressed an interest in making progress in public administration reform, which is of interest to all levels of government. Chairman Zvizdic informed the IMF delegation that the Council of Ministers has an agenda of future economic reforms that treats identical problems, pointing out that the start of implementation of credible reforms should be a previous condition. He said that the Council in the coming period will be completely dedicated to economic development in B&H. The meeting was joined by Ruben Atoyan, the IMF permanent representative in B&H, and Ricardo Llaudes, chief economist of the IMF mission to B&H. Zvizdic also spoke with representatives of the Foreign Trade Chamber of B&H (VTK) and representatives of employers’ associations in FB&H, RS and Brcko District. They stressed that it is necessary to start the socioeconomic dialogue as soon as possible at the B&H level and institutionalize cooperation of institutions at all levels with employers through the founding of a socioeconomic council of B&H.

 

Ivanic: B&H border unacceptable site for Croatian radioactive waste disposal (Srna)

Mladen Ivanic, the Chairman of the B&H Presidency, says the state institutions have voiced a clear view that Croatia’s intentions to dispose of radioactive waste at Trgovska Gora in the Dvor municipality at the border with B&H are unacceptable. “When we got the information we clearly told Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic that it was absolutely unacceptable, and she informed us that the decision was not made and that our objections would be considered very seriously,” said Ivanic. During a visit to the municipality of Krupa na Uni on Tuesday, Ivanic said that B&H institutions clearly stated they opposed the idea and that, if necessary, an international dispute might also be launched. “I don’t think that will be necessary and what we said was taken seriously. The decision on the location of the disposal site has not been made at all,” said Ivanic. The B&H Foreign Ministry too responded in relation to this matter, he said. The distance between Trgovska Gora and Dvor in Croatia is 3.5 kilometers in a straight line, while the distance between Trgovska Gora and Novi Grad in the RS is 2.5 kilometers in a straight line.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Kosovo Serbs Say President’s Plan is ‘Last Hope’ (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 5 May 2015)

Kosovo Serbs hope that President Tomislav Nikolic’s new ‘Kosovo platform’ will finally address the longstanding issue of Serbs who were abducted or went missing during and after the war. The Association of Missing and Kidnapped Kosovo Serbs said on Monday that Nikolic’s so-called ‘Kosovo platform’ was their “last hope” of finding out what happened to more than 1,000 Kosovo Serbs who went missing during and after the 1999 war. “None of the governments so far, neither the presidents nor the prime ministers of Serbia, in many platforms or resolutions about Kosovo and Metohija have ever requested the return of the abducted Kosovo Serbs,” the association said in a statement. “They were not interested in kidnapped Serbs, and proved that, like the international community, Hague Tribunal and [EU rule-of-law mission] EULEX court [in Kosovo], they ignore Serbian victims,” it said, adding that Nikolic has a chance to change that now. Nikolic said last week that he had prepared a new platform for Kosovo that he will send to the Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic this week, after which it will be forwarded to parliament for ratification. His plan envisages that Belgrade will continue the ongoing EU-facilitated negotiations with Pristina in “good faith”, but that it will never recognise Kosovo as a state, only as its province with wider autonomy. The platform also proposes wider autonomy for Serb-run municipalities in Kosovo and demands more rights for the Serb minority in general. It also calls on international community to enable the safe return of those expelled after the Kosovo war and prosecution of Kosovo Liberation Army commanders for crimes committed in 1999. Nikolic’s strategy urges the speedy establishment of the planned new EU-backed special court for Kosovo, which is expected to prosecute senior Kosovo Liberation Army officials for alleged crimes committed between January 1, 1998 and December 31, 2000. It is expected that Kosovo parliament will adopted the constitutional amendment needed for the formation of the court by end of May, which will then open the way for a draft law on the special court to be voted on as well. The formation of the court has caused dismay in Kosovo, where many people see the KLA as liberators from Serbia's oppressive rule, while in Serbia it seen as crucial as it aims to punish those who abducted and killed Kosovo Serbs after Serbian forces withdraw from Kosovo in July 1999. It is unknown how Nikolic’s platform will affect the ongoing negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina. The EU-led dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia began in March 2011, first only on a technical level. It became a high-level dialogue in October 2012, culminating in the April 2013 Agreement for the Normalisation of Relations, known as the Brussels Agreement. The goal of the Brussels Agreement is to deal with ongoing political and technical issues between Kosovo and Serbia, such as membership of international organisations, participation in conferences, and issues relating to the Serb minority in Kosovo. So far it has not tackled post-war issues such as missing persons and war crimes prosecutions, although both Albanians and Serb families of the missing have urged the EU to address this subject in formal negotiations.

 

Serbia Acquits KLA Fighter of War Crimes (BIRN, by Marija Ristic, 5 May 2015)

Former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla Mark Kasnjeti was cleared of war crimes against civilians in June 1999 in the town of Prizren after doubts were raised about an allegedly incriminating photograph. In its final ruling on Tuesday, the Belgrade-based appeal court found Kasnjeti not guilty of the torture and inhumane treatment of two Serb civilians in the Kosovo town of Prizren on June 14, 1999. “It was not proved that the accused Mark Kasnjeti committed, in co-perpetration, the criminal offence of a war crime against civilians,” the appeals court said.

The prosecution had based part of its case against Kasnjeti on a photograph which was given to the Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office by the victims. The prosecution claimed that the photograph showed Kasnjeti and three other KLA guerrillas beating two people, who had their hands tied behind their backs, with the butts of their rifles. The appeal courts however ruled that the evidence presented during the trial did not show with enough certainty that Kasnjeti was the person in the photograph. “In the absence of direct evidence which would without doubt or with enough certainty show that the accused is the person in the photo and the perpetrator of the criminal act, this court finds there is doubt,” the court’s decision said. Kasnjeti was originally sentenced to two years in prison in November 2012. The case was then retried after an appeal, and he was again jailed for two years in prison in June 2013, but this conviction was overturned by Tuesday’s appeals court ruling, which is now final. Serbian police arrested Kasnjeti at the Merdare border crossing, in the south of the country, in April 2012. The arrest was criticised in Kosovo because it was perceived to be politically motivated. Following his arrest, the Council for Human Rights and Freedom from Prizren said the international community should react because there was no evidence that Kasnjeti was a member of the KLA, or that he committed any war crimes.

 

Police Clashes with Macedonian Protesters Over Anti-Government Turmoil (Novinite, 6 May 2015)

Over 2,000 protesters clashed with Macedonian police officers in the center of the capital Skopje, as they demanded the resignation of the Prime Minister. The main reason for the turmoil was a wiretapping scandal that involves Macedonian PM and leader of nationalist VMRO-DPMN party Nikola Gruevski, Reuters reported. Opposition leader of the pro-democratic opposition party SDSM, Zoran Zaev revealed tapes that allegedly prove that Gruefski has been involved in a number of illegal schemes. A further shocking detail has been stated – that the Macedonian PM had been involved in a tragic case of 2011, when a young boy had been beaten to death by a police officer. The officer responsible for the death of the 21 year-old Martin Neskovski was later sentenced to 14 years in prison. Gruevski, in his turn, has denied all allegations and accused the opposition leader of misusing power and public interest to start an anti-government turmoil. Protesters in Skopije have set a number of trash bins on fire, have attacked policemen with stones, and are continuing to gather on the main square in the Macedonian capital. Many of them screamed, ''Murderers! Murderers!'', and ''Go back home, Gruyo!'', here referring to the shortened name of PM Gruevski. So far close to 19 policemen have been injured, and the number among protesters currently varies, but among them is a journalist and another photo reporter on site. Local authorities were reported to respond violently to any attacks using gas and force to push back people. Zaev has urged protesters in front of the Parliament building to remain calm and to avoid resorting to violence. Meanwhile, a number of EU representatives have reacted to the events, stating that young people of Macedonia should be fighting police brutalities and should not be giving up.

 

Exodus From North Causes Concern in Montenegro (BIRN, by Dusica Tomovic, 5 May 2015)

The Montenegrin government is being urged to take measures to stop a mass migration from northern regions after hundreds of families reportedly left, seeking economic asylum in Western Europe. Montenegro's government has been urged to reveal how many Montenegrins are fleeing the north of the country and seeking asylum in Western Europe because of poor living conditions and unemployment. An official from the country's junior ruling Social Democratic Party, Damir Sehovic, on Tuesday said the growing problem of mass migration from the north should be a priority for parliament, which is why he was calling for an urgent debate. He said local NGOs had assessed that about 3,500 people had left five towns in the north over the past four months, which was worrying. The opposition Socialist People's Party has also demanded an immediate reaction from the government. The party claimed that poverty and the absence of basic conditions for a dignified life was forcing thousands of people to seek salvation far from their homes. Euromost, an NGO from the northern town of Bijelo Polje, the town most affected by migration, says more than 1,500 people left the north of Montenegro in the last month. Hundreds of others have also left the towns of Rozaje, Berane and Pljevlja. Most of them have gone to Germany and Luxembourg, trying to obtain economic asylum, which they are unlikely to obtain. After the expiration of the three-month period, which is how long they can legally remain in these European countries, they refuse to return and instead stay on illegally, the NGO said. Montenegro has an unemployment rate of 15 per cent. But the jobless rate in the north of the country is higher, according to estimates. A third of the jobless are university graduates under 30 years of age. The average monthly salary in the country is around 490 euro, but, according to recent data from the Tax Administration, one in every eight people lives on less than 200 euros a month. According to the latest report of the European Employment Frontex border, the number of asylum seekers from the Western Balkan to the “Schengen-zone countries rose sharply in 2014. Compared to 2013, twice as many requests for asylum have been filed in 2014. The northeast of Montenegro is home to most of the country's Bosniaks who make up just under 9 per cent of the population nationally.

 

 

* * *

 

Media summaries are produced for the internal use of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, UNMIK and UNHQ. The contents do not represent anything other than a selection of articles likely to be of interest to a United Nations readership.