Balkan News

Ratko Mladic ‘Terrorised Sarajevo with Snipers’

A former UN peacekeeping forces official told the Hague Tribunal that Bosnian Serb forces under Mladic’s command targeted civilians with artillery and sniper fire.The Bosnian Serb Army “constantly shelled and conducted sniper attacks against civilians in Sarajevo” said Anthony Banbury, who served with the UN protection force UNPROFOR in the …

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NATO Urges Bosnia to Register State Property

Anders Fogh Rasmussen of NATO urged Bosnia to implement last year’s agreement on registering state property as a condition of advancing its membership of the alliance.The chair of Bosnia’s tri-partite Presidency, Nebojsa Radmanovic, said Bosnia must move ahead with registering military property as a condition for joining NATO. After a …

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Macedonia Opposition Slates Curbs to MPs’ Speeches

A motion from a ruling party MP on limiting the time that legislators can spend on discussions in parliament has further angered the opposition.Opposition Social Democrats have attacked as provocative a bid to amend the parliamentary rulebook to limit the time spent on debates. “The government is showing its totalitarian …

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EU Parliamentarians Urge Serbia Membership Talks

EU accession talks with Serbia should start without delay, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament said on Thursday.Voting on the European Commission’s 2012 progress report on Serbia, the committee said starting talks with Serbia as soon as June was achievable. “We acknowledged Serbian progress and send a message …

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Kosovo, Serbia Presidents Hail Outcome of Talks

Presidents Atifete Jahjaga and Tomislav Nikolic pledged their commitment to the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue and their respective European agendas after their historic meeting on Wednesday.Catherine Ashton, the EU Foreign Policy Chief, said after a three-hour meeting on Wednesday with the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia that the two leaders had vowed …

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Four Montenegrins Start Smuggling Trial in Italy

The trial started in Bari on Thursday of four Montenegrins accused of involvement in smuggling cigarettes in the 1990s.Three Montenegrin businessmen, Vesko Barovic, Branko Vujosevic, and Branislav Micunovic, and the former chief of Montenegro’s trade mission in Italy, Dusanka Jeknic, are standing trial in Bari, a Podgorica-based radio, Antena M, …

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Albania Guardsmen Acquitted of Killing Protesters

Tirana District Court ruled on Thursday that two former officers of the Republican Guard were not guilty for the deaths of three protestors in the January 21, 2011 riots.The court rejected murder charges against General Nrea Prendi, former head of the Republican Guard, and Agim Llupo, former chief of staff …

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Macedonian Hague Convict Seeks Early Release

Former police commander Johan Tarculovski, the only Macedonian national convicted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal, is appealing for early release after completing eight of his 12-year sentence.Tarculovski’s lawyer, Antonio Apostolski, said the German prison where Tarculovksi is serving a 12 year sentence had proceeded his appeal for early …

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Bosnia Federation Minister Denies Guilt for Car Accident

Federation entity Interior Minister Predrag Kurtes has denied responsibility for a car accident last week, though two witnesses claim he crashed his vehicle and ran away.Interior Minister Predrag Kurtes on February 6 said he was not to blame for a January 28 car accident in the Marijin Dvor area of …

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Bosnia Rejects New York Plea to Host Haggadah

A heritage commission has declined to loan the famous Sarajevo Haggadah to the New York Metropolitan Museum, although it currently lies locked up and unseen in a closed museum.Bosnia’s Commission on National Monuments on February 6 said that it had turned down a request from the Metropolitan Museum in New …

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