The following media round-up on international, legal and foreign policy issues from around the Balkans for the period from 15 February 2024 to 22 February 2024.
Guernica 37 will provide weekly media updates with a focus on Bosnia and Hercegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Ned Vucijak at nenadv@guernica37.com for consideration.
Montenegro - 22 February 2024
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ruled that Montenegro failed to enforce judgments to compensate a man after a sewage collection system was unlawfully built on his property; see here.
Bosnia - 21 February 2024
Selmo Cikotic, a wartime Bosnian Army officer who later became defence and security minister, pleaded not guilty to crimes against Croat prisoners of war who were beaten and killed in the Bugojno area in 1993; see here.
Kosovo - 21 February 2024
The trials of former Serbian policeman Milovan Jovanovic and former Serbian military reservist Dejan Racic, both accused of war crimes against ethnic Albanians, opened in Pristina in the defendants' absence; see here.
Montenegro - 20 February 2024
In an operation targeting the illicit trade in tobacco, Montenegrin police arrested businessman Aleksandar Mijajlovic and five police officers allegedly involved in a criminal organisation; see here.
Montenegro - 19 February 2024
Montenegro has issued the draft Law on the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, which introduces a number of novelties, including auctions for premiums and feed-in tariffs; see here.
Croatia - 19 February 2024
In the serene waters of Trogir, a dispute of international proportions has emerged, pitting Russian real estate entrepreneur Alexei Inkin against the Republic of Croatia. At the heart of this €35M legal storm is a yacht called the 'Royal Romance'; see here.
Kosovo - 17 February 2024
Global police agency Interpol has issued international arrest warrants for ethnic Serb gunmen accused of storming a village last year in the north of Kosovo and battling police in a shootout, which left four dead, Kosovo's interior minister said on Friday; see here.
Greece - 16 February 2024
New law, passed after intensive debate, recognises same-sex marriage and adoption rights – but stops short of allowing same-sex couples to have children via surrogacy; see here.