Protestors gather in support of Ratko Mladić in Banja Luka
After sixteen years on the run, Ratko Mladić has finally been captured in Belgrade. But even though so many are so convinced of his guilt, and even though so much evidence has been gathered, Gil McCall looks at why his trial is still so important
In May 1992, a confused ambush on a JNA convoy in Sarajevo plunged the city further into war. Nineteen years on, the event lives long in Serbian memories, and former general Jovan Divjak has been arrested for the attack — but will he be extradited to Serbia? Gil McCall takes a look at the legal issues surrounding Divjak’s potential extradition.
In Vienna, Serbian arrest warrants stir up trouble and the past, threatening already fragile relations with Bosnia. And in Croatia, thousands take to the streets in what the media have dubbed a “Facebook revolution” — but will it succeed?
Twenty years after independence, Slovenia’s ethnic minorities still struggle — despite the efforts of the pro-European government. In Kosovo the people finally have a government two months after they went to the polls, but will the coalition hold? And in Bosnia, strike action by railway workers might be a taste of things to come as the economy falters.
As wages fall and prices rise, the pressure is on Belgrade to call early elections. In Sarajevo, the 17th anniversary of the worst massacre in the city’s six-year siege is marked with a remembrance ceremony. And, despite the best efforts of Brussels, Bosnia’s EU hopes remain doubtful.
Stay up-to-date with the latest News in Brief on twitter: follow @balkanbrief.
N.B.: [SC] following a link indicates that the content is in Bosnian–Serbian–Croatian; all other links are in English.
Serbia: SRS confirms that Vojislav Šešelj has undergone heart surgery in the Hague, to replace a faulty defibrillator.
Bosnia: a gunman who opened fire near the US embassy in Sarajevo has reportedly been shot dead.
Kosovo: KFOR threatens to remove barricades ‘peacefully’ if Serb population leaves them in place
Serbia: woman, stabbed in Belgrade on Saturday for wearing a pro-LGBT t-shirt, is now in stable condition in a Belgrade hospital
Bosnia: Israel will extradite to Bosnia Aleksandar Cvetković, suspected of executing 1,000–2,000 Muslim civilians at Branjevo, Srebrenica.
Serbia: Goran Hadžić, the last remaining fugitive from the ICTY, has been arrested in Serbia.
Bosnia: 613 newly-identified victims of the Srebrenica massacre will be interred today in the Potočari memorial cemetery.
Croatia: three men, suspected of committing war crimes against Serbs in Sisak during the Croatian war, arrested and awaiting hearings.