Followers of former president Evo Morales have threatened to paralyse the country should he be arrested Supporters of former Bolivian president Evo Morales have clashed with police after a prosecutor said she would order his arrest. Morales, who governed Bolivia from 2006 to 2019, is under investigation for alleged statutory rape and human trafficking, which he denies. The accusations against the 64-year-old have resurfaced ahead of presidential elections next year, in which he plans to run. The prosecutor announced she would issue an arrest warrant after Morales failed to attend a hearing in the case last week. Tension has been high in Bolivia for months, with supporters of Morales clashing with those of the current president, Luis Arce. Both men belong to the governing Mas party and are battling over who will be the party's candidate in the presidential election scheduled for August 2025. Three weeks ago, the two rival groups of supporters came to blows in the city of El Alto . The investigation into Morales has further heightened the already volatile atmosphere. On Monday, Morales's followers erected blockades on two major roads, which police tried to lift. At least 12 people were arrested and one police officer was injured. Morales supporters have said they will keep the blockade up "indefinitely" and could extend it to affect major roads across the country should he be arrested. The allegations against Morales are not new. In 2020, the ministry of justice filed a criminal complaint against the ex-president, accusing him of rape and human trafficking. In the complaint, prosecutors argued that sexual encounters Morales allegedly had in 2015 with a girl who was reportedly under age at the time constituted statutory rape. They said he had taken the girl on trips abroad, which they said amounted to human trafficking. Morales argued the accusations were part of a right-wing vendetta against him by the interim president who replaced him in office after his resignation in 2019 following allegations of vote-rigging. Morales, who was living in exile at the time, was also accused of sedition and terrorism and an arrest warrant for him was issued. However, the arrest warrant was annulled after his lawyers argued successfully that due process had not been followed. Morales returned to Bolivia a day after Luis Arce from Morales's Mas party was sworn in as president in November 2020. But the two erstwhile allies have since fallen out and their relations have become even more acrimonious since both announced their intentions to run as the Mas party's candidate in the 2025 presidential election. Both politicians have groups of loyal supporters willing to take to the streets - and in some cases engage in street brawls - to show their backing for their candidate. Followers of Morales have threatened to paralyse the country should he be arrested. Sandra Gutiérrez, the prosecutor in the case against Morales, said on Thursday that a warrant for his arrest would be issued after he failed to appear at a hearing. On Monday, the chief of police said he had not yet been issued with orders to detain the former president. But the police chief stressed that, once he received the order to arrest Morales, he would carry it out. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved.

The UN Security Council is trying to crack down on rising levels of gang violence in Haiti by extending embargo on weapons. A Kenya-led multinational force is trying to help the Haitian National Police combat gangs The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to expand its arms embargo in Haiti because of grave concerns over extremely high levels of gang violence. The embargo will extend to all types of arms and ammunition in the Caribbean country, which faces multiple challenges. The resolution authorises the 193 UN member nations to take “appropriate steps to prevent the illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related materiel in Haiti”. The resolution also extends a travel ban and asset freeze on gang members and criminals on its blacklist. Haiti has faced years of instability, but the situation has worsened since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. It created a power vacuum which increased the influence of armed gangs. It is estimated they now control up to 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince. It means illicit weapons flow unchecked into the country. The resulting surge in rapes, killings and kidnappings has led to a rise of civilian vigilante groups. US “straw men” source of weapons Robert Muggah, the author of a UN report on Haiti’s guns and drugs trafficking and founder of the Brazil-based think tank, the Igarape Institute, spoke to Al Jazeera’s Jillian Kestler-D’Amours earlier this year. He estimated the biggest source of illegal firearms and ammunition is the United States “Just over 50 percent of these were handguns and roughly 37 percent consisted of rifles,” he told Al Jazeera. Often Haiti-bound weapons from the US are purchased by “straw men” – people who buy from licensed dealers but conceal they are for someone else. The UN resolution adopted on Friday also encouraged the Haitian government to tighten up its borders to stop illicit trafficking. The Security Council also voted in early October to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force trying to help the Haitian National Police combat the gangs. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

Legislators greenlight reforms giving more authority to Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, accused of stifling dissent. Al Jazeera, 22 NOV 2024 Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990 before returning to power in 2007 [File: Alfredo Zuniga/AP Photo]. Legislators in Nicaragua have approved a constitutional amendment that will strengthen the power of longtime President Daniel Ortega, who has been accused of cracking down on critics and political challengers. The reforms, which 79-year-old Ortega sent to Congress this week “as a matter of urgency”, were approved unanimously on Friday by 91 lawmakers. The changes elevate Ortega’s wife and vice president, Rosario Murillo , to the post of “co-president”. They also increase the presidential term in the Central American nation from five to six years and extend the executive’s control over the media. According to the Nicaraguan Constitution, reforms must be approved in a second legislative period, in this case in 2025, before they become effective. Rights groups and international observers slammed the vote as a “sham” and accused the Sandinista leader of stifling dissent by trying to legalise the “absolute power” Ortega and his wife already wield in the country. “The reform not only reflects the paranoia and insecurity of the Sandinista dictatorship, but also codifies a system that has no exact precedent in Latin America, dangerously resembling the North Korean model,” wrote exiled opposition leader, Felix Maradiaga, in the online media outlet Divergentes. “These modifications reflect a desperate attempt to shield the Ortega-Murillo family from any eventuality,” he added. Decades in power Ortega first served as president from 1985 to 1990, returning to power in 2007. He secured a fourth consecutive term as president in 2021 after an election campaign that was marked by a months-long crackdown on dissent and the arrests of dozens of opposition figures, including several presidential hopefuls. Ortega’s government has shut down more than 5,000 NGOs since mass protests broke out against his rule in 2018. About 300 people died in the unrest, according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, thousands of Nicaraguans have fled into exile — often to neighbouring Costa Rica — and the United States and European Union have imposed a series of sanctions against Ortega’s administration. “Nicaragua is being stripped of its intellectual capital and critical voices,” a UN panel warned last year. Friday’s constitutional amendment stipulates that “traitors to the homeland” can be stripped of their citizenship – something Ortega has already done with hundreds of politicians, journalists, intellectuals and activists perceived as critical of his government. It also gives the co-presidents the power to coordinate all “legislative, judicial, electoral, control and supervisory bodies, regional and municipal”. The Organization of American States, a regional body, has slammed the reforms as “a definitive attack on the democratic rule of law”. “Through these modifications to the fundamental law, Ortega and his allies seek to increase their absolute control of the State and perpetuate themselves in power,” the group said in a statement on Wednesday. © 2024 Al Jazeera Media Network

Krisztina Than and Friederike Heine, November 22, 2024 Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban looks on as he gives a statement next to Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (not pictured) in Budapest, Hungary, November 14, 2024. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File photo Purchase Licensing Rights BUDAPEST, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to visit Hungary but several other European nations said the Israeli premier would be detained if he set foot on their soil, following the issuing of an arrest warrant for him. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Netanyahu, his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, and for a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. All EU countries are members of the court, which means they are supposed to enforce its warrants. But the diverging reactions - and the fact that EU heavyweights Germany and France have not said if they would arrest Netanyahu - highlight the major diplomatic and political challenge posed by the ICC decision, which drew swift condemnation from Israeli leaders and the White House. "For us Europeans, this warrant exposes a real dilemma between international law, which is our law, and our foreign policy, especially for those member states that are unconditionally backing Israel," Eurointelligence analysts wrote in a note. Assuring Netanyahu that he would face no risks if he visited Hungary, Orban branded the arrest warrants a "brazen, cynical and completely unacceptable decision". Orban, who is often at odds with his EU peers, has forged warm ties with Netanyahu. "Today I will invite Israel 's prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu, for a visit to Hungary and in that invite I will guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC ruling will have no effect in Hungary, and we will not follow its contents," Orban said. The ICC , which does not have its own police force to carry out arrests, has only limited diplomatic means to force countries to act if they do not want to. The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Finland, Portugal, Slovenia and Ireland, are among EU states that have said they would meet their ICC commitments. Netanyahu will be arrested if he set foot in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris told RTE radio. "Yes absolutely. We support international courts and we apply their warrants," Harris said. Cyprus, which has close ties to Israel, regards the warrants as binding in principle, a government source told Reuters. GERMANY TORN But Berlin declined to spell out what it would do until and unless Netanyahu planned to travel to Germany, adding that legal questions had to be clarified regarding the warrant. Germany "is one of the biggest supporters of the ICC - this attitude is also the result of German history," a government spokesperson said. "At the same time, it is a consequence of German history that we share unique relations and a great responsibility with Israel," the spokesperson added, alluding to the Nazi era. France was also non-committal, toning down its initial reaction, which had been to say that its response would align with ICC statutes. Paris said on Friday it took note of the ICC decision but that it was not a ruling but a "formalisation of an accusation". France has been working on Lebanon ceasefire efforts and officials said cornering Netanyahu now could scupper those efforts. Non-EU Britain - also an ICC member - was similarly circumspect in its response. In the Netherlands, far-right leader Geert Wilders said he would meet his "friend" Netanyahu in Israel soon, even though the Dutch government has said it will act on the ICC's arrest warrant if the Israeli leader were to visit the country. Wilders is the leader of the largest Dutch government party, but is not himself a cabinet member. The Czech Republic, which like neighbouring Hungary has traditionally sided with Israel, appeared similarly conflicted. The Czech foreign ministry said Prague would respect its international legal obligations, while Prime Minister Petr Fiala described the ICC decision as "unfortunate" and said it would undermine the court's authority. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed across the border fence, killed 1,200 people and seized more than 250 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, according to Israeli tallies. Since then, more than 44,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the health ministry there. © 2024 Reuters.

By Fred Harter “All we seek is a safe place, but unfortunately we found ourselves in another war.” Thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese refugees are demanding to be relocated from unsafe camps in Ethiopia’s conflict-hit Amhara region, where they say they lack basic services and are subject to almost daily attacks from local militiamen and armed bandits. Amhara, Ethiopia’s second-most populous region, has  since August 2023 been gripped by a full-blown rebellion, pitting a loosely organised constellation of ethno-nationalist militia groups called Fano against government forces.   With the Fano claiming they  control 80% of Amhara , most of the region has tipped into lawlessness. Eritrean refugees at Alemwach camp in Amhara’s North Gondar Zone told The New Humanitarian they face constant robberies, kidnappings, and physical attacks from local armed men who regularly come into the camp, which is administered by the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) and Ethiopia’s Refugees and Returnees Service (RRS). Some refugees at the site have been shot, while others have been stabbed by armed men who steal mobile phones, cash, and other items. At least nine refugees have been killed at Alemwach in the past year, according to a tally by the camp’s leadership committee. At two other camps in Gondar – Kumer and Awlala – which were shut down earlier this year because of insecurity, Sudanese refugees described similar attacks, and being made to perform forced labour by host communities. Refugee Camps in Northern Amhara “There is no protection at all for the refugees” “Every week, there are gunshots,” an Alemwach resident told The New Humanitarian. Like others, he requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. Armed men “come and steal materials nearly every day”, he said. “There is no protection at all for the refugees.” A Sudanese refugee previously at Awlala camp said: “In the evening, armed people would come inside the camp and start robbing people, taking their cell phones. There were a lot of attacks.” A Sudanese former resident of Kumer camp said: “Kidnapping, robbing and threatening the refugees is very, very normal. It’s not rare at all.” Alemwach, which hosts up to 21,000 refugees, was set up after four other camps for Eritrean refugees in the next-door Tigray region were destroyed during the 2020-2022  northern Ethiopia war , which according to some estimates killed as many as  600,000 people .  During that conflict, Eritrean refugees came under attack from both sides – by rebel Tigrayan militia groups and by Eritrean soldiers allied with Ethiopia’s federal military. Hundreds, possibly thousands, were forcibly repatriated to Eritrea and conscripted into the army. Deadly Attacks on Refugees in Amhara in 2024 The stabbing in October of three refugees in the Alemwach camp. A series of three attacks from 19 July to 3 August that killed at least two refugees and injured dozens more in a forest near the Kumer and Awlala camps. An attack on 17 July that killed at least 10 Ethiopian federal policemen at the Kumer camp and wounded several refugees, including a child. Several people were also abducted from the camp. The stabbing of eight refugees in a separate incident in July in Alemwach camp, killing one. The killing on 16 June of a pregnant Sudanese refugee who was returning from hospital when gunmen opened fire on the minibus she was travelling in. Sources: Interviews, UN and Human Rights Watch reporting. Alemwach, established in 2021, was supposed to offer a safe haven for Eritrean refugees. In February this year, UNHCR’s country director, Andrew Mbogori,  described   it as “an example of refugees living side by side with host communities”. But camp residents told The New Humanitarian that attacks by locals started almost immediately after they arrived, with the frequency increasing after the Fano rebellion broke out in mid-2023. “In this area, nearly every member of the host community has a gun in their house,” said another refugee. “They come into the camp in groups at night.” He added: “The host community is very aggressive. They don’t accept the refugees to live there.” A member of the refugee leadership committee at Alemwach said refugees had expressed concerns about security at the site in meetings with UNHCR and RSS before the camp was established, but he claimed these were ignored. Ethiopia is home to over one million refugees, making it the second-largest host country in Africa. Among those seeking shelter are around 50,000 people who have fled the civil war in Sudan that erupted in April 2023.  The Kumer and Awlala camps – which shelter predominantly Sudanese refugees – were closed earlier this year because of the insecurity and thousands of people were relocated to a new camp, Aftit, which can host up to 12,000 people. A resident said security is better at Aftit but there are few services. “All we seek is a safe place, but unfortunately we found ourselves in another war,” said another Sudanese refugee in Amhara. In a statement, UNHCR said it was providing healthcare, water and other services to residents of Alemwach camp, as well as essential items. The agency said efforts were underway to set up “essential services” including food, water and shelter at Aftit, which it described as “a safe place”. It added it had “long advocated with regional authorities to further strengthen security around the sites to ensure the safety of refugees” and that additional security personnel were deployed to Alemwach last week. “UNHCR continues to advocate with the government of Ethiopia for the relocation of refugees to safer locations in another region,” the statement said.* Last month, Human Rights Watch  said it had reviewed a list provided by Sudanese refugees describing 347 incidents of forced labour in 2023 and 2024 at the Kumer and Awlala camps, including agricultural work. The rights group has also documented killings of refugees by locals, and instances of Sudanese refugees being beaten and pushed back across the Sudanese border by Ethiopian security forces. “Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia have been targets of abuses for more than a year from various armed actors,” said Laetitia Bader, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “These refugees have fled horrific abuses back home and urgently need protection, not further threats to their lives.” The Impact of Insecurity on Aid Access The conflict in Amhara has precipitated a general breakdown of law and order across the region, paralysing the local economy. With government forces and police mostly restricted to towns, armed actors have moved to exploit the security vacuum in the countryside, where robberies and kidnapping for ransom are now rife. Sudanese and Eritrean refugees described their attackers as armed members of the local host community who are taking advantage of the breakdown of law and order for financial gain, as well as elements of the Fano militia groups fighting the government. “In this area, the police have no power,” said an Eritrean refugee, who like others interviewed, asked not to be named for security reasons.  He added that the government had posted local militiamen to guard the Alemwach camp, but these men also prey on the refugees. “Sometimes they protect us, sometimes they let the bandits in to do what they want, and sometimes they also rob us,” he said. Another Eritrean refugee said four men with guns and knives recently robbed him as he returned from praying at a mosque after dark. Afterwards, the men raided three tents inside the camp. “This happens almost every day,” he said. “There is no security at all.” Kidnapping is an additional problem. At Alemwach, seven children and five adult refugees have been abducted in the last year by armed men for ransoms of up to 500,000 Ethiopian birr ($4,116), according to the camp’s leaders. Other Eritrean refugees have been held hostage for smaller amounts. The insecurity means aid groups are struggling to deliver services across Amhara, where millions need aid. Most of the region is classified as “hard to reach” or “partially accessible” on UN access maps. So far this year, at least six aid workers have been  killed in Amhara. Others have been kidnapped and robbed by armed men. “Ambulances are too scared to come, so we have to carry people to the nearest hospital on stretchers. If you are seriously sick, there is no help at all.” These access issues have hit Alemwach and Aftit, which residents said lack basic services. Latrines are full or have been  swept away in flooding , forcing people to defecate in the open. Health services are limited, and basic medicines are unavailable. Many residents haven’t received blankets and other necessities. At Alemwach, food deliveries are irregular and rations have been slashed by more than 50%, residents said. “Ambulances are too scared to come, so we have to carry people to the nearest hospital on stretchers,” said a resident of Alemwach. “If you are seriously sick, there is no help at all.” In May, more than 1,000 refugees left the  Kumer and Awlala camps in protest at the insecurity. They intended to travel to Gondar, the main local town, but were blocked by police. The refugees refused to return to the camps and instead sought shelter in a forest where they were  subjected to further attacks . Several went on hunger strike. Residents of Alemwach described similar restrictions on their movements, with local security forces preventing them from leaving the camp unless they paid bribes of up to 40,000 Ethiopian birr ($330). “If you don’t pay, they turn you back,” said an Eritrean refugee. “It’s a prison, not a camp.” In recent weeks, fighting between the Fano and Ethiopia’s federal military has erupted around Alemwach and a UN transit camp for Sudanese refugees at Metema on the Sudanese border. Eritrean refugees at Alemwach are asking to be moved to a new, safe location. In a letter sent to UNHCR on 6 October, refugee leaders said: “Currently, there is no authority responsible for protecting or ensuring the safety of refugees at our site. The surrounding area is a high-conflict zone, and the lives of refugees are in grave danger.” The demand echoes calls by Sudanese refugees in Amhara. “The whole region is on fire,” a Sudanese refugee in Gondar told The New Humanitarian. “We cannot live in this place. We are asking to be taken out and put in a safe place, with full rights and protection.” *UNHCR's statement was added on 22 November, a day after publication.  Edited by Obi Anyadike. © The New Humanitarian All rights reserved 2024

Bosnia's Central Election Commission fined Vlade Sladoje, candidate for the mayor of Kalinovik at October’s local elections, 10,000 euros for spreading hate speech and glorifying war criminal Ratko Mladic. Nino Bilajac September 27, 2024 Vlade Sladoje’s election campaign poster. Photo: Vlade Sladoje/Facebook.  The Central Election Commission said on Friday that it has fined Vlade Sladoje, the candidate for mayor of the town of Kalinovik from the Party of Democratic Progress, 20,000 Bosnian marks (around 10,000 euros) for hate speech and glorifying a convicted war criminal. When Sladoje announced his candidature for mayor of Kalinovik, wartime Bosnian Serb Army chief Ratko Mladic’s hometown, in April this year, he published a photo of himself on his Facebook page wearing a Serbian military uniform from World War II. He went on to post photos and comments expressing sympathies for the Ravna Gora Movement, a Serbian nationalist Chetnik group, WWII-era Chetnik leader Dragoljub ‘Draza’ Mahailovic, who was executed for treason and and Nazi collaboration by the Yugoslav regime, and Mladic, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Hague Tribunal for genocide and other wartime crimes. Sladoje also called for what he described as a “mobilisation” in Kalinovik “for a dignified victory or an honourable defeat”. The Central Election Commission said it fined Sladoje because his photographs and militaristic rhetoric could disturb large numbers of people. “This is one of the highest sanctions we have imposed on a candidate, because invoking wartime events in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina and glorifying war criminals carries particular weight,” said Irena Hadziabdic, chairperson of the Central Election Commission. The Party of Democratic Progress, which nominated Sladoje, was fined 3,000 marks (around 1,500 euros), with the explanation that it had not used any other warlike rhetoric in the election campaign and that this was an individual case. On September 15, Sladoje wrote on Facebook: “I apologise to my Bosniak neighbours if my uniform bothered anyone”. He reposted the photo of himself in uniform and said that he is withdrawing from the race for mayor of Kalinovik, although the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina has not banned his candidacy. In 2021, Valentin Inzko, who at the time was the High Representative in Bosnia, the international official responsible for overseeing the implementation of the peace deal that ended the 1992-95 war, imposed amendments to the country’s criminal code to prohibit and punish the denial of genocide and the glorification of war criminals. Local elections will be held across Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 6. Copyright BIRN 2015

The first trial hearing for the 2023 deadly attack in Banjska was postponed to October, and Kosovo's Supreme Court was asked to rule on whether the trial of fugitive kingpin Milan Radoicic and 41 others can be held in absentia. Xhorxhina Bami, September 25, 2024 Left to right, Blagoje Spasojevic, Vladimir Tolic, and Dusan Maksimovic at Pristina Basic Court on September 25, 2024. Photo: BIRN Scheduled to start on Wednesday, the trial at the Pristina Basic Court over the deadly attack that left one Kosovo Police officer dead on September 24 2023, was postponed to October 9. Judge Arben Hoti postponed the initial hearing after defense lawyers said the prosecution had not provided the indictments in Serbian for their defendants. Three defendants, Blagoje Spasojevic, Vladimir Tolic and Dusan Maksimovic, who were due to enter a plea deal on Wednesday, were the only defendants present in the courtroom. Spasojevic and Tolic were arrested at the scene, while Maksimovic was apprehended the following day. When it comes to Kosovo Serb kingpin Milan Radoicic and 41 other defendants, the Basic Court on Wednesday asked Kosovo’s Supreme Court to rule if they can be tried in absentia. Radoicic has taken sole responsibility for leading and organizing the Banjska attack. He is now in Serbia, and has made no further public comment about the indictment. Judge Hoti said the Supreme Court will be asked whether the trial may be held in absentia when all the conditions are not met, in this case, the accused not being present at the initial hearing. Hoti also decided to separate the case against Spasojevic, Tolic and Maksimovic, adding that it remains to be seen whether the trial will be merged again after a decision on trial in absentia has been made. According to Kosovo’s Criminal Procedure Code, a trial in absentia may be held when the accused is present in the initial hearing and main trial but who, despite being informed of the trial dates, then“fails to appear for trial; or was present at the trial but then failed to appear at subsequent trial sessions”. The judge then must hold a hearing to decide whether the defendant/s can be tried in absentia. However, the Criminal Procedure Code also explains that “a trial in absentia may be conducted without meeting the criteria of ensuring the presence of the accused” when a statutory limitation for the crime is not applicable. This includes crimes against international law, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggravated murder. In this case, it says, the court may decide whether “reasonable efforts have been made to notify the accused of the trial and ensure the presence of the accused”. The Kosovo Special Prosecution charges Radoicic and others with terrorism and endangering the constitutional order of the country. At the September 2023 shootout in Banjska, northern Kosovo, which Radoicic led, Kosovo police sergeant Afrim Bunjaku was killed and his colleague Alban Rashiti was wounded, according to the prosecution by a Yugoslav-made MRUD anti-personnel mine. Radoicic, together with his business partner, Radule Stevic, and his company, RAD D.O.O., are also charged with money-laundering. Radoicic is also charged with financing terrorism. According to the indictment, which BIRN has seen, Radoicic had been financing the criminal activities of a “structured terrorist group” since 2017. This included the purchase of heavy weapons and military uniforms, all with the aim of “separating” Kosovo’s four northern Serb-majority municipalities from the rest of the country “to join them with the Republic of Serbia”. The indictment also alleges that Radoicic rallied local Serbs against any step taken by Kosovo’s authorities and deemed undesirable by Belgrade, mounting roadblocks and barricades. He is also being investigated by Belgrade prosecutors for organizing an armed group, the unauthorized amassing of a large cache of weapons, which he transported to Kosovo, and “serious crimes against general security”. In October last year, a Belgrade court refused to detain Radoicic but ordered him not to leave the country and confiscated his passport. Copyright BIRN 2007

The Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide has launched a new website designed to monitor and record all forms of genocide and war crimes denial in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Lejla Memcic, October 2, 2024 A mourner at a funeral ceremony at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, July 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR. An online platform has been launched to document instances where crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war are glorified or denied. The Association of Victims and Witnesses of Genocide, the Bosnian NGO that launched the website, Negatorigenocida.info , said in a statement: “Any denial or glorification will be carefully documented and analysed, and forwarded to the relevant institutions, including the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, for further action.” Murat Tahirovic, the group’s president, said judicial institutions in the country have not done enough to prosecute genocide denial under legislation that came into force in 2021 . “For a long time, we have been waging a small war with the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the non-prosecution of deniers of genocide and other war crimes,” Tahirovic told BIRN. “We are continuing our fight against both perpetrators and deniers, as well as those who glorify criminals who committed the most serious crimes,” he added. In the first half of this year, according to data from the 2024 Genocide Denial Report by the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, 305 cases of genocide denial were registered in the Bosnian and Serbian media – three times more than in 2023. The slowness of the Bosnian judiciary in bringing charges related to the denial of war crimes led to the surge in incidents, legal experts told BIRN in July this year. Three indictments have been filed since the High Representative, the international official who oversees the implementation of the peace deal that ended the Bosnian war, imposed amendments to the criminal code banning the denial of genocide, war crimes and the glorification of war criminals in July 2021. The Municipal Court in Sarajevo sentenced Hamdija Kocic to one year of probation for insulting the victims of the genocide in Srebrenica under the criminal offence of “causing national, racial and religious hatred, discord or intolerance”. Several judgments by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which was established by the UN, have established that in July 1995, genocide was committed against Bosniaks from Srebrenica. Tahirovic noted that as well as the state-level law, there is a law in Bosnia an Herzegovina’s Federation entity that enables prosecutors to file indictments for genocide denial. Earlier this year a UN General Assembly resolution agreed to mark July 11 as an International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide. Copyright BIRN 2015

Hungarian PM doubles down on proposal to give asylum-seekers a one-way ticket to the EU capital. Csongor Körömi, September 30, 2024 Viktor Orbán's government came up with the idea of giving every migrant trying to enter Hungary a one-way ticket to Brussels. | Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images We’ll be sending migrants to the Grand-Place in Brussels, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned the EU on Monday. “If Brussels persists in its decision to punish us, it will get what it wants,” the Hungarian prime minister said, referring to a previous decision by the Court of Justice of the European Union to fine Budapest €200 million for breaking EU asylum rules. “We will take the migrants who are banging on Hungary’s gates to the main square in Brussels.” In late August, the Hungarian government came up with the idea — borrowed and amended from the U.S. Republican playbook — of giving every migrant trying to enter the country a one-way ticket to Brussels. The previous June ruling by the EU’s top court had forced Budapest to adopt a “no detention” refugee policy, meaning it couldn’t keep asylum seekers in prison-like “transit zones.” (For all that the EU‘s latest plans would introduce similar “reception centers” at Schengen borders.) The mayor of Brussels and other Belgian officials have slammed the Budapest proposal, calling it a “provocation that contradicts European obligations.” Orbán, however, insists the CJEU ruling is unfair — especially as countries in Western Europe tighten their own border controls — and wants to get his own back.  “The era of free travel is coming to an end,” Orbán said in his speech to the country’s parliament, referring to Germany’s decision to temporarily introduce controls at its borders and new French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s stance on tightening France’s frontier controls.  Orbán said that “all they had to do” to avoid this situation was to “follow the Hungarian example and not let the migrants in in the first place.” He added, however, that even if Budapest’s policy was “proved right,” Hungary is still being punished for “defending Europe’s borders.” POLITICO SRL

The former commander and wartime members of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Zvornik Brigade went on trial in Sarajevo for the unlawful detainment and inhumane treatment of Bosniak men and boys, some of whom were killed. Marija Tausan, October 7, 2024 The Bosnian state court and prosecution building. Photo: BIRN. The trial opened at the Bosnian state court on Monday of Vidoje Blagojevic, Ivan Arapovic, Milan Arapovic, Kosta Pejic, Bozo Radic, Mile Savic, Mile Blagojevic, Ljubisa Pejic, Branko Pejic and Verica Radovic, who are accused of committing crimes against humanity against Bosniak civilian detainees in June 1992 during the Bosnian war. According to the indictment, from June 1 to 5, 1992, around 400 Bosniak men were illegally imprisoned at the Technical School in the town of Karakaj, near Zvornik, after being taken from the village of Bijeli Potok. “Immediately, on the first day, 20 people died from suffocation and heat, because they were locked in a small room,” prosecutor Mersudin Pruzhan said in his opening statement to the court. The indictment says that Ivan Arapovic, Milan Arapovic, Kosta Pejic, Branko Pejic, Ljubisa Pejic, Radic, Savic, Mile Blagojevic and Vasiljevic were guards at the Technical School and participated in the unlawful detention and inhumane treatment of the civilians. They are accused of beating and abusing the detainees. “Although they were obliged to protect the lives of the civilians, they did not do so,” said Pruzhan. According to the indictment, the guards did not prevent other soldiers entering the premises and beating prisoners. They also did not stop other soldiers from taking detainees away from the Technical School to their homes to steal their valuables and weapons, after which many disappeared without trace. “From June 1 to 5, more than 150 civilians were taken out [of the detention site] and all traces of them were lost, or they were killed,” the indictment states. All of the accused, except Verica Radovic and Vidoje Blagojevic, were members of the Karakaj Company of the Territorial Defence force in Zvornik, and later the Zvornik Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army. Vidoje Blagojevic was charged as commander of the Zvornik Brigade. The indictment claims he failed to undertake necessary and reasonable measures as a superior officer to prevent the unlawful detention, inhumane treatment, forcible disappearances and murders of the detained Bosniak civilians, or to punish the perpetrators. Blagojevic was previously sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to 18 years in prison for crimes committed during the Srebrenica genocide in July 1995. He was  released in 2015 . Verica Radovic is charged with shooting two detainees dead on June 1, 1992 using a gun given to her by a guard. It is alleged that she murdered them out of revenge because her husband was killed in April that year. So far, about 420 victims taken from Bijeli Potok have been found and identified at the Crni Vrh mass grave site . The search for 240 more victims is still ongoing. Another ex-soldier, Stevo Vasiljevic, was also charged in the original indictment, but the proceedings against him were subsequently separated from the case against the others. Copyright BIRN 2015

Opposition supporters demonstrating in Tirana about the jailing of an MP threw incendiary devices at the prime minister’s office and the ruling Socialist Party headquarters and clashed with police outside parliament. Fjori Sinoruka Protesters in central Tirana on Monday evening. Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN. Violence erupted in the Albanian capital Tirana on Monday evening as anti-government protesters targeted the prime minister’s office, the governing Socialist Party headquarters, the Interior Ministry and the Tirana municipality building with Molotov cocktails. There were also clashes with police outside parliament, where officers used tear gas against the protesters in an attempt to quell the unrest. Carrying banners with slogans like “Make Albania Free Again”, supporters of the opposition Democratic Party and Freedom Party marched through the city, expressing their anger at Prime Minister Edi Rama’s rule. Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN. Over 1,000 police were deployed in central Tirana in an attempt to maintain order, according to media reports. Police said ten officers were injured in the clashes, but did not immediately announce how many protesters had been injured. The opposition supporters were expressing their fury after Democratic Party MP Ervin Salianji was given a 12-month prison sentence for making false accusations. Salianji claims he is the victim of a political vendetta. The opposition, which accuses Rama of increasing authoritarianism, is demanding the installation of a technocratic caretaker government ahead of parliamentary elections in June 2025. Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN. Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha, who is  under house arrest and facing charges of corruption , hailed Monday’s protest: “The battle of civil disobedience against narco-dictatorship goes on,” Berisha wrote on Instagram. He accuses Rama’s government of consorting with criminals, which Rama denies. Photo: Nensi Bogdani/BIRN. The unrest in Tirana follows another violent incident last week when  opposition MPs broke and burned chairs  in the parliamentary chamber in protest at the jailing of Salianji and allegedly threw debris at the speaker of parliament and cabinet ministers. Police said they had referred a case against 25 MPs to the Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime. Copyright BIRN 2007

The only three suspects arrested so far in Kosovo for the deadly attack on police by a Serb armed group in the northern village of Banjska in September 2023 pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges. Xhorxhina Bami, October 9, 2024 Left to right: Blagoje Spasojevic, Vladimir Tolic and Dusan Maksimovic at Pristina Basic Court on October 9, 2024. Photo: BIRN Three Kosovo Serbs, Blagoje Spasojevic, Vladimir Tolic and Dusan Maksimovic, the only people arrested so far for the deadly attack in September 2023 that left one police officer dead in the village of Banjska in the north of Kosovo, pleaded not guilty at the Pristina Basic Court on Wednesday. Spasojevic and Tolic, who were arrested at the scene, did not enter pleas but Judge Arben Hoti said the court “considered the defendants pleaded not guilty”. Maksimovic, who was arrested the following day, pleaded not guilty himself. The three are charged with terrorism and with endangering the constitutional order of the country. The indictment, which BIRN has seen, claims the three detainees, together with 41 other accused, started the attack by first blocking the main bridge in Banjska village with trucks. Prosecutor Naim Abazi told the court that most of the group “entered the Republic of Kosovo from the Republic of Serbia in an organised manner through the mountain roads with dozens of cars filled with weapons”. He added that the defendants then “hid and took up their positions” and attacked the Kosovo Police officers as soon as they arrived at the scene, as they were checking the trucks, initially believing smugglers had put them there. According to the indictment, security camera footage shows a group of heavily armed people approaching the bridge having arrived in two Mercedes cars, both owned – prosecutors say – by Kosovo Serb kingpin Milan Radoicic. Shortly after, police reinforcements arrived in two vehicles. In an explosion that followed, Police officer Afrim Bunjaku was killed and his colleague Alban Rashiti was wounded. The autopsy report identified the deadly weapon as a Yugoslav-made MRUD anti-personnel mine. Abazi told the court that the defendants’ overall plan was to “separate” Kosovo’s four Serb-majority northern municipalities “to join them with the Republic of Serbia”. On September 25, Judge Arben Hoti separated the case against Spasojevic, Tolic and Maksimovic from that of Radoicic and the 40 other defendants and one company owned by one of the defendants. The Basic Court on September 25 asked Kosovo’s Supreme Court to rule on whether Radoicic and 41 others can be tried in absentia. Judge Hoti said the Court will be asked whether the trial may be held in absentia even though the accused were not present at the initial hearing. Radoicic has taken sole responsibility for leading and organising the Banjska attack. He is now in Serbia, and has made no further public comment about the indictment. Radoicic, together with his business partner, Radule Stevic, and his company, RAD D.O.O., are also charged with money-laundering. Radoicic is also charged with financing terrorism. According to the indictment, Radoicic had been financing the criminal activities of a “structured terrorist group” since 2017. This included the purchase of heavy weapons and military uniforms. The indictment also alleges that Radoicic rallied local Serbs against any step taken by Kosovo’s authorities and deemed undesirable by Belgrade, mounting roadblocks and barricades. He is also being investigated by prosecutors in Serbia for organising an armed group, the unauthorised amassing of a large cache of weapons, which he transported to Kosovo, and for “serious crimes against general security”. In October last year, a Belgrade court refused to detain Radoicic but ordered him not to leave the country and confiscated his passport. Copyright BIRN 2007