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☆ Trial of Bosnian Serb Leader Dodik Formally Begins After Delays
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Feb. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - The trial of Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik on charges of defying the rulings of an international peace envoy formally begun on Monday after delays due to his protests against judges he said were biased and other complaints. The trial is taking place at Bosnia´s state court in the capital Sarajevo. The state court dismissed Bubic's earlier requests for eight judges to be exempted from the case over alleged political biases against Dodik. Asked if he has understood the indictment, Dodik said he did not understand any part of it and that it represented a "distortion of facts". "It has not been backed by a single fact, it was done under political pressure by incompetent prosecutors," Dodik told the judge.

Persons: Milorad Dodik, Dodik, Goran Bubic, Sena Uzunovic, Judge Uzunovic, Christian Schmidt, Schmidt, Bubic's, Dodik's, Gordana Bosiljcic, ´, Dodik ´, Daria Sito, Angus MacSwan Organizations: Bosnia, High, United Nations Security Council Locations: SARAJEVO, Bosnian, Bosnia, Serb Republic, German, Sarajevo, Republic

☆ NATO's Stoltenberg concerned by secessionist rhetoric in Bosnia
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( Daria Sito-Sucic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg shakes hands with Bosnian Prime Minister Borjana Kristo during his visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, November 20, 2023. Bosnia emerged from a 1992-1995 war with a federal structure uniting a Serb-dominated republic with a federation of Croats and Bosniak Muslims. "We are concerned by secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as .. foreign interference including Russia," Stoltenberg told reporters in Sarajevo, his first stop during a tour of the Western Balkans region. NATO has warned about risks for Bosnia from foreign interference, particularly from Russia, and agreed to help to shore up its ability to defend itself. Every country has the right to choose its security arrangements without foreign interference," Stoltenberg said after meeting the chairwoman of Bosnia's Council of Ministers, Borjana Kristo.

Persons: Jens Stoltenberg, Borjana Kristo, Amel, Milorad Dodik, Stoltenberg, Christian Schmidt, " Stoltenberg, Borjana, Daria Sito, Toby Chopra, Peter Graff Organizations: NATO, Bosnian, REUTERS, Rights, Representative, UN Security Council, Bosnia's, Ministers, Thomson Locations: Sarajevo, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Rights SARAJEVO, Serbia, Russia, Western Balkans, Yugoslavia, masse, EU, Ukraine, Balkans, Bosnian, Russian Bosnian Serbs

☆ EU Troops Confront Would-Be Rioters in Exercise Echoing Bosnia Political Crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Sept. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +2 min

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - As a group of would-be protesters grows, shouting and blowing their whistles at the EU force's camp in Sarajevo, a military aircraft flies low and helicopters take off, all as part of a EUFOR exercise echoing the current political crisis in Bosnia. Dodik, a pro-Russian nationalist, has long sought to separate the Serb-dominated part of Bosnia from the rest of it. EUFOR replaced NATO troops in Bosnia in 2004 with a mandate to stabilise the ethnically divided country. Last year, days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU decided to almost double the size of its peacekeeping force from 600 troops by sending in reserves to ward off any potential instability. NATO and senior EU officials have warned that instability from the war in Ukraine could spread to the Western Balkans.

Persons: Milorad Dodik, Vladimir Putin, Helmut Habermayer, Habermayer, EUFOR, Daria Sito, Hugh Lawson Organizations: EU, Bosnian, NATO Locations: SARAJEVO, Sarajevo, Bosnia, Bosnian Serbs, Russian, Russia, Ukraine, Balkans

☆ The West’s ‘see no evil’ approach to Serbia’s Vucic is destabilizing the Balkans
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Christian Edwards | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +20 min

The result is that, despite Serbia’s professed hopes to join the EU, Vucic has continued to walk a tightrope between Moscow and western powers. A Pristina government official told CNN that they did not want to “surrender” official government buildings to protesters. A decade on, these municipalities have not been created, leaving disputes to fester over the degree of autonomy for Kosovo Serbs. After such episodes, Joseph told CNN that the “see no evil” approach to Vucic’s regime may be starting to crack. “The situation is clear who the bully of the Balkans still is,” Meliza Haradinaj, Kosovo’s former foreign minister, told CNN.

Persons: Moscow’s, Aleksandar Vucic, Vladimir Putin, Daniel Mihailescu, ” Jasmin Mujanovic, Vucic, “, Mujanovic, Alicia Kearns, ”, –, Serbia's Aleksandar Vucic, Albin Kurti, Serbia’s, you’ll, Kearns, wouldn’t, Putin, Viktor, Orban, ” Majda, you’re, Quint, ” Kurti, Kurti, Edward Joseph, Laura Hasani, He’s, Shqiprim Arifi, Arifi, Ben Kilb, ” Dusan, Milorad Dodik, Oliver Bunic, Boris Grdanoski, ” Joseph, Viktor Oban, Joseph, Biden, Aleksandar Vulin, ” “ He’s, ‘ we’re, ’ He’s, I’ve, ” Vucic, Meliza Organizations: CNN, European Union, Putin, Belgrade, Getty, Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, NATO, National Security, United Nations, Kosovo's, EU, Anadolu Agency, Gazprom, Serbian, European Council, Foreign Relations, ”, US, Kosovo Serbs, Kosovo’s, Johns Hopkins University, …, Kosovo Serb, Reuters, British, Kosovo, Kosovar Business Alliance, Kosovar, Serbs, “ Association of, Bloomberg, ASM, Russian, AP, Serbia ”, KFOR, NATO’s Kosovo Force, Red Star, Red Star Belgrade soccer Locations: Russia, Ukraine, United States, Serbia, Europe, Belgrade, West, Kosovo, Kosovo’s, Kosovar, AFP, Russian, Balkan, Western Balkans, British, United, EU, Brussels, Belgium, Moscow, ” Kosovo, Serbs, France, Germany, Italy, Balkans, Pristina, … Serbia, Zvecan, Serbian, Presevo, Albanian, Leposavic, Republika Srpska, ” Republika Srpska, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dayton, Banja Luka, Kurti, Ohrid, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, appeasing Serbia

☆ Serb victims commemorated in Bosnia town infamous for killings of non-Serbs
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A building is seen at the former Trnopolje detention camp near Prijedor, Bosnia and Herzegovina November 13, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File PhotoAug 4 (Reuters) - Serbia and Bosnia's Serb Republic on Friday marked the 1995 exodus of Serbs from Croatia in a Bosnian town notorious for Serb war crimes during the Bosnian war, triggering outcry from survivors and human rights activists. "This is an ugly political message," said Gordana Katana, a journalist and activist from the Serb Republic's city of Banja Luka. Many Bosniak survivors feel hurt that victims from another state are commemorated in the town in which Bosniak victims have been ignored. Local Serb authorities have for years rejected pleas to raise a monument to the 102 children killed in Prijedor.

Persons: Dado, Gordana Katana, Satko Mujagic, Milorad Dodik, Aleksandar Vucic, Dodik, Daria Sito, Louise Heavens Organizations: REUTERS, Bosnia's, Croatian, Local, Serbian, Thomson Locations: Prijedor, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bosnia's Serb Republic, Croatia, Bosnian, Republic's, Banja Luka, Yugoslav, Slovenia, Belgrade, Croatian, Serb Republic

☆ U.S. sanctions four Bosnian Serb top officials for undermining peace deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Daria Sito-Sucic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SARAJEVO, July 31 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday imposed sanctions against four top Bosnian Serb officials, including the Serb member of the country's presidency, for undermining a U.S.-sponsored peace deal that ended the Balkan country's war in the 1990s. The constitution is part of the Dayton peace accords that ended the 1992-1995 Bosnian war in which 100,000 were killed, dividing the country into two autonomous regions, the Serb Republic and the Bosniak-Croat Federation, linked via a weak central government. Late in June, lawmakers in the Serb Republic voted to suspend rulings by Bosnia's constitutional court, a vote initiated by the region's separatist pro-Russian President Milorad Dodik who is already under U.S. and UK sanctions. "This action threatens the stability, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the hard-won peace underpinned by the Dayton Peace Agreement," said Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson. They stepped up activities undermining state institutions in recent months, including suspension of decisions by an international peace envoy.

Persons: Bosnia's, Zeljka Cvijanovic, Matthew Miller, Milorad Dodik, Radovan Viskovic, Milos Bukejlovic, Nenad Stevandic, Brian E, Nelson, Cvijanovic, Stevandic, Radovan Kovacevic, Dodik, Daria Sito, Nick Macfie Organizations: Bosnian, U.S . State Department, - Croat Federation, Russian, U.S . Department of, Treasury, Terrorism, Financial, Dodik, Thomson Locations: SARAJEVO, United States, U.S, Serb Republic, Bosnian, Dayton, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia

☆ Bosnia envoy revokes Bosnian Serb laws defying the state, peace deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Daria Sito-Sucic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SARAJEVO, July 1 (Reuters) - Bosnia's international peace overseer, Christian Schmidt, on Saturday annulled two laws that Bosnian Serb parliament had adopted defying the constitution and the terms of a peace deal that ended the Balkan country's war in the 1990s. Schmidt, who as international High Representative in Bosnia has powers to impose laws and sack obstructive officials, also amended a law so that those seen as attacking the state institutions can be criminally prosecuted. "Recent decisions by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska directly violate the constitutional order of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Dayton peace agreement," Schmidt told a news conference in Sarajevo. The Serbs say they do not recognise Schmidt, who was appointed in 2021, as the high representative because the U.N. Security Council did not endorse his appointment. The U.S. embassy welcomed Schmidt's decisions, agreeing that he was defending the Dayton peace deal and the constitution upholding the rule of law in Bosnia.

Persons: Christian Schmidt, Schmidt, Milorad Dodik, Dodik, Daria Sito, Louise Heavens Organizations: Bosnian Serb, Representative, National Assembly, Russian, . Security, United States, Thomson Locations: SARAJEVO, Bosnian, Bosnia, Republika Srpska, Herzegovina, Dayton, Sarajevo, Republic, Serb Republic, United States, United Kingdom, U.S

☆ Bosnian, Hungarian leaders rally in support of Vucic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Reuters Editorial | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

PoliticsBosnian, Hungarian leaders rally in support of VucicPostedHungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and secessionist Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik were among the speakers at the "Serbia of Hope" rally on Friday (May 26) which drew busloads of people from around Serbia and neighbouring Bosnia and North Macedonia.

☆ Bosnia Serb leader Dodik threatens to declare indepdendence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BELGRADE, April 14 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik on Friday told his ally Serbia he was seriously considering declaring the autonomous Serb Republic independent from the rest of Bosnia unless a row over a property law is resolved. Dodik's hardline Serb nationalism and pro-Russian stance have raised concern that Bosnia might fracture again along ethnic lines, a generation after its devastating war. According to constitution, the national parliament must adopt a property law that would be valid across Bosnia, but Dodik, who is president of the Serb Republic, says that deprives the Serb region in Bosnia of the right to its land, rivers and forests. During his 25 years in power either as the region's president or premier, Dodik has acted to strengthen the autonomy of the Serb region. Last month, Dodik ordered that Serb officials should halt all contacts and communication with US and UK ambassadors in Bosnia, after they had criticised his inflammatory rhetoric.

☆ Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine - Croatian president
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SARAJEVO, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, will never again be part of Ukraine, Croatian President Zoran Milanovic said on Monday in remarks detailing his objection to Zagreb providing military aid to Kyiv. read moreA vocal critic of Western policy in Ukraine, Milanovic has said he does not want his country, the EU's newest member state, to face what he has called potentially disastrous consequences over the 11-month-old war in Ukraine. He added that the arrival of German tanks in Ukraine would only serve to drive Russia closer to China. "It is clear that Crimea will never again be part of Ukraine," Milanovic added. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to restore Ukrainian rule over Crimea, seized and annexed by Russia in 2014 in a move not recognised by most other countries.

☆ Bosnian Serbs celebrate holiday banned by court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Daria Sito-Sucic | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/8] Members of Special police march during parade celebrations to mark their autonomous Serb Republic's national holiday, banned by the constitutional court, in East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, January 9, 2023. Fourteen war veterans' organisations filed criminal charges on Monday at a Sarajevo court against the Serb Republic leadership over violations of the constitutional court's ruling. Last week, Sarajevo war veterans announced protests against the holiday's celebration, but the police banned the gatherings saying it would step up their presence at the city borders. His role is not recognised by Serb Republic separatist President Milorad Dodik. Dodik, who addressed the parade and joined a ceremony in Banja Luka on Sunday, said no court would rule when Serbs celebrate their holidays, and said Serbs did not want to live in a multi-ethnic state.

☆ Election commission confirms preliminary results of Bosnia general vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SARAJEVO, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Bosnia's election commission (CIK) confirmed preliminary results of Oct. 2 presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday, showing the dominance of nationalist parties in parliaments at various levels of the Balkan country's governance. Bosnia remains a dysfunctional and unstable state almost three decades since the devastating conflict between its Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks as former Socialist Yugoslavia collapsed. The opposition parties that had accused him of rigging the vote have held two big rallies in Banja Luka after the vote. They asked the CIK to repeat the election in the Serb Republic but the commission rejected their request. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Bosnian Serb pro-Russian leader renews secession threat
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik renewed his secession threat on Monday, a week after the general election in the ethnically-divided country showed his party remained dominant among the Serbs. Pro-Russian Dodik triggered the gravest political crisis in the postwar Bosnia last December when he tried to pull the Serb Republic out of key state institutions, such as judiciary, tax system and a joint armed forces. Under the Dayton peace agreement that ended its 1992-1995 war, Bosnia was split into two autonomous regions - the Serb Republic and the Federation shared by Croats and Bosniaks - linked by a weak national government. They held protests in the region's de facto capital Banja Luka, attended by thousands of supporters. read moreBosnia's election commission said it would look into all recount requests after final election results due in early November.

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