| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1(19,00 hrs) | FED TV(19,30 hrs) | RT RS(19,30) |
| BIH Presidency session | Decertified police officers | Protest in Zenica mine | New RS Interior Minister |
| New | War crimes trials in BIH | Landslide in Kladanj | Apartments of former JNA |
| Lozancic & WB delegation | Trial to Milosevic | Protest of publishers USC | 2000 pensions tomorrow |
| CoE Monitoring Team | New RS Minister of Interior | CoE Monitoring Team | Criminal charges in Gacko |
Oslobodjenje | FTV: protect us from Bakir Izetbegovic’s threats; |
| Dnevni Avaz | Investigation of the Marko Boskic’s crimes; Ambassador McElhaney presented credentials to Tihic; Croat Self-Rule indictees interrogated |
| Dnevni List | SFOR’s McGovern camp near Brcko handed over to local authorities: Crime keeps OHR in BiH |
| Vecernji List | Features |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Cardinal asked for protection and became target of attacks |
Nezavisne Novine | SFOR base near Brcko handed for use to BiH authorities: Military camp to become industrial zone; BiH CoM choosing planner of the highway 5C: IPSA from |
| Glas Srpske | Troubles over new ID’ cards” Address to empty the pockets |
| EuroBlic | The flag of BiH flying at SFOR base “McGavern”; Ivanic and Dodik crossing swords over Constitution |
| Political issues |
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| Brcko: SFOR’s McGovern camp handed over to local authorities | RHB, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘SFOR handed over McGovern base to Brcko people’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Ashdown said there is no return back to past’ by E. Razanica, Dnevni List, front ‘Crime keeps OHR in BiH’ and pg 3 ‘International community on criminals’ ‘back’’, by Tihomir Bijelic, Slobodna Dalmacija, back pg ‘Ashdown: We are not leaving BiH’, by Mario Ivkic, Nezavisne Novine cover and pg 2 ‘Military camp to become industrial zone’ by V. Matijevic; Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Miracle in Brcko’ by M. Djurdjevic – SFOR’s ‘McGovern’ camp near Brcko was on Wednesday ceremoniously handed over to civilian authorities of the Brcko District. The ceremony, attended by a number of international and domestic officials, saw raising of the BiH and lowering of the FTV – Paddy Ashdown emphasized: “This is not an exit strategy of the international community from BIH. This is an entrance strategy of BIH to EU and NATO structures. And we are here as your friends and your partners for that entire journey.” BHT 1 – Brcko mayor said that this centre for economic improvement will be created with the budget of 800.000 KM. RTRS – At the occasion, Ashdown also said that BIH citizens should invest their vote in the better future in the up coming elections. Susan Johnson, Brcko Supervisor, hopes that the citizens will give their vote to progressive parties. She also said that District Brcko wants to make stronger connect to entities and BIH. Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Condition of all conditions is | |
| New | RHB, BHT 1, FTV, Oslobodjenje cover, pg 5 ‘US Presence in BiH continues’, Dnevni Avaz cover ‘Ambassador McElhaney presented credentials’, pg 3 ‘US are satisfied with the progress in BiH’, Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘McElhaney fortifies position of US in BiH’, by Dejan Jazvic, Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘McElhaney gives Lidija Topic credentials’, by NINA, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘New Ambassador of US hands credentials’ by N.N. – The new US Ambassador to BiH, Douglas McElhaney, presented the Chairman of BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic, his credentials. After that, he talked to all three members of the BiH Presidency, who welcomed the new Ambassador and exchanged views about topical issues with him. A hope was expressed that the already good relations between the two countries will develop even further and that the | |
| CoE monitoring team concludes implementation of reformatory laws and coop. with ICTY biggest BiH problems | RHB, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Europe not happy with the cooperation with the Hague’ by A. Omeragic,Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘The biggest problem for BiH is non-cooperation with the Hague’, Dnevni List, pg 5 ‘Politicians minded over failure to implement law’, by Danka Polovina-Mandic, Vecernji List, pg 2 ‘EU worried over slow reforms in BiH’, by Eldina Medunjanin– The members of the Council of Europe’s Monitoring Team stated on Wednesday that passing of the reformatory laws indicates the pace of progress in BiH, stressing that they however must be fully implemented in order for the situation to be regarded as satisfactory. The Speaker of the BiH House of Peoples, Goran Milojevic, stated upon the meeting that CoE officials saw the biggest problems to be the lack of cooperation with the ICTY and implementation of the reformatory laws, outmost the framework Law on the Higher Education and the Law on public broadcasting system. BIH parliamentarians notified the team that they would do everything in order to ratify certain conventions which are the post-accession obligation of BIH. FTV – The head of the team, the Director of Strategic Planning Directorate, Timothy Cartwright said that talks focused on the matters that are most important for BiH on its road to European integration. Cartwright added that the purpose of the team’s mission in BiH was not only to check how post-accession process goes, but also to insure that BiH citizens benefit from the ongoing process of democratization in their country. | |
| BiH Presidency endorses its 30% increased budget for 2005 | RHB – At the session on Wednesday, BiH Presidency endorsed the projected budget for the next year in an amount of 5,1 million KM. According to BiH Presidency member Borislav Paravac this is just a working version and stressed that this amount should enable continuous functioning of state chief body. RTRS – Although the Chair of BIH Presidency Sulejman Tihic stated recently that everyone in the Presidency is committed to maximum savings, the projected budget for next year is 32% higher than last year. FTV – FTV also carries that the budget is 30% higher than this year’s budget, to which Paravac said that it is not too much “only 1 million KM.” Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Presidency wants more money in budget’, by Erna Mackic, Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘BiH Presidency will not acknowledge warnings by UN’, by Dejan Jazvic – also reported. | |
| FTV claims Bakir Izetbegovic threats them | FTV, Oslobodjenje cover splash, pg 3 ‘Protect us from Bakir Izetebgoviuc’s threats’, Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ‘Kukic accuses Izetbegovic of pressuring FTV’ – The FTV Steering Board on Wednesday reacted to a statement by SDA deputy chairman Bakir Izetbegovic carried in Sarajevo-based Saff magazine. At an SDA panel held in Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘Bakir Izetbegovic threatened to FTV’ by D.R. – FTV assessed it is an ambition of SDA to place public electronic media under its control and promotion of its interests. | |
| SD follow up on Cardinal Puljic’s letter to Pope | Slobodna Dalmacija, front and pg 17, ‘Cardinal asked for protection and became target of attacks’, by Zlatko Tulic – As the content of Cardinal Vinko Puljic’s letter to the Pope, in which he asked for protection of BiH Croats, has been a cause for attacks and ironic commentaries by Sarajevo and Banja Luka-based media, the author wonders if the Catholic Church in BiH is allowed to publicly speak about the society in which its congregation lives, if Catholic religious officials are allowed to speak about state, political parties, democracy, human rights, international community… without that being interpreted as politicizing of the Church and taking the side of a political party? As the Cardinal also criticized the international community and the OHR in his letter, the author says he has asked for the OHR comment on that, but the OHR was not willing to do so saying that the OHR never comments on such allegations. | |
| Reactions to SDP proposal for BiH Constitution change | EuroBlic RSpg1 ‘Defence of Constitution’ mentioned on cover ‘Ivanic and Dodik crossing swords over Constitution’ – The article brings some reactions of political parties upon the proposal of SDP of BiH regarding change and addenda to BiH Constitution. Nikola Spiric, Deputy Chair of the BiH HoR, stated that “there are some elements, which can be discussed in relation with the change of BiH Constitution.” According to inset “Ivanic: Dodik is trying to destroy RS’, Mladen Ivanic, PDP President, yesterday accused Milorad Dodik of trying to destroy RS, reminding that on 23 November 2003, Dodik, on behalf of SNSD, signed the platform on programme cooperation with the SDP, stipulating change of BiH Constitution. Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Lagumdzija’s tricks’ by D.Mo.- Milorad Dodik, SNSD President, on Wednesday said this party does not support the SDP initiative, regarding it as a part of pre-election campaign and tricks of Zlatko Lagumdzija. | |
| HR Ashdown meets Branko Todorovic | RTRS – The High Representative Paddy Ashdown met with the Chairman of the RS Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Branko Todorovic. The meeting was held at an unknown location in Bijeljina, since – according to SRNA new agency – HR decided to change the place of the meeting for security reasons. | |
| Reactions to Ivanic’s statement on presence of mujahidins in BiH | Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Party for BiH will seek resignation of Mladen Ivanic’ by E. Sarac – The Speaker of the RS Council of Peoples and a member of Party for BiH, Remzija Kadric, says that his party will seek resignation of the BiH Foreign Minister, Mladen Ivanic following his statements on presence of mujahedins in BiH [please see BiH Media Round-up for 15 Sept]. “Only in a capacity of PDP leader, and not as the chief of BiH diplomacy, can Ivanic talk about mujahidins and say that because of this BiH has a problem with its image in the world, and further accuse that not enough has been done to solve that issue,” Kadric says. SDA issued a press release also commenting on Ivanic’s claims which reads: “BiH’s image in the world is compromised due to RS policy of non-cooperation with the ICTY.” SDU leader, Sejfudin Tokic, assesses Ivanic’s statement as the trial to redirect the attention from the RS continuous failure to cooperate with ICTY. Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Bad image’ op-ed by Edin Krehic – “BiH unfortunately has a bad reputation in the world. But, mujahidins are certainly not the main reason for such situation and minister Ivanic knows that very well,” the editorial on Ivanic’s statement reads adding that the reason are crimes committed in BiH and that fact that its main perpetrators are still at large. | |
| NN int with Jan Petersen | Nezavisne Novine pg 6 ‘BiH Court is doing its work better and better’ by A. Sisic – This is a brief interview with Jan Petersen, the Foreign Minister of Norway, where he expressed his view that the fact judiciary is working better and better is a good stimulus for everything in BiH. He is impressed with the work of the state judiciary, noting that the problems related to financing could surface in the future. He also stresses that: “The principle, which is of great importance in BiH, is the fact there is a clear division between political, executive and judicial authority.” | |
| VL: ‘Mostar divided because of urban planning’ | Vecernji List, pg 7, ‘Mostar divided because of urban planning’, by Zoran Kresic – VL carries that the power-sharing talks between HDZ and SDA in Mostar are blocked due to the issue of Head of Urban Planning Department. Namely, Mostar Mayor Hamdija Jahic, who originally accepted that the mentioned position is held by a Croat, has now changed his mind, while the HDZ would not hear of any changes to original agreement. VL alleges that the reason why the Mayor has changed his mind is that the Urban Planning Department administers city real estate, which means millions of KMs a year. VL goes on to say that it is possible that the vacancies for the Heads of five key Departments in the Mostar City Administration be annulled because of very few applicants and because by 13 September there were no applicants to the Commission that is to select the five Heads of Departments and Heads of 16 Services either. As the competencies of certain civil servants have not been clearly defined by the adopted systematization, VL concludes that the future City Administration, just like anything else in Mostar, would depend on the good will of the Croat and Bosniak sides in the city. | |
| Dodik calls on citizens to vote | Dnevni List, pg 6 ‘Dodik calls on citizenry to vote’, not signed – SNSD leader Milorad Dodik called on the citizenry to participate in the forthcoming elections, accusing representatives of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS) and the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) of attempting in every way to produce a situation in which a very small number of voters would cast their ballots at the October 2 elections. Dodik claims that the latest statements by SDS and PDP and their attacks on SNSD are aimed at making the citizens “sick” of elections in order to insure that they maintain the legitimacy of parties in power due to the eventual poor response of citizens. | |
| SD editorial on BiH Election Law | Slobodna Dalmacija, pg 16, ‘Sarajevo left without Croat councillors’, by Zlatko Tulic – saying that the election laws in most European countries are not as complicated as BiH’s Election Law, the author notes that election rules change in BiH every now and then: unlike last local elections, at the forthcoming elections the census of 3% of votes for political parties and independent candidates will be applied which will cause profiling of the political stage and which will sweep smaller parties away; as per new rules, Heads of Municipalities will be those who win 50% + one vote. The author judges that the forthcoming elections will discover demographic changes that took place over the last years: for instance, almost all municipalities in | |
| Police and military issues |
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| BiH Presidency on de-certification of police officers | Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘BiH Presidency will not acknowledge warnings by UN’, by Dejan Jazvic – VL notes that the court rulings, which order that Police officers that had been decertified by the UN IPTF are to be reinstated, will be implemented despite warnings coming from the UN. According to the Serb member of BiH Presidency, Borislav Paravac, BiH Presidency cannot interfere into the work of the judiciary and abolish the rulings that have already been taken. “Those court decisions will most likely be implemented, but we have to do everything not to have similar situations in the future”, said Paravac, confirming that the new regulations that the BiH Presidency has requested, cannot be applied retroactively. The BiH Presidency yesterday called on governments at all levels to harmonize the legislation with the de-certification process, so the courts in BiH cannot abolish UN’s decisions any more. RHB, FTV, BHT 1, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘International obligations must be respected’ by Fena, Dnevni List, pg 4 ‘Presidency wants more money in budget’, by Erna Mackic, Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘Start with processing war crimes in BiH as soon as possible’ by A. Terzic – Borislav Paravac said that the BiH Presidency discussed the objections made by the HR Paddy Ashdown regarding the decertified police officers. “We have been warned that decisions brought by IPTF regarding the decertifying some police officers are obligatory… Problematic are verdicts made by some domestic courts which revoked IPTF’s decisions, and for this reason we asked from Council of ministers to harmonize that legislation,” Paravac explained. RTRS – Members of BIH Presidency said they do not agree with the recent statement of the High Representative Paddy Ashdown accusing presidency of being inactive in solving the issue of police certification. “We gave a task to the Council of Ministers to consider legislation that could be adjusted on those decisions. We expect CoM will immediately approach that problem. I think that the Security Council will be pleased with our position” Paravac says. | |
| BHT 1 on presidency’s decision re decertified police | BHT 1 by Tomislav Djuric – Following the decision of the BiH Presidency, BHT 1 brings a story on Haris Hrvo, one of the Sarajevo Cantonal SWAT police officers who were decertified after the now infamous police action in Zujevina restaurant in | |
| Darko Matijasevic to be appointed new RS MoI | FTV, Oslobodjneje pg 3 ‘Today appointment of RS Interior Minister’, Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘RS Government today will appoint Interior MInister’, Nezavisne Novine pg 5 ‘Polcie Minister on agenda’ by N.N.;Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Minister’ – RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic, on Wednesday confirmed that RS Government would appoint Darko Matijasevic as the new Minister of Interiorat today’s session. Matijasevic assumes the position of BiH military attaché in BHT 1 – Milorad Dodik, President of SNSD says that Matijasevic is a good person and a professional. Dodik fears an atmosphere that Matijasevic would have to face at work. He claims that the whole government will be against Matijasevic, and that it will be difficult for him to achieve anything. Dragan Mikerevic says that his hardest task will be to reorganize the police. RTRS – Prime minister Mikerevic didn’t want to comment on the possible dismissal of RS Police Director Radomir NJegus. “The relation towards Police Director will be formulated after we appoint the Minister of Interior. It is logical that the new Minister will choose his associates and will influence the choice of his associates”, says Mikerevic. On the other hand SIPA confirmed the information that after the latest vacancy openings were cancelled, Njegus applied again for a post in this agency. | |
| Bomb thrown in front of Zvornik mayoral candidate’s house | Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Bomb at the house of mayoral candidate’ by Onasa, Vecernji List pg 3 ‘Bomb thrown at house of candidate for mayor of Zvornik’, by bljesak.info, Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘A bomb thrown at the house of Budimir Acimovic’ by S.K.; Glas Srpske pg 10 ‘A bomb as warning’; EuroBlic RSpf 2 ‘A bomb for candidate’ by S.P. – A bomb was thrown on Tuesday night in the courtyard of the house owned by Budimir Acimovic (54) the candidate for the Municipal Parliament Speaker in Zvornik at the forthcoming elections. The explosion took place ten minutes before | |
| Colak: ‘Comparison with terrorism in world exaggerated’ | Dnevni List, pg 9 ‘Comparison with terrorism in world exaggerated’, by Tanja Dragic – amid media reports that link BiH to global terrorism, DL carries a comment by the BiH Security Minister, Barisa Colak, who argues if one were to make an analysis as to how many times BiH was linked to terrorist organizations in past six months, one could conclude that there have been exaggerations in the sense of linking BiH citizens to recent several terrorist attacks in the world. “One has to be careful in that, because countries with far bigger level of democracy than is the case in BiH, and with much stronger police apparatus, had the misfortune to have terrorism. All I can say is that we must exert maximum effort, not only of domestic forces, but of international ones too, because we need their educational, technical and material help”, said Minister Colak. | |
| Cavic meets Locher | Nezavisne Novine pg 3 ‘Defence reform is the biggest post-Dayton step’ by SRNA; Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Agreement to shape reforms’ by M.Dz. – Dragan Cavic, RS President, and James Locher, Chairperson of the Defence Reform Commission, yesterday held a meeting in Banja Luka which discussed the so far implementation of the defence reform. Cavic supported the commitment of the RS for BiH admission to NATO programme PfP. According to press release issued by Cavic’s Cabinet afterwards, “the meeting concluded that a compromise was reached that defence reform is the biggest step forward, which respected all specifics of the internal relations in BiH.” | |
| War crimes |
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| BiH Presidency endorses establishment of Registry for war crimes chamber | RHB, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘Start with processing war crimes in BiH as soon as possible’ by A. Terzic– At the session held on Wednesday, the BiH Presidency endorsed the agreement made between this institutions and the HR Paddy Ashdown which stipulates the Registry office. The institution is foreseen as separate body which will propose appointments of judges and prosecutors to be engaged in the processing of the war crimes cases before the BiH judiciary. Presidency also asked from authorized institutions to ensure all preconditions for the beginning of the work of the BiH War Crimes Chamber. RTRS –Chief ICTY Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte sent a letter to BIH Presidency stating that ICTY will have to cease its operation once due to financial difficulties thus transferring certain cases to | |
| BHT 1 feature on transfer of cases to BiH judiciary | BHT 1 by Boris Grubesic– ICTY Prosecutor’s Office requested transfer of war crime cases carried out in Omarska and Keraterm concentration camps to the BiH Office of the Prosecutor. The indictment might be transferred by next month. According to unofficial information, ICTY Prosecution is also interested in transfer of war crime cases regarding the events in Foca and | |
| McNair on war crimes trials | Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ‘Trial of leaders of Croat Self-Rule by the end of this year or at the beginning of the next’, mentioned on cover ‘Croat Self-Rule suspects interrogated’ by Faruk Vele – DA published an interview with the head of the BiH Court’s Special department for organized and economic crime and corruption, John McNair, stated that his department will expand and will incorporate the war crimes cases. The first case to be transfer to them by ICTY is the case ‘Meakic and others’. | |
| Milosevic’s trial halted by 12 October | BHT 1, FTV, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Trial of Milosevic halted by 12 October’ – ICTY has decided to interrupt the trial of Slobodan Milosevic until October 12, so that his defence attorneys could have more time for preparing his defence and contacting the witnesses, was announced by ICTY. Thus, the chairing judge, Patrick Robinson, complied with the request of British attorney Steven Kay, who had previously warned that he was facing mass rejections by the defence witnesses to appear before the Court because Milosevic has been deprived of the right to defend himself. Due to the boycott by witnesses, Kay has managed to insure only two witnesses – one for this and the other for the next week, which has brought into the question the further development of the defence procedure. | |
| DA says Tuzla Prosecution examines Marko Boskic’s war past | Dnevni Avaz cover splash ‘Investigation on the crimes of Marko Boskic’, pg 2 ‘Prosecution in Tuzla launched investigation against Marko Boskic’ by A. Hadzic – Cantonal Prosecution in Tuzla has launched an investigation into the allegations that Marko Boskic, recently arrested in US, played a role in war crimes. DA, which wrote that Boskic took part in crimes committed in Srebrenica in 1995 as the soldier of RS Army, says that their articles played key role in launching of this investigation. | |
| PDP says Terzic prevents forming commission on suffering of Serbs | Dnevni List, pg 3 ‘Terzic is stopping forming of commission on suffering of Serbs’, not signed – A PDP MP in the BiH Parliament’s House of representatives, Jelena Curkovic, stated at a press conference held in Banja Luka that the Chairman of BiH Council of Ministers, Adnan Terzic, was obstructing establishment of commission that would investigate into sufferings of the Serbs in Sarajevo during the war. She reminded that the BiH Parliament sent the BiH Council of Ministers a request to establish the commission, noting that BiH Foreign Minister, Mladen Ivanic, wanted to put it on the agenda of the BiH CoM on several occasions, but without success because the Bosniak representatives, led by Terzic, were obstructing the efforts. | |
| Oslobodjenje editorial urges Ashdown to involve in work of Srebrenica Commission | Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Who hides graves?’ op-ed by Daniel Omeragic – Editorial refers to the work of Srebrenica Commission, reminding of a series of positive things that happened in its work. However, it further notes the difficulties that appeared, mainly with the regard of the worsened relation between the Commission and FBiH Commission for Missing Persons after no body remain was found in a mass grave also identified by Srebrenica Commission. “For this reason, search for body remains of Srebrenica dwellers at the locations listed in the Report [of Srebrenica Commission] has been halted and it probably will not be continued until members of the FBiH Commission are not allowed to attend the sessions [of Srebrenica Commission]. It is therefore a time for HR Paddy Ashdown to again interfere with the work of the Commission, as he did previously during the months long talks on historic events in Srebrenica. Only when Ashdown cut that agonizing situation… the final report was finished. That is how it will be in the case of establishing the correct locations which hide the body remains of people of Srebrenica.” | |
Economic issues / investigations |
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| Update to issue of JNA apartments | Dnevni List pg 8 ‘Federation of BiH violates human rights’ not signed – President of housing commission of Association of military pensioners of RS, Jovo Vukobrat, says the changes and amendments to the Law on sale of apartments with tenancy rights, which were adopted by the FBiH Parliament’s House of Peoples, violate the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Agreement on Succession and BiH Constitution. He notes that the Association expects from the RTRS – Nikola Spiric, Deputy Speaker of the BiH House of Representative, objected to the adoption of the changes: “I think that the decision of FBiH Parliament is in a line of pressurising Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Mehmedagic: BiH officers will be able to buy military apartments’ by Az.B. – Ramiz Mehmedagic, FBiH Minister for Urban Planning and Environment, explains that former JNA officers who purchased military apartments but did not claim it will be compensated in an amount determined by the FBiH. “One part of the law says that [military] apartments will not be returned to JNA officers. However, our officers who got those apartments will be able to purchase them,” Mehmedagic adds. | |
| Zenica mine protests continues | BHT 1 – Villagers of Obrenovac near Zenica continue to protest against Zenica Coalmine, demanding compensation for damage of their houses caused by mining in the area. Officials of Zenica Coalmine deny any responsibility and demand end of the protests. FTV – Protestors spent another night in front of the Zenica Coalmine preventing miners to work. Oslobodjenje and Dnevni Avaz also covered this issue. | |
| DA int with John McNair | Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ‘Trial of leaders of Croat Self-Rule by the end of this year or at the beginning of the next’, mentioned on cover ‘Croat Self-Rule suspects interrogated’ by Faruk Vele – DA published an interview with the head of the BiH Court’s Special department for organized and economic crime and corruption, John McNair, saying that some of the cases that he launched ‘restored trust’ in the justice. McNair talks on a number of issues, saying that there will be new indictments with regarding to the Hercegovacka Bank case. As for the decision to prosecute leaders of the Croat Self-Rule ‘project’, McNair said that the trial is expect to start at the end of this or at the beginning of next weak. Commenting to the objections by defendant lawyers that he did not questioned them before raising the indictment, McNair said that they were interrogated before the | |
| Serbian tycoon visits RS, meets authorities and businessmen | Nezavisne Novine pg 5 ‘Interested in investing in RS’ by D. Risojevic; Glas Srpske pg 3 ‘Barriers should fall down’ by G. Dakic; EuroBlic RSpg 2 ‘Links in background’ by N.B. – Delegation of businessmen SiCG, led by Bogoljub Karic, yesterday met with businessmen of RS, namely with the RS Union of entrepreneurs, and signed a Protocol on cooperation, aimed at improving economic relations between RS and Serbia. Karic yesterday supported the ideal of establishing a common trade centre in The meeting Dodik-Karic discussed political issues on the eve of local elections. | |
| DL on sale of Dretelj facilities | Dnevni List, pg 8 ‘Secret negotiations on sale of Dretelj?’, mentioned on front, by Nermin Bise – The daily carries an article about the future of military facilities in BiH, which the military authorities inherited from former JNA, especially in light of difficult situation the military is in and plans to sell the facilities that are considered as burdens. Noting that some former JNA barracks have already been handed over to several universities in BiH, the daily says that according to some unofficial information, secret talks on sale of the Dretelj oil terminal near Capljina, estimated to be worth between 35 and 40 million KMs, are being held. DL tried to get a comment from the FBiH MoD and competent Minister Miroslav Nikolic, but could not get a comment from them. | |
| NN on corridor Vc | Nezavisne Novine cover and pg 3 ‘IPSA to get the job’ by M. Cubro – The NN source at the BiH Council of Ministers confirmed that the IPSA Institute Sarajevo has the biggest chance to get BAM 40 million worth job regarding preparation of the project and documentation related to highway corridor 5C. Branko Dokic, BiH Minister of Transport and Communication, also indirectly confirmed that the offer by IPSA Sarajevo, IGH Zagreb and 16 other firms from BiH and | |
| BiH Prosecution blames police, not Directorate, for problems with CIPS documents | Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘Criminals were receiving false identification numbers for CIPS documents from MoIs’ by H. Orahovac – DA says that forging CIPS documents – both IDs and driving licences – has became a matter of interests for BiH Prosecution. Chief BiH Prosecutor, Marinko Juricevic, says that “it is needed to be precise and say that there are no forging of the documents, but the fact that one person has more than one ID.” Prosecutor Ahmed Halebic, in charge of CIPS related cases, says that there are information on a number of manipulations concerning the citizen’s personal documents. “People were receiving identification numbers belonging to citizens that were killed, died or do not live anymore in BiH from Interior Ministries in FBiH, RS and Brcko District. Based on such identification number, they would get an old ID after which they would also get new, CIPS, ID,” Halebic claims. He adds that CIPS staff members are not the responsible ones in cases like this, especially since it has no protection system which would prevent them. Instead, he blames police. Prosecutor Halebic also announces that the BiH Prosecution will establish the team consisting of both their and police staff members to investigate all issues related to illegally activities with regard to CIPS project. Dnevni Avaz pg 9 ‘Skrbic: There will be no another change of documents’ by F. Cardzic – Referring to the accusations made by Director of the Transparency International BiH, Boris Divjak, that CIPS project is expensive and non-transparent, director of the CIPS directorate, Mirko Skrbic, says that its price of 33 million KM is much less than similar projects. He adds that Divjak’s accusations are not based on any relevant comparisons and only show lack of knowledge on the issue. | |
| VL on dubious privatization of Privredna Banka Sarajevo | Vecernji List, pg 3 ‘Real owner of PBS unknown’, by Zdenko Jurilj – argues that the Privredna Banka Sarajevo, a highly respectable pre-war financial institution in BiH, was privatized by an unknown offshore company with the seat on the | |