| CROAT RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18:00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19:00 hrs) | FED TV (19:30 hrs) | RT RS (19:30) |
| Bangladesh accident | Srebrenica | Srebrenica | No closing of hospitals |
| Srebrenica | Tax frauds | Officials’ immunity | Discussion on economy |
| Fight against crime | Banja Luka Clinical Centre | Ferryboat sunk | New tax collection |
| Iraq update | Ferryboat sunk | Account freezing | Mucić released |
| Oslobodjenje | Salaries in the FBiH Palriament increased by 350 KM; The saddest convoy passed through the city; Rebac – evasions worth millions will be discovered by the end of the year; Alarm due to internal debt; Eviction of Vejiz Sabic scheduled for July 11; Lilic – Mladic received guarantees he wouldn’t go to The Hague |
| Dnevni Avaz | Sarajevo bids farewell to the saddest convoy; Kebo – I will visit Zepa soon; Delic – Cegar report would have been completed; Foreign Trade Chamber – spending 1,590,000 for salaries |
| Dnevni List | Immunity abolished to President of State; Avis Benes – green light for proposed ministers in the HNK government on Monday (NB: Avis did not state this, but that the OHR would declare its position about the candidates by Monday) |
| Vecernji List | HDZ ministers without influence; Municipality of Rama is not case, but role model |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Slovenian businessmen robbed BiH market |
| Glas Srpske | Banja Luka Clinical Centre – working, but still on strike; Wheat harvest in the RS almost completed – a year to forget |
| Nezavisne Novine | Vehicles carrying mortal remains of 282 killed Srebrenica citizens passed through Sarajevo on their way to Potocari – thousands of Sarajevo citizens pay their respects to Srebrenica victims; Slavko Jovicic, Deputy Chairman of the RS Association of Inmates – Izetbegovic knew about camp ‘Silos’ |
| Blic | Textbooks without blood, knife and aggression; Tourist tour – a tour of all Karadzic’s houses for 450 euros |
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| Political Affairs |
| BiH – Macedonia | CRHB at 15:00 hrs – members of the BiH Presidency, Dragan Covic, Sulejman Tihic and Borislav Paravac,on Wednesday met Macedonian Prime Minister, Branko Crvenovski, and assessed the relation between two countries as good. A press release issued by the BiH Presidency reads that officials expressed need to sign a number of bilateral agreements with the aim of improving the cooperation and removing obstacles for future investments. Covic invited the Macedonian authorities and businessmen to attend an international conference on foreign investments in BiH, which will be held in February 2004 in Mostar. Crvenovski said that his country was willing to assist BiH in its efforts to join the Partnership for Peace and Adriatic Charter. RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Vanja Filipovic – reported on the meeting. Also reported in Avaz pg. 4 ‘Covic invited businessmen to visit’. |
| BiH Presidency session | CRHB at 15:00 hrs – At a session held on Wednesday, the BiH Presidency adopted a report on institutions’ budget for the last year and for the period from January to March 2003. They further discussed the harmonizing of salaries of Presidency members. Sulejman Tihic said that, having in mind the current economic situation, there would be no salary increase, which should be also adopted by the BiH Parliament and other BiH institutions. Presidency also accepted loan agreement between BiH, European Union and Central Bank. Presidency appointed members of the Organizing Board for a conference on foreign investments to be held in Mostar in 2004. The Board will be lead by Dragan Covic, and members are Adnan Terzic, Dragan Mikerevic, Ahmet Hadzipasic and Mila Gadzic. BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Boris Grubesic – reported on the session. FTV at 19:30 hrs – Presidency accepted the loan agreement between BiH, European Union and BiH Central Bank. RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Stjepan Zlikovac – the BiH Presidency members concluded at the session to freeze salaries in all joint institutions. Vecernji List pg. 2 ‘Covic, Tihic and Paravac do not want the rise’ – Vecernji List pg. 2 ‘Covic, Tihic and Paravac do not want the rise’ – a report from yesterday’s session of BiH Presidency. VL reports that the three members did not sort out the dispute, which filled the press in the past few days regarding the withdrawal of the BiH lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro. “Sessions of Presidency are no place to discuss such issues,” said Sulejman Tihic. However, Tihic confirmed that he had informal talks with Borislav Paravac about the issue. VL went on to say that the Presidency taught the State Parliament a real lesson in morality when unlike ‘the greedy parliamentarians’, members of the Presidency refused to have their salaries increased, warning it would be unacceptable that the authorities increase salaries considering the BiH economic situation. Also, in Dnevni List pg. 6 ‘Removal of ambassadors announced, Slobodna Dalmacija back page ‘Still no agreement on re-distribution of ambassadorial posts’. |
| cc Ashdown’s letter | CRHB at 15:00 hrs – High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, invited heads of seven municipalities from Eastern Herzegovina bordering with Croatia or Serbia and Monte Negro, to improve the cross-border cooperation between BiH and neighbouring countries. Ashdown sent the letter to heads of following municipalities: Trebinje, Gacko, Nevesinje, Berkovici, Bileca, Ljubovici and Ravno. He also invited these officials to reinforce the implementation of economic reforms, rule of law, property laws and judiciary reforms, which all have a common enemy – corruption and organized crime. “We have to ensure that Eastern Herzegovina doesn’t fall behind of other BiH regions,” said Ashdown. Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘Ashdown proposes development measures’, Glas Srpske pg. 3 ‘Economy erases borders’ – the HR advises local authorities which steps to take together with the international community, in order to secure the economic recovery of the region. Ashdown appointed Anatoly Viktorov for Special Co-ordinator of the international community in Eastern Herzegovina. OHR Spokeswoman, Sonja Pastuovic, quoted the letter at a press conference yesterday in Banja Luka: “We must ensure that Eastern Herzegovina does not lag behind the rest of BiH as we move towards Europe.” Vecernje Novosti pg. 21 ‘He promised help to municipalities’ – on HR’s letter. |
| FBiH HoP session | BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Boris Grubesic – the FBiH House of Peoples has adopted the Criminal Law and Law on Criminal Procedures. The implementation of the laws will start on August 1st. Delegates also adopted the Commission’s report on harmonizing the contents of these laws. Newly adopted laws create new relationships between prosecution and the defendants in the court procedures, and provide more efficient investigation activities. The OHR department for justice reforms is pleased that the Criminal Law is harmonized in the entire BiH six months after being announced by the High Representative. “We have settled the principles of the criminal legislation based on the efficiency of criminal procedure, European human rights standards and the experience of modern legislative systems,” stated Head of the OHR department Zoran Pajic. BiH defendant attorneys are not pleased with the reforms of the system, saying that it would not allow them to prepare proper defence. FTV at 19:30 hrs by Tomislav Djuric – during the session, there was also a proposal to discuss suspending the pay increase for Federation government delegates. The proposal did not last very long, since there wasn’t any intention to discuss it. Slavko Matic, Chairman of the HoP, stated that the increase only represented harmonization of payments in the BiH institutions. In Oslobodjenje pg. 1, 4 and 5 – the biggest front-page story labelled as ‘scandalous’ since reps of the Fed HoP decided to increase their salaries by 350 KM. |
| Immunity for BiH officials | BHTV at 19:00 hrs – theFederation Constitutional Court has decided that 24 former BiH high-ranking officials do not have the right to immunity for the alleged criminal actions while performing their duties. Among others, the decision includes Esad Brkovic, Josip Merdzo, Edhem Bicakcic, Nikola Grabovac and Dragan Covic (?!). FTV at 19:30 hrs – reported on the decision and listed, next to the above names, two more – Dragan Mandic and Branko Golub. Dnevni List pg. 1 and 3 – 24 former officials from levels of cantons and Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH) appealed with the FBiH Constitutional Court against decisions of Cantonal and FBIH Supreme Court, which decided that officials could not invoke the immunity. Listed Merdzo, Mandic, Bicakcic, Covic and Grabovac. The report also carried by Dnevni Avaz on pg. 2 ‘Bicakcic, Grabovac and Covic can not defend themselves with the immunity’ |
| Re-structuring of Mostar | Dnevni List pg. 1 and 9 – on a process of the restructuring of Mostar in which the author says that Mostar could serve as an example of organizational set-up of units of local self-rule to an extent that the FBIH Constitution was changed in the process. In that context, DL says the Mostar Commission rendered the issue of protection of vital national interest concluding that the vital national interest should become a part of the Constitution of FBiH and statutes of units of local self-government where it was estimated that it could contribute to the equality of peoples. Moreover, DL says that one of technical doubts in the work of the Mostar Commission was a definition of the city. In that context, VL says that recently held round table in Mostar, organized by ‘Konrad Adenauer’ Foundation, concluded that a term ‘city’ should be re-defined through constitutional regulation which was at the moment molded into such form that the city was made of two or more municipalities, saying that it was clear that even one municipality could create a city. Finally, when it comes to the composition of the Mostar City Council, which at the moment has 30 councilors, DL reads that estimates say that the optimum number would be 50 in order to cover all parts of the city. |
| Benes | Vecernji List pg. 1 and 7, Dnevni List pg. 1 and 15, N.B. Avis Benes did not say ‘green light’ but that the OHR would declare their position on proposed candidates by Monday) and Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 18 ‘The OHR congratulated citizens of Rama’ – Avis Benes stated at the yesterday’s press conference that Deputy High Representative and Head of the OHR South, Ambassador Jean-Pierre Bercot, met with Head of Municipality Prozor-Rama, Jozo Vukoja, during this week and they talked about the situation in this municipality. The dailies say that Ambassador Bercot congratulated to the municipal authorities on the results achieved in this municipality in the sphere of the return process and property laws implementation. VL says that this meeting took place after the Prozor-Rama municipality and its leaders were presented as organizers and the place of the biggest corruption and crime in BiH and that the OHR did not say whether Bercot and Vukoja talked about the ‘Federation TV versus Rama Municipality’ affair. According to the information that VL has at its disposal, this is about showdowns of personal nature. DL and SD say that Avis Benes confirmed that that the OHR had received the names of three candidates for vacant ministerial positions in the Herzegovina –Neretva Cantonal government on July 4 and reminded that it was up to the parties to publish the names of proposed candidates if they wanted to. She added that the OHR would publish the names of candidates who passed the vetting procedure by July 14 at the latest. She also stated that the High Representative sent a letter to heads of Eastern Herzegovina municipalities in which the HR stressed the priorities of the IC in this region. |
| Interview with Vukoja | Vecernji List pg. 7 ‘It is known who is behind the whole story’ – an interview with the Head of Municipality Prozor-Rama, Jozo Vukoja, during which he, talking about the disputable report by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Television about the municipality, said the following. “It is known who is behind the whole story. Namely, there is a group of people in Rama who mind every positive development in this municipality so they make up different affairs. They feel they are losing political ground and they want to divert focus on them. I feel sorry we have gone to this level because nobody will profit from this, and everybody in the municipality is at loss.” |
| DL editorial on HR | Dnevni List pg. 6 by Bakir Hadziomerovic ‘Raj and his Bellboy’ – an editorial following an article in the British Guardian on the role of High Representative Paddy Ashdown where the author, Bakir Hadziomerovic, says the European Stability Initiative’s report yet again proved that the IC ‘or to be more precise its BiH personification, the Office of the High Representative, neither can or want to make BiH a serious state’. Saying the ESI’s report was great, Hadziomerovic claims the ESI failed to mention that the ‘main character of their observation’ failed to respond to requests for interviews to newspapers and TV shows, the outlets which criticize Ashdown. “Why wouldn’t we ‘forgive’ this oversight to the ESI’s analysts when it is obvious that their critic hurts the British lord and his bellboy (for everything) Julian Braithwaite much more? We witnessed that BiH media published thousands of articles about failures of our Raj (Slobodna Bosna, BH Dani, Oslobodjenje, Start Dnevni List, 60 minuta), but they were never directly denied from the OHR, or God forbid, by Ashdown himself. On the other hand, when the British Guardian carries excerpts of a ‘mere’ report, which was, by the way, funded by the British Foreign Office, than that’s a problem for the Raj. And then the Braithwaite’s reaction, and when he reacts, there is no fooling around,” says Hadziomerovic. |
| Interview with Mikerevic | Vecernje Novosti pg. 2 ‘Republika Srpska is not a desert island’ – an interview with RS PM Dragan Mikerevic. Said that according to the pace of its work, the Republika Srpska is a better part of BiH and its institutions function in a good way. “Any special contribution could not be put to government’s credits, but every further progress will depend on this government. Currently, it implements six reforms. Our priority is to stop negative trends — all kind of criminal and corruption,” Mikerevic says. He says that there are disagreements about many problems that the government needs to solve, because some moves by the government bother the public, opposition, but the position as well. “I am aware that we are not a likeable government, because we are forced to make unpleasant decisions; unpleasant for those groups of people who would like to continue current situation. But we will not give up,” Mikerevic is categorical. Speaking about the Republika Srpska today and whether it will survive, Mikerevic says that today’s RS and the RS from 1995 are not the same, but that is a process conditioned by changes in the region. “We have to be aware that almost all counties of the EU sacrificed their interior policies and transferred them to the level of EU. The Republika Srpska and Federation of BiH need to sacrifice something in order to be a part of EU’s civil society.” Speaking about Radovan Karadzic, Mikerevic says he does not know where he is. “Of course, it is not clear to me at all who can know that. I do not believe that anyone has such information, but I think we cannot have the same position towards that issue as we had before. We have to seek solutions and fulfil that obligation towards The Hague Tribunal.” As for the BiH lawsuit against Serbia and Montenegro, Mikerevic says that the lawsuit was launched in 1993 under the false name of BiH, and that is the Federation’s lawsuit. “Neither three people nor two entities are behind that lawsuit. And it is sure that there is no Serb representative who will support the lawsuit. This government, regardless of its multiethnic structure, will not support it, and I think there is enough Serb representatives in BiH who will not allow for the lawsuit s to be institutionalised,” Mikerevic says. |
| Avaz commentary | Avaz pg. 3 ‘Cloned Krajisnik’ by Fadil Mandal – commentary on Paravac’s statements, which, according to the author, clearly indicate that he has no intention of hiding his goals – stopping any sort of progress in BiH. As for Paravac negating genocide, Mandal thinks it equals new crime. The author lists some of Paravac’s other statements – made fun of the flag in Bosanski Samac, advocated the withdrawal of the BiH lawsuit, and opposed the constitutional changes. ‘Someone, while trying to sum up Paravac’s three-month work, assessed he still lived in 1996. More precisely, Borislav Paravac, with his political views and ideas, is a cloned version of Momcilo Krajisnik. And we all know where he is and what for.” |
| VL on HDZ ministers | Vecernji List pg. 1, 4 and 5 – an article about the image of eight HDZ ministers in governments of the Federation and BiH, where the author says none of the ministers managed to create a recognizable image even after six months in the office, comparing them with former ministers, namely Mijo Anic (FBiH Defence Minister) and Nikola Grabovac (FBiH Finance Minister). “If you superficially compare the authority and image, for example, of the former Finance Minister Grabovac with the current Minister Dragan Vrankic, the difference is evident. Anic too, like Grabovac, easily imposed himself. Both have the recognizability, they made significant moves and knew how to serve them to the public, sometime even too spectacularly,” says the author. According to VL, the only exception in ‘the gray story’ is Barisa Colak, albeit the people recognize him as the party leader, whilst only few recognize him as the BiH Minister for Security. |
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| Economic Affairs |
| Customs and tax frauds | CRHB at 15:00 hrs – Director of FBiH Customs Administration, Zelimir Rebac, on Wednesday stated that priority of the established Coordination Board, in charge of the prevention of customs and tax frauds, would be fight against major financial frauds since BiH was missing plenty of money. The coordination includes the FBiH Customs and Tax Administrations, FBiH police forces, FBiH Financial Police, and the FBiH intelligence and security services. Rebac said that, as a result of this Board’s work, several investigations into the frauds worth millions of KM would be concluded by the end of this year, and added that the FBiH Customs Administration would soon file charges for customs frauds in total value of 47 million KM. BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Svjetlana Topalic – Rebac said the practice so far has shown that the above listed institutions were not able to conduct investigations alone, and that the work needed to be coordinated. FTV at 19:30 hrs – the Customs Administration, Tax Administration, Financial Police, Federal Intelligence Service (FOS) and Federal Ministry of Interior agreed on establishing the Coordination Board in order to coordinate the work of these institutions. |
| Meeting with IMF and WB officials | BHTV at 19:00 hrs – members of the Economic Development Board, led by the Federation and RS PMs, held a meeting with World Bank and IMF representatives to discuss the strategy for reducing the national and foreign debts. According to Adnan Terzic, the debts are threatening the existence of the state budget, since the national debt will soon reach the amount of national gross revenue. The IMF expects the full support of the entity governments for the implementation of the new strategy. Avaz pg. 2 ‘The reform of the market’s work is necessary’ – RS PM Mikerevic said BiH lacked economic activities, certified products, which additionally influences the work of the market. |
| Payment of sales tax on high-tariff goods | BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Sanita Lisica – the Council of Ministers together with entity governments and Brcko District government signed an agreement on the payment of sales tax on all high-tariff goods, which is to be applied as of August 1st. BiH Prime Minister Adnan Terzic stated that these measures were supposed to reduce the damage of tax frauds amounted by ‘fictitious’ companies. RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic pointed out that the future would bring solutions for the retirement and health funds revenues and release the social pressure that existed. Brcko Distric Mayor Sinisa Kisic stressed the importance of eliminating all administrative obstacles to the free and legitimate product trading in the entire BiH. “No matter where the company is registered, it will be obligated to fulfil all the legal obligations,” said FBiH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic. FTV at 19:30 hrs shortly reported the story. RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Dragan Knezevic – “This measure will help eliminate tax evasions and fictitious companies…It is a part of preparations for the introduction of VAT, which may happen in the next six months,” said Terzic. |
| PMs on economic problems | RTRS at 19:30 hrs by Jelena Radakovic – The Coordination Board for Economic Issues and EU integration held a session in Sarajevo. All three PMs took part as well senior representatives of international community. Main conclusion were that a high level of public debt and limited labour mobility hinders economic progress in BiH and that the BiH authorities have to address this issue. RS Prime Minister Mikerević said the essence of all problems was the lack of economic activities and not over employment in some sectors. Federation Prime Minister Hadžipašić underlined the following. “The mobility of labour force is very limited since the privatisation process is lagging behind the schedule and little interest of foreign investors…we need to finalize the work on development strategy”. Avaz pg. 8 ‘PMs signed an agreement on the tax paying’ – reported on the meeting. |
| Bisic | Blic pg. 7 ‘All KM when where they should go’ – “I am quite satisfied with the auditing report on the work of the RS Tax Administration for the last year. Not a single irregularity has not been discovered in our work,” former Director of the RS Tax Administration and current Deputy Minister of Finance in Serbia Milica Bisic said. Further says that the Tax Administration worked in line with the law, and that every single KM went where it should have gone. However, the team of the RS Chief Auditor discovered a series of irregularities in the work of the Tax Administration. As stated in the report, the law was violated with the opening of an account for forcible collection of taxes, a procedure following the confiscation of goods was not in line with the law, the law was further violated in the process of purchase of computes and also, the payments amounting to 2 million KM to a wrong account was registered. “When it comes to the opening of the account for forcible collection of taxes, the problem should be with the government and foreign experts for the Tax Administration’s work who allowed opening of that account. That is not Tax Administration’s account, but account of public revenues. Therefore, everything was in line with the law,” Bisic explained. |
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| Srebrenica anniversary |
| Final respects for 282 victims | CRHB at 15:00 hrs – seven vehicles with the remains of 282 Srebrenica victims left from Visoko city cemeteries for Potocari on Wednesday. In Sarajevo, vehicles stopped in front of the BiH Presidency building where a large group of citizens gathered to pay their respects to victims of the largest massacre in Europe since the WWII. They were joined by the BiH Presidency members Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic, and other FBiH officials. After the prayer, vehicles left for Potocari, where the remains would be buried at the Potocari Memorial centre on July 11. BHTV at 19:00 hrs by Lejla Redzovic – over 3,000 Sarajevo citizens paid a tribute to the victims. There are still thousands of victims of the tragic events in Srebrenica to be found. FTV at 19:30 hrs – the official opening of the Memorial Centre in Potocari is planned for September 20th, along with the funeral of another 200 identified victims. It is expected that over 8,000 victims of Srebrenica would be buried at the Memorial Centre. RTRS at 19:30 hrs – shortly reported that the body remains of 282 Srebrenica victims yesterday were transferred to Potocari, and that the burial would take place on July 11. Nezavisne Novine pg. 2 ‘Thousands of Sarajevo citizens pay their last respects to Srebrenica victims’ – members of the BiH Presidency, Dragan Covic and Sulejman Tihic, as well as the President and Vice President of the Federation, Niko Lozancic and Desnica Radivojevic, joined the citizens of Sarajevo. Vecernji List pg. 3 ‘Sarajevo sees off deceased Srebrenica people’, Dnevni List pg. 5 ‘Bodies of 282 killed Bosniaks transported to Srebrenica’ and Vjesnik pg. 1 – reported on yesterday’s final farewell to Srebrenica victims. Avaz pg. 1 and 3 – the saddest convoy in the history, as Amor Masovic referred to the convoy that carried the mortal remains of 282 Srebrenica victims, which yesterday passed through Sarajevo where thousands of citizens paid their respects. Oslobodjenje pg. 1 and 3 – about the convoy. |
| Round table on Srebrenica | FTV at 19:30 hrs by Salih Brkic – omissions of the IC in Srebrenica represent good basics for filing a civil lawsuit, followed by discovering individuals among them responsible for these tragic events. This was the conclusion of a round table meeting called ‘Legal Aspects of the Genocide against Bosniaks in Srebrenica’. The meeting was organized by the Dutch nongovernmental organization IKV together with Mothers of Srebrenica. Legal representatives of people of Srebrenica were also present at the meeting. Avaz pg. 4 ‘The UN and Dutch government are responsible for genocide’ – on the roundtable discussion where the responsibility of the UN and Dutch government was confirmed for the Srebrenica tragedy, and support was expressed to the lawsuit by those who survived the tragedy. |
| Oslobodjenje commentary | Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘The final farewell’ by Edin Krehic – “In the silence of pain and respect, the convoy with mortal remains were seen off by many Sarajevo citizens. That was the last farewell by those who waited for years back then for the IC, led by Butros Ghali, his Akashi, Douglas Herd, Francois Miterand and alike to stop the siege. Just like Srebrenica people were waiting for the air strikes.” |
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| Police Affairs |
| Cegar case | Avaz pg. 1 and 2 – the FBiH Commission for defence and Security and PM Hadzipasic still have not received a report by the FBiH MoI Internal Control department on the Cegar incident. Sead Delic, President of the Commission, stated that the FBiH MoI has not been given a deadline to complete the report, but it was expected that by now the report would be on the agenda. Added he felt as if the Federation MoI was on purpose taking their time with the report to leave the case unsolved. |
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| Ashdown’s decision |
| Jurcevic | Nezavisne Novine pg.3 ‘Black list makes Prosecutor’s act’- the RS Prosecutor’s Office yesterday announced that they would get in touch with the BiH Prosecutor’s Office with regards to the requests to carry out an investigation on 14 individuals whose bank accounts were frozen following the decision of the High Representative Paddy Ashdown. Chief State Prosecutor, Marinko Jurcevic, said that as soon as he received the list, he would organise a meeting of all relevant institutions in order to discuss measures necessary to take against individuals who were on the list. |
| SDS | Nezavisne Novine – Reacting to the cancellation of mandates to two of its deputies at the Republika Srpska National Assembly, the SDS Main Board also requested an urgent investigation by relevant institutions. The SDS request was welcomed by parties in power in the Republika Srpska, but also by the SNSD. |
| Money transfers | Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 ‘Only petty cash on frozen accounts’, Glas Srpske pg.2 ‘Money kept behind the locked door’- the BiH Central Bank yesterday confirmed that BiH banks have begun to transfer money from the accounts of 14 individuals whose names were on the OHR’s black list. The money is being transferred to special accounts opened by the BiH Central Bank for the purpose. According to the information available so far, ten accounts are blocked in the RS banks and one in a bank in the Federation. Vice-Governor of the BiH Central Bank, Dragan Kovacevic, stated that the amounts transferred were very small. |
| Vasic and Spasojevic before Election Commission | Nezavisne Novine pg. 3 – the BiH Election Commission today will discuss the decision of High Representative Paddy Ashdown to cancel mandates to two SDS deputies to the Republika Srpska National Assembly, Djojo Arsenovic and Dragomir Vasic.Head of the SDS caucus to the RS National Assembly, Milan Tupajic, stated that the party had not yet discussed the issue. |
| Legal experts on HR’s decision | Vecernje Novosti pg. 4 ‘Like destiny of Golootocani’ – “Legal experts from the Republika Srpska and joint BiH institutions are afraid to comment publicly decisions of the OHR (EU’s visa ban list and freezing of bank accounts for those who allegedly have been helping war crime suspects),” claims the daily that spoke to several legal experts (no names). The reason is, according to the daily, fear that Ashdown might use some sanctions against them, such as the removal or banning them from performing public functions. Legal experts the daily spoke to say that if the OHR and EU do not present concrete proofs that the persons on the black list are really connected with war-crime suspects then this represents the violation of human rights. Legal experts agree that such decision is a method used in totalitarian regimes, comparing it with ‘Goli Otok’ during Tito’s regime (Goli Otok – an island near Zadar where, during Tito’s rule, persons not supporting Tito and in favour of USSR were expelled). Experts think there is no proof of the involvement of these persons helping war-crime suspects and that it only represents demonstration of the British-American force. |
| Prelevic and Grubac | Vecernje Novosti pg. 4 ‘Right of force for protectorate’ – “As long as there is a protectorate in BiH, it would be possible for force to overpower the law,” legal experts from Serbia and Montenegroagree. Bozo Prelevic, lawyer from Belgrade, says that what Ashdown did could not happen even in Great Britain. “It is not possible to sanction someone without proof, as well as that sanctioned persons do not have the right to complain,” Prelevic says. According to him, counties that carry out protectorate in BiH need to respect the BiH Constitution, Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights as well as the EU and UN acts. Momcilo Grubac, Professor at Novi Sad’s School of Law, says that Ashdown’s decision is the force of protectorate. |
| SD on money transfers | Slobodna Dalmacija pg. 19‘Money transferred to Central Bank’ – carries that after the OHR’s blockade of accounts of 14 persons two doubts were raised in the public. The first one refers as to what will happen with the money that will be transferred to a special account in the Central Bank. Spokesperson of the Federation Banking Agency, Ibrahim Polimac, could not say as to what would happen with this money. SD says that the second doubt refers as to what will happen with the money and accounts of the persons for whom it will be established consequently that they were not giving support to persons charged with war crimes. SD carries that OHR Spokesperson Vedran Persic stated that accounts were blocked to persons for which there was grounded suspicion that they were helping war criminals. |