OHR BiH Media Round-up, 6/2/2005

NTV Hayat (19,00 hrs)

FTV (19,30 hrs)

RTRS (19,30 hrs)

11^th annivers. of Markale massacre

Markale anniversary

Fire in Banja Luka

BiH writer A. Sidran comments

VKBI discuss war crimes

Special team to help arrest ICTY ind.

Children ski club

Money offered to Karadzic’s wife

Transfer of ICTY cases conference

Employment of war veterans

Prosecutors’ offices cooperate closely

Indictment against Haradinaj

Oslobodjenje

Lagumdzija remains SDP leader

Dnevni Avaz

Congress’ set-up by Zlatko Lagumdzija

Dnevni List

Lagumdzija: Consolidation of party completed

Vecernji List

Features Croatia related headlines

Slobodna Dalmacija

Features Croatia related headlines

Nezavisne Novine

A tribute for 67 killed Sarajevo citizens; Constitutional reforms come first; SIPA Director Sredoje Novic: Matijasevic is presenting unrealistic assessments

EuroBlic

Features Serbia related titles

Vecernje novosti

Features Serbia related titles

War crimes

Sarajevo marks Markale marketplace massacre anniversary

RHB, TV Pink, TV Hayat, BHT, FTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Everyone cries while speaking out names of killed Sarajevo citizens at Markale’, Oslobodjenje pg 3, mentioned on cover ‘Death came from Mrkovici’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘FBiH Government accused of not taking care of civilian victims’, mentioned on front ‘Distorted truth about sufferings of BiH citizens’ by M. Zorlak, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Voice against attempt to falsify past’ by em, Slobodna Dalmacija last pg Sarajevo: 11^th anniversary of massacre on Markale market’ by H, Nezavisne Novine cover pg splash and pg 3 ‘A tribute for 67 killed Sarajevo citizens’ by S. Lemo – The 11th anniversary of the killing of civilians at Markale market was marked in Sarajevo on Saturday. On this day in 1994, a shell fired from Serb positions in the village of Mrkovici killed 67 people and wounded another 142. Due to irrefutable facts pointing to the responsibility of the Sarajevo-Romanija Corps of the RS Army, the commander of this corps, Stanislav Galic, was sentenced to 20 years in prison over Markale by ICTY. The commemorative gathering in Markale honoured the victims of this crime with a minute’s silence and reciting of the fatihah. Among others, the gathering was attended by Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency Sulejman Tihic, who in his speech recalled dozens of other massacres in Sarajevo. “It is important and necessary to speak about such events, not only because of the past but also because of the future, so such evil is never repeated. In these times this is especially important because of attempts to distort the truth about the suffering of the people of Sarajevo and the suffering of BiH. This is done by political forces and their political supporters who are responsible for these and similar crimes. That is why we must constantly remind ourselves of the facts, and it is a fact that the people of Sarajevo were under siege for more than 1,000 days,” said Tihic. The anniversary of the Markale massacre was marked with greater dignity than in earlier years. The Markale market was closed for the anniversary event for the first time.

RS Government’s rewarding Hague indictee’s families unacceptable – RS Helsinki Committee

TV Hayat, FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 7, mentioned on cover ‘Victims forced to pay war criminals’, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘RS Government is awarding criminals’ by f, FENA – “It is absurd and totally unacceptable that the RS police should replace what it should have done – and it has done nothing – with a kind of reward for criminals. This is supposed to show an alleged minimum of cooperativeness of the RS with the Hague Tribunal,” the chairman of the RS Helsinki Committee, Branko Todorovic, has told FENA while commenting on the RS Government’s decision to give KM 50,000 to the families of war crimes suspects who voluntarily surrender to the RS authorities by 30 June. Todorovic underlined that it was totally morally, ethically and legally unacceptable that Bosniak and Croat returnees should finance the families of war criminals by paying various taxes and fees in the RS. “We will find ourselves in a situation where returnees to Srebrenica, Prijedor and other areas, who were victims of crimes and who come from places where some of these criminals committed serious human rights violations, are forced through a shameful decision by the RS Government to finance the very criminals who caused their misfortune,” Todorovic said. The decision to reward Hague indictees and their families, the RS Helsinki Committee believes, is also a reflection of the current government and authority in the RS. “Do the RS authorities believe that a criminal, cut-throat and bully is so much more important than an honest worker, pensioner, pupil or student, that he deserves a hefty financial reward,” Todorovic wonders. In addition to the one-off financial reward to persons from Hague wanted posters who voluntarily give themselves up, the RS Government has also promised scholarships for their children and visits to the Hague inmates at the government’s expense.

DA on offered RS Govt’s support to war crime indictees’ families

Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Rewarding criminals’ Commentary of the Day by Husein Orahovac – Orahovac describes RS Government’s decision to financially support war criminals with taxpayers’ money as senseless.

Karadzic’s wife says they cannot persuade Radovan to surrender

TV Hayat, FTV, SRNA, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ’50,000 KM offered to Karadzic’s wife’, Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Ljiljana Karadzic claims that she is not in contact with Radovan’ by NINA, Vecernji List pg 3 ‘We are not in contact with Radovan’ by B. Stevandic, EuroBlic pg 3 ‘They are offering me 50,000 KM for Radovan’ not signed, Vecernje Novosti pg 3 ‘They are paying for surrendering’ by Tanjug– The wife of Radovan Karadzic, Ljiljana Karadzic, has told the Podgorica-based daily Dan that neither she nor her children were in contact with Radovan Karadzic and therefore could not relay the RS Government’s offer on voluntary surrender to the Hague Tribunal. “They are offering us financial assistance amounting to 50,000 KM and to take care of the family,” Mrs Karadzic pointed out, adding that the RS police have been in contact with the Karadzic family since December last year. “No one, not even the members of the family, can influence Radovan’s decision to surrender voluntarily. He reaches decisions by himself and no one can influence him. Radovan is not a child that someone can order what to do,” Ljiljana Karadzic told Dan. She added that all of Radovan Karadzic’s family members were being followed by domestic and foreign intelligence services.

Regional conference on war crime processing takes place in Belgrade

TV Pink, BHT – BiH is ready to accept and process all the cases from the Hague Tribunal, which should be forwarded to it, said Medzida Kreso, President of Court of BiH. Along with her colleagues from Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro (SCG), Medzida Kreso is participating in the meeting of a working group, which is debating about transferring court cases from ICTY to local judicial systems/institutions. Member of ICTY Prosecutor’s office Patrick Lopez Terres said that the trials before local courts cannot be a substitute to a full cooperation with the ICTY. Medzida Kreso stressed that, even though she supported the idea of a trials in countries of former Yugoslavia, she was against transferring the Omarska case to SCG judiciary system. “Those criminal acts were committed in BiH, and all the victims are in the BiH” she added. During the meeting in Belgrade, Croatian and SCG Prosecutor’s offices signed an agreement about regional cooperation. Next month, SCG should sign similar agreement with BiH, said Rasim Ljaic, President of SCG National Council for cooperation wit the Hague Tribunal. FTV, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Crimes committed in BiH must be processed before local courts’, Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘BiH prepared to take over Hague Tribunal’s cases’, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘Agreement on cooperation of Serbian and Croatian Prosecutor’s Offices’ by Beta, Hina also covered the issue.

SIPA’s Novic on RS MoI Matijasevic’s assessments re cooperation with ICTY

Nezavisne Novine pg 2, announced on cover ‘Matijasevic is presenting unrealistic assessments’ by A. Sekulic – SIPA Director Sredoje Novic thinks RS Interior Minister Darko Matijasevic should be more realistic in presenting assessments with regard to cooperation with BiH security agencies when it comes to arresting war crimes indictees. Novic thinks Matijasevic’s claims, regarding the alleged non-cooperation of BiH institutions with RS MoI, were confusing and he emphasizes that cooperation is a two-way process.

Political developments/reforms

Lagumdzija re-elected SDPBiH President

Oslobodjenje cover page, pgs 4-5 ‘Lagumdzija remains SDP BiH leader’ by Azhar Kalamujic, A. Omeragic – At the third SDP BiH Congress held in Sarajevo on Saturday, Zlatko Lagumdzija was re-elected President of the party. Lagumdzija was supported by 264 out of 446 delegates, while 92 delegates voted for Ljubisa Markovic and 66 for Nermnin Pecanac, the other two candidates for the post. 

According to Dnevni Avaz cover page ‘Congress’ set-up by Zlatko Lagumdzija’, pg 2 ‘Fresh congress’ manipulation directed by Zlatko Lagumdzija’ by M. Kukan, L. Sinanovic it was about another manipulation inside SDP and vote directed and controlled by Lagumdzija. 

RHB, BHT, TV Hayat, FTV also covered the event.

Dnevni List cover pg splash and pgs 4 and 5 ‘Lagumdzija: Consolidation of party completed’ by D. Polovina-Mandic, Vecernji List pg 4 ‘Protectorate in BiH must finish with departure of OHR’ by em covered the SDP Congress held on Saturday. VL also carries that opening the Congress SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija stated that a sort of protectorate rules a BiH political scene, which should end up at the end of the year by departure of the OHR. Lagumdzija added: ‘The High Representative does not have confidence of people as a person who with his fake reformers can resolve a crisis in BiH.’

Nezavisne Novine pg 3, announced on cover ‘Constitutional reforms come first’ by M. Cubro – the daily reports on the 3^rd congress of SDP held in Sarajevo Saturday and quotes Zlatko Lagumdzija as saying: ‘The current High Representative is not bringing an assurance that he, with his false reformers, can do anything useful for this country. Therefore SDP will try to animate the international factors to accelerate reform processes on a partnership base and to launch a dialogue on further constitutional reforms that would be harmonized with European standards’.

DL editorial on PIC meeting

Dnevni List pg 2 ‘Recommendations from Brussels’ by D. Kozina comments on recommendations from the last PIC meeting. The author says that PIC political directors reiterated that the agreements signed in Dayton and Paris remain grounds of peace in BiH and they guarantee survival of entities. Therefore, politicians who were talking about abolishment of the RS during the last few months should stop giving such irresponsible statements and start with implementation of reforms which will take BiH to Europe. The author also says that these conclusions also show certain impatience of the International Community when slowness in meeting international obligations is in question. The author concludes the editorial by saying: ‘The message from Brussels is clear – our politicians must seriously take these recommendations and start with meeting of these recommendations.’

RS Lawyer’s Association considers latest HR decisions unconstitutional

RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Paddy Ashdown ruins BiH legal system’ – Chairman of RS Lawyer’s Chamber Executive Board Zlatko Knezevic believes that HR Paddy Ashdown is braking and obstructing development of BIH legal system by his latest decisions that are, according to Knezevic, unconstitutional. Knezevic also expects that HR will suggest abolishment of county prosecutions and courts in existing form. FTV also carried the statement initially given in Knezevic’s interview for Glas Srpske Banja Luka daily.