| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| New Weapons Scandal | PIC discusses complaints | BiH Court on trafficking | Action Plan of RS Gov’t |
| OSCE official tried suicide | Sentence for trafficking | Mafia threatens prosecutor | Vital national interests |
| Ashdown’s warning | Minister of Defence | Covic denied allegations | Minister of Defence |
| Ashdown’s Interview | Explosion in Afghanistan | Travel to SCG with ID | Nemanjic Award |
| Oslobodjenje | Ten questions for Sulejman Tihic; BNTNovi Travnik and Vitezit breached embargo? |
| Dnevni Avaz | OHR strike Tihic back with ten questions; Mladen Ivanic: Statements by Serbian Radicals are obsolete |
| Dnevni List | Young attempts suicide; OHR sends ten questions to Sulejman Tihic |
| Vecernji List | BiH Army and HVO with “missing” canons; Director of OSCE Mostar attempted suicide |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Jelavic, Covic and Coric violated UN embargo?; Head of OSCE slashed veins because of love sufferings |
| Nezavisne Novine | OHR poses ten questions to Sulejman Tihic: BiH cannot enter Europe without professional judiciary; Rasim Delic: I am not afraid of ICTY indictment; BiH Court: Sentenced to 58 months imprisonment over smuggling of Curds; Mostar: Head of OSCE Regional Office cut his veins |
Judiciary issues | |
| OHR asks Tihic 10 questions regarding judiciary | RHB, BHTV 1, RTRS, Dnevni Avaz cover splash, pg 2 ‘OHR strike Tihic back with 10 questions’, Oslobodjenje cover splash, pg 5 ‘Ten questions for Tihic’, Vecernji List front, pg 4 ‘Ashdown: Bosniaks make half of judiciary and Police’, Dnevni List front, pg 4 ‘OHR sends ten questions to Sulejman Tihic’, Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 5 ‘BiH cannot enter Europe without professional judiciary’– After the SDA leader Sulejman Tihic recently asked the OHR and others to answer ten questions about the constitutionality of the process of re-appointing judges and prosecutors, OHR issued a statement reading Tihic’s “questions suggest a possible lack of understanding both of the principles of an independent European judiciary and of the process itself.” In turn, statement further lists 10 questions which ask whether Tihic knows that “…BiH cannot get into the European Union without a professional and independent judiciary?; …making the judicial appointment process a political issue in the media has the effect of politicizing this process?; … the whole IC is increasingly concerned about his campaign on this issue?; … the continuation of this campaign is already making it harder to justify the handover of this process to fully domestic institutions, and is threatening this country’s path to Europe?; …the reason Bosnjaks are not being appointed in larger numbers in the RS is because they are not applying? …his campaign is probably discouraging Bosniaks from applying and therefore making the situation worse?; …all the previous attempts to address the under-representation of Bosniaks in the RS judiciary since the war have failed to make a significant difference?; …the HJPC process therefore offers the best chance of ensuring that more Bosniaks are appointed judges and prosecutors in the RS, and that if he really wanted to help he would work with his coalition partners, particularly the SDS, to give this process their full support?; …his claims about constitutional representation would be much stronger if he had accepted the constitutional changes that protect multi-ethnicity in this country?; …that 49.5% of all policemen in BiH are Bosnjaks; and that while the HJPC is less than halfway through the process, 49% of all the prosecutors so far appointed are Bosnjaks; and that 49% of all the judges so far appointed are Bosnjaks?” |
| Comment by Tihic’s cabinet following OHR letter | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Tihic did not receive the letter’ – Fena news agency reported that Sulejman Tihic’s Cabinet stated he did not receive any letter with questions from the OHR. Further, Tihic’s cabinet announced that SDA has not received any answers to its questions, which were previously sent to OHR. “It is very well known who and in what manner communicates with BiH Presidency and the Presidency’s member”, was told in Tihic’s cabinet. |
| PIC Ambassadors discuss judiciary | BHTV 1, FTV – The Ambassadors of the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board met on Tuesday afternoon in Sarajevo, in order to discuss the recent political party criticisms of the judicial reappointment process and the effect that this may have on BiH’s future and plans for closer EU integration. In addition, they also discussed priorities for 2004. |
| State Ombudsmen take over position | Oslobodjenje pg 6 ‘New BiH Human Rights Ombudsmen’, Dnevni List pg 2 ‘Lawyers from BiH take over job of foreign experts’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 7 ‘New ombudsmen for human rights in BiH’ – Office of the Human Rights Ombudsmen for BiH announced that Snezana Savic, Safet Pasic and Mariofil Ljubic took over the duties which were performed until now by the transitional Ombudsmen Frank Orton. |
| BiH Court passes verdict for trafficking in people | BHTV 1, FTV, RTRS, Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 2 ‘Sentenced to 58 months imprisonment over smuggling of Curds’ – BiH Court yesterday sentenced Dzenana Karacic, former First Secretary of BiH Embassy in Turkey, to30 months imprisonment for the smuggling in Curds to BiH. Her son, Mirza Ustovic Karacic, was sentenced on the same counts to 28 months imprisonment. They were charged for having organised a false New Year’s celebration for 13 Turkish citizens at Bjelasnica mountain in 2002 through Turkish tourist agency “Sun Tours”, owned by Mirza. State Border Service of BiH returned this group to Turkey, after they failed to prove the reason for their arrival to BiH. |
Political issues | |
| Ashdown on Mostar issue
| RHB, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Structure in accordance to the BiH system’, FENA –The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown will visit Mostar on Friday, and at that occasion he is expected to give his answer to the solution of draft Mostar Statute proposed by Chairman of the Mostar Commission Norbert Winterstain. In an interview to Radio Herceg Bosna [carried further by FENA news agency], Ashdown stressed that the issue of Mostar has to be solved very soon: “Yes, I believe that Winterstain’s report offers the best help for breaking this deadlock that has kept us as hostage for far too long. This is absolutely vital for our chances for joining Europe if we fail in Mostar; we destroy our chances for joining Europe. So there are 2 principals for this solution: the one is to end parallelism by creating unique city Administration and the second is to recognize the special position of Mostar in Dayton by ensuring that there is a system of election and government that guarantees power sharing between the people.” The High Representative said that on Friday he would also repeat the stand on division of the city: “Unfortunately we can not have in place in Mostar system based on trust… So we can not have the system where we would allow municipalities to exist below the single city administration because there can be no trust that these will not be developed into parallel institutions and simply divide the city. At the same time we can not relay on the trust for proper running of the city, we have to have guarantees of effective power sharing.” Asked to comment on possibility of Croats becoming a minority at the authorities level in Mostar, Ashdown answered: “No one can become minority. The point is we have to construct the system in Mostar similar to the system we have in BiH… [where] majority cannot overrule the minority. The Bosniaks might be the biggest population in BiH but the cannot overrule Croat interests. If that is suitable for BiH it has to be suitable for Mostar. It would be simply illogical for Croats that the system in BiH as a whole, which was beneficial for them, was not the system that they could tolerate in the Mostar when it was not beneficial for them.” FTV, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Winterstein’s report – hope for end of halt’ – OHR Spokesperson Kevin Sullivan stated at the press conference held on Tuesday in Srajevo: “The Peace Implementation Council, the EU and, most importantly, the citizens of Mostar want a single administration with guaranteed power-sharing.” |
| DA int with Ivanic: Future of BiH is not questionable | Dnevni Avaz cover ‘Statements by Radicals from Serbia are obsolete’ by Fadil Mandal – In an interview to DA, BiH Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic stated that he was no worried over the victory of radicals in the recent elections in Serbia and believes such development will not impact the situation in BiH. Asked whether his Ministry reacted to the statement by Vojislav Seselj’s Deputy Tomislav Nikolic who said that RS should be part of Serbia as BiH cannot survive as the country, Ivanic answered: “I personally believe that destiny of BiH was solved with the Dayton Peace Agreement… Future of BiH is not questionable. Nikolic’s statements remind of some old times, which can bring nothing. It is an obsolete time, thinking concept overcame.” |
| DL editorial on OHR role in SAA | Dnevni List pg 6 ‘Price of self-delusion can be too high’ by Marko Tadic – Commenting on a statement by an expert associate to the BiH Direction for European Integration, Valida Repovac, who told “Oslobodjenje” that the Stabilization and Association Agreement would not be signed before mid 2005 and that the institution of OHR is “burdening” BiH in its efforts to join the EU, Tadic disagrees with Repovac that the OHR is a burden saying “as if, if there were no High Representative and his office, BiH would taking bigger strides towards the EU”, pointing out to disharmony among the political players in BiH. However, Tadic adds: “It is much likely that my generation would witness the day BiH becomes a member of EU if there were a full instead of a half-protectorate in BiH, the energetic instead of insufficiently energetic High Representative, and the High Representative loyal to democratic and not nationalistic politicians”. |
| NN editorial on constituency of peoples | Nezavisne Novine pg 7 ‘Ninth circle’ editorial by Slavo Kukic – The author speaks about the violation of vital national interests of Bosniaks in BiH, saying that he should agree with this, noting that not only the vital interests of Bosniaks, but also of Serbs, Croats, Gypsies, Yews, men and women have been jeopardised in BiH. However, he notes that those vital interests have not been put in jeopardy by the opposing ethnic group, but by the people on authority, who make decisions and pass judgements concerning lives of the entire people in the manner that “a normal person could hardly acknowledge”. He concludes the article by saying that the trends observed presently (meaning with nationalistic symbol) irresistibly resemble trends from beginning of 90’ies, but also the 9th circle of Dante’s circle of inferno. He wonders whether it is possible to stop these trends, noting that only international officials, especially HiRep, could put an end to these trends. |
| DL editorial on constituency of peoples | Dnevni List pg 9 ‘Violation of FBiH Constitution is common phenomenon’ by M. Relota – DL carries that an important discussion during the continuation of the 9th session of the House of Representatives of the Federation of BiH Parliament was the discussion on ‘marginalisation of Bosniaks due to violation of the decision on constituency of peoples’. Commenting on this decision, HNZ representative in the HoR of the FBiH Parliament Milenko Brkic stated that it was agreed to demand from competent bodies of the FBiH to hand over an analysis on representation of constituent peoples in the authority bodies. Brkic added: “By this resolution the FBiH Parliament will send a message to the High Representative, state authorities, Prime Minister and the FBiH Government, to itself and Cantonal and Municipal authority levels. On the ground of this resolution we should go later on to clearer definition of term constituency that is being interpreted in a different way.” |
Defence and security issues | |
| Update to new illegal arms trade affair
| Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Covic: This is just a bout’, FTV – The chairman of the BiH Presidency Dragan Covic denied all allegations from the recent report by FTV on his involvement in illegal arms trade. He considers such reports were new political pressure: “I have been done everything during 48 years of my life in a same way I am carrying out my current job. My political opponents use opportunities from time to time to again raise such accusation being only politically motivated.” Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 13 ‘HDZ: Nebulous and imputations’ – SD carries HDZ statemet regarding the charges: “It seems that the new year started with a new hunt for Croats, which started after the OHR did not appoint a single prosecutor and judge who executed orders coming from the SDA and who were yes-men of this party. In light of that, the recent stories of Bosniaks being endangered, and discussions about this issue is just the façade for future plans of SDA.” Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Jelavic: I was never in the ‘deal’ with Cengic’ – DA says that Ante Jelavic stated the “he was not disturbed at all with the publicized news: ‘I am being put in connection with the sale of arms and military equipment for the period in which I performed the duty with the State Presidency. Therefore, the constitutional position did not enable me to deal with that kind of work. In addition, I am being put in connection with Hasan Cengic and I was never in the ‘deal’ with him when I was the in the FBiH Defence Ministry’”. RHB, Vecernji List front ‘BiH Army and HVO with ‘missing’ canons’, pg 2 ‘BiH Army and HVO still have ‘missing’ howitzers’– Regarding the same reports, the FBiH Ministry of Defence said that there was nothing disputable with production of howitzers at “Bratstvo” Company at Novi Travnik. The FBiH MoD also confirmed that apart from “Bratstvo”, several other companies, namely “Soko” of Mostar was involved in production of howitzers, “Unis” of Konjic was producing ammunition, “TRZ” of Hadzici was producing helmets and “Zrak” of Sarajevo the helmets. The MoD could not guarantee whether the companies violated the embargo on their own or not. Oslobodjenje cover, pg 7 ‘BNT Novi Travnik and Vitezit breached embargo?’ – Daily reads that it still did not have a knowledge of the countries with which companies Vitezit and BNT Novi Travnik, accused of illegal arms trade, were allegedly providing with arms. It further says that the most serious charges were referring to the Ante Jelavic’s content with production of arms by SokoVit, who produced land mines buying fillings from Vitezit. At the time, SokoVit was managed by Miroslav Coric, current Prime Minister of Herzegovina Neretva Canton. BHTV 1 – BiH Prosecutor’s Office reported that its special department for organized crime would consider and process recent allegations made in FTV news bulletin. The report said that Prosecutor will investigate allegations against Ante Jelavic, Hasan Cengic, Dragan Covic and others. |
| HR urges security reforms | RHB, BHTV 1, RTRS, Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘Deadline for reforms gets shorter’, Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Less than six months for implementing reforms’, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Winterstein’s report – hope for end of halt’– The High Representative Paddy Ashdown warns that BiH has less than six months to implement an ambitious reform agenda if it wants to commence with negotiating a Stability and Association Agreement with the EU or gaining membership of Partnership for Peace. OHR Spokesperson Kevin Sullivan announced that Ashdown will hold press conference on Wednesday in order to speak about the Rule of Law and Security reforms. FTV – Sullivan underlined OHR priorities: “HR is concerned with security system in BiH. There should be single intelligence agency, bodies for implementation of the state-level law, single High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council for whole country.” In addition, he stressed that short-term political interests and lack of administrative capacities should not impede the progress on these issues. |
| Update to SFOR’s blockade of Vrhpolje village | RHB, FTV – Representatives of SFOR held a press conference in Bihac focusing on the ‘Harvest operation’, following yesterday’s operation carried out by its troops at Vrhpolje near Sanski Most. According to the spokesperson of SFOR, Captain Bob Kennedy, about one hundred representatives of SFOR and members of Cantonal Interior Ministry searched 168 houses and 200 cars in the Sanski Most settlement of Vrhpolje. The greatest problem during the operation was the houses, whose owners are currently working abroad. SFOR troops were forced to break into the houses, because, as Kennedy claims, all houses in the settlement had to be searched and there was no other choice. The spokesperson of Cantonal MoI, Ale Siljdedic, said that a great quantity of explosive devices, weapons and ammunition had been collected during the past year, which had been stored in special SFOR bases, from which they will be transferred to the Zenica Steel Plant for melting. Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Searched three houses’, Nezavisne Novine pg 4 ‘SFOR members were forcibly entering locked houses’ – According to President of Vrhpolje Local Community, Ismet Salasevic, SFOR was forcibly entering some houses, which were locked. The reason why they were locked is because their owners are working and living abroad. |
| BHTV 1 on Defence Minister | BHTV 1 by Damir Simic – Following warning by the High Representative on six months to make progress toward SAA negotiations with EU and NATO, BHTV 1 reports in its feature that the international community suggested that full hierarchy of command structures of BiH Army should be completed by end of February if BiH wants to be prepared for NATO summit in Istanbul. Secretary of the Standing Committee for Military Matters Enes Becirbasic agrees with such time line and further suggests that the BiH Defence Minister is rather a professional then a politician. Reporter concludes that “political bargaining” for the position of Minister and others within the BiH Armed Force has already started and may cause unnecessary delays. |
| NN interview with Rasim Delic on BiH Defence Minister position | Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 4 ‘I am not afraid of ICTY indictment’ – In an interview to NN, Rasim Delic, former commander of Army of Republic of BiH and currently military advisor to Sulejman Tihic, says that he would accept the position of defence minister only if he were convinced that he would contribute to further development of BiH in this manner. He further stresses that instead of ICTY indictment, he should be handed a reward for his contribution to protection of civilian population during the war. He expresses belief that it is high time General Atif Dudakovic left the position of the Commander of Joint Command of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because “it has become a practise throughout the world that these duties are to be assumed for two or four years at most”. |
| Paravac’s Cabinet will not give up request Serb to be BiH Defence Minister | Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘RS will not give up on the request of Defence Minister to be a Serb’ – Dragan Kapetina, Chief of the military cabinet of BiH Presidency member Borislav Paravac, declared that the defence system reform in BiH could head on an unwanted direction if the first defence minister at state-level is not a Serb. “It is not just a phrase that the RS top institutions will persevere on this mutual position”, Kapetina told the Bijeljina BN television. He added that informal talks have already been conducted among the representatives of RS institutions, which, as he said, are relevant for proposing the candidates for the defence minister. |
| NN editorial on BiH Defence Minister position | Nezavisne Novine pg 7 ‘Nationality over professionalism’ editorial by Mirza Cubro – The author writes about the ongoing speculation as to who could assume the position of the first BiH defence minister, stressing that apart from ethnic denomination, no political side has so far mentioned anything about the professionalism, qualifications, authority, negotiations ability, flexibility, readiness for compromises, because these are only few abilities and requirements which a proper candidate should meet. |
| Oslobodjenje editorial on BiH Defence Minister debates | Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘I don’t care’ editorial by Antonio Prlenda – ‘I really don’t care of which nationality will be the first state defence ministers of BiH!’ reads at the beginning the editorial which says that recent debates between leading politicians regarding the position ‘warns that this issue will also gain unnecessary personnel games and trade between ruling parties’. Author further describes in-length obligations of future Defence Minister, stressing the importance of that position, but than concluding once again that its nationality is not important, especially since the Minister will have two Deputies, with equally important tasks, and with whom Minister has to make decisions. Prlenda also underlines that their cooperation is much more important than the issue of Minister’s nationality. “It is much more important for the Minister to be a person with outstanding organizational capabilities, who will see the dialogue as the important process in decision making process. And that is why I don’t care about his nationality… It much more important to get this system on its feet in timely, honest and comprehensive manner. The system that should guarantee the protection of army being used in any way against some of the peoples. The system in which it would not be important of which nationality is the Minister. “ – reads the editorial. |
| DL: Al’Qaida present in BiH | Dnevni List pg 11 ‘Al-Qa’id present in BiH’ – DL carries that Deputy Head of Center for Security and Investigation of Terrorism with the Belgrade Institute for Political Studies Darko Trifunovic stated that SFOR and international organizations in BiH are familiar with the map that the Republika Srpska Government has, which clearly shows connection between Islamic extremists and terrorists in BiH, Raska area and Kosovo. Trifunovic also said that for this reason High Representative Paddy Ashdown has recently invited famous expert for terrorism Rohan Gunaratna to judge whether Al-Qa’id was present in BiH or not. According to Trifunovic, Bosniaks threaten Gunaratna with death since his reply to Ashdown was that Al-Qa’id has been present in BiH since the beginning of the war up to now. |
Economic and social issues | |
| BH authorities surprised with Sanader’s statement on Split-Dubrovnik highway
| Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Sanader will have to turn into Neum’ – BiH Transport and Communications Minister Branko Dokic said that he believed that Croatian Government will give up on their intention to avoid Neum [BiH territory] in building Split-Dubrovnik highway. -New Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader much such announcement last week, however Dokic said that this was just a remark by the government which did not have a full insight into the situation or possibilities for the project. He also reminds that the Croatian Government previously had similar plans, however gave up on them as they proved non cost effective. Dokic says that it was unserious of Sanader to relate the dispute over Ploce Port between BiH and Croatia to free pass through Neum for the road Split-Dubrovnik. Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Terzic surprised with announcement on building Komarna – Peljesac bridge’ – The chairman of the Council of Ministers Adnan Terzic said that he was very much surprised with the statement about building the bridge which would exclude Neum in the Split-Dubrovnik highway. He further explained that CoM was negotiation with the Croatian Government under leadership of former PM Ivica Racan, and that both sides at the time saw passing through Neum as the step towards stabilisation of the relations at the Balkans. Terzic will meet Sanader in February, in order to discuss the Free Trade Agreements. |
| OHR asks FBiH Govt to respects Ombudsmen decision re Banovici Mine | Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Wait for Ombudsmen decision’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘Wait for Ombudsmen decision on dismissals in Banovici Mine’, Dnevni List pg 6 ‘FBiH Government should wait with dismissals’ – OHR Spokesperson Kevin Sullivan invited the FBiH Government to wait for the decision by FBiH Ombudsmen regarding the recently passed decision removing three members of the Steering Board of the Banovici Coal Mine near Tuzla. An appeal against the latest government decision has been lodged with the Ombudsman’s Office, on the grounds that the Board members have not been informed of their removal in writing, which is a legal requirement, and that there is no evidence of conflict of interest, the reason given by the government for the removals. “OHR calls on the Federation Government to wait for the Ombudsman’s decision before proceeding with these removals”, stressed Sullivan. |
| Update on third GSM operator | Dnevni List pg 3 ‘Discussion on return of Eronet to HT Mostar on January 23’ by J. Petrovic – According to DL sources HT Mostar is closer to the third GSM license than Eronet. DL also carries General Manager of HT Mostar Stipe Prlic who says that without mobile telephony HT Mostar cannot compete with other two telecom operators. Talking about the return of the HT Mostar’s ownership over Eronet, Prlic says that the main discussion will take place on January 23 and that another discussion should take place as well. According to him, there are no reasons because of which the court would not pass the decision on the return of 51% of ownership to HT Mostar. Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 12 ‘Eronet and HT are only candidates’ – President of the Eronet’s Steering Board Bozo Knezevic says that Eronet is the most serious candidate for getting the third GSM license. He added that there are many reasons for it – they have a license, they deal with mobile telephony, they have developed infrastructure and their clients. |
| DA: Division within FBiH Govt over Aluminij | Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘Ministers from SBiH mind that PM Hadzipasic let go to HDZ’s demands’ by A. Hadziarapovic – Discussion at the latest session of the FBiH Government regarding the price of electricity for Aluminij company from Mostar caused, according to the article, deep divisions in the executive authorities. Daily claims that Ministers from Party for BiH minded that FBIH Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic let go to the demands by HDZ Ministers damaging Elektroprivreda BiH. However, Hadzipasic answers that his proposal, also refused by FBiH Transport and Communications Minister Nedzad Brankovic, was more suitable than the High Representative’s temporary regulatory decision. Journalist concludes that the debate over this issue could be additional heated up by the upcoming discussion on the report dealing with the FBiH authorities’ performance being prepared by the FBiH President Niko Lozancic and his deputies Desnica Radivojevic and Sahbaz Dzihanovic. |
| FBiH Pensioners demand pay out of overdue pension | Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘We demand payment of one and half of pensions’, Dnevni List pg 4 ‘Half of pension by end of month’ – FBiH Pensioners Association requests the House of Peoples of FBiH Parliament to adopt the Decision on temporary funding of FBiH for the first three months of 2004, which should enable payment of one half of overdue pension. President of the said Association, Jozo Ljiljanic, responding to the FBiH Prime Minister’s announcement that the other half of pension will be paid out in the second half of 2004, says: “We will request the FBiH Government and the competent ministry to foresee payment of at least additional one and a half pension in the Draft and Proposal of 2004 FBiH budget.” |
War crimes issues | |
| FBiH Govt to finance families of war crimes suspects | Oslobodjenje cover, pg 6 ‘Out of budget, a million KM for Hague’s suspects’ by A. Omeragic – According to article, families of those indicted for war crimes by the ICTY and local courts will receive a million KM of assistance in 2004, which will be directed form the FBiH budget. This also means that the Government adopted the proposal by the Chairman of the BiH Presidency Sulejman Tihic, who asked from the Government to finance both the families and the suspects who voluntarily surrender to the ICTY. Entity’s Prime Minister Ahmet Hadzipasic stated for daily that the Government still did not define criteria for the assistance, however explaining that only of voluntarily surrendered suspects’ families will be taken into the account adding that this refers to “only those who surrendered in the territory of FBiH, not in some other countries, meaning those that did not run before the Law. Those people stayed without jobs, without salaries, and their families have nothing to life of anymore.” While Tihic requested the assistance for Bosniaks only, explaining that Croatia finances Croats and Serbi and Montenegro doest the same with Serb suspects, Hadzipasic said that the assistance will be available to all those fulfilling the criteria regardless to their nationality. The proposal for the assistance will be discussed by the FBiH Parliament in upcoming period. |