| RADIO HERCEG-BOSNA(18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| HR’s press conference | HR’s press conference | HR’s press conference | Orthodox Christmas |
| OSCE official update | Explosion in Sarajevo | Orthodox Christmas | HR’s press conference |
| Lucki Most Construction | Mihajlovic pleaded guilty | Privilege of representatives | Ambassadors Statement |
| Reconstruction agreement | Orthodox Christmas |
| ICTY Statement |
Note: Due to handball match between BiH and Holland, BHTV 1 news broadcast lasted 5 minutes.
| Oslobodjenje | Ten deciding weeks for BiH; Pay out of a half of pension |
| Dnevni Avaz | Ashdown guarantees equality |
| Dnevni List | Ashdown: Tomorrow a verdict on Mostar; Barisa Colak: BiH Defence Minister should be Croat |
| Vecernji List | Last train for BiH towards Europe; Aluminij expects support from Ivo Sanader’s Government |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Manipulation in reports on violation of UN embargo: Police ‘forgets’ to list responsible; Interview with Paddy Ashdown: BiH facing catastrophe |
| Nezavisne Novine | Paddy Ashdown: Defence, Intelligence Agency, Mostar and SIPA – crucial for reforms; Young men from BiH go to battle fields in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya: Al Q’Aeda recruits in BiH as well; Ramiz Salkic: Serbs from Croatia should achieve their rights in Croatia; Mostar: Head of OSCE recovering in hospital |
| Blic | Drug abuse in RS: curiosity of young people is fatal; Four for the Government; Christmas; Zoran Djeric: It is not our goal to ‘cut heads off’ |
Note: Due to Orthodox Christmas holidays, there was no Glas Srpski issue for today.
Political issues | |
| Ashdown warns authorities next six months crucial for BiH future; outlines five priorities for 2004
| BHTV 1, RHB, RTRS, Dnevni List front ‘Tomorrow a verdict on Mostar’, pg 7 ‘Ashdown’s verdict on Mostar tomorrow’, Vecernji List front ‘Last train for BiH towards Europe’, pg 3 ‘Ashdown: Name of Defence Minister by February’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 14 ‘BiH either European of ‘no man’s’ land’, Vjesnik pg 2 ‘Ashdown: RS authority must cooperate with The Hague’ – High Representative Paddy Ashdown warned on Wednesday that BiH had six months to ‘Bosnia and Herzegovina faces a moment of truth and to confirm its European destiny or to slip back into the no-man’s land on the edges of Europe’. Ashdown held the press conference stressing that the future of the country depends on activities in the next six months as NATO is expected to take the decision on BiH admission to Partnership for Peace at its Istanbul Summit this June. The European Commission will also assess what has been done on fulfilling conditions from the Feasibility Study in order to decide whether BiH can enter talks on the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Ashdown also outlined five priorities for authorities in the first half of 2004: security sector reforms, rule of law reforms, economic reforms, Mostar, and a package of measures to make BiH’s state institutions operational and effective. Talking about the security sector reforms, Ashdown explained this envisaged adoption of the six Laws that will enable the functioning of the State Information and Protection Agency, adoption of the Law on BiH Intelligence Agency, appointment of BiH Defence Minister and his Deputies. Secondly, HR Ashdown stressed the importance of the judiciary reforms and the work of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, for which he said to need a space to complete the process of establishing an independent judiciary. FTV, Oslobodjenje cover, pgs 4&5 ‘Ten deciding weeks for BiH’ – Talking about judiciary, Ashdown emphasized that the main threat to success of the HJPCs work and it reflecting the multiethnic character of the country is the media campaign, which is discouraging Bosnjaks from applying to positions in the RS. He further encouraged BiH authorities to create a single HJPC reflecting multiethnic character of BiH. Dnevni Avaz cover splash ‘Ashdown promises equality’, pg 3 ‘Paddy Ashdown presented five priorities for the first term’ – Talking about Mostar, the High Representative stated: “There will be no compromise with the desire of the citizens of Mostar for a single city administration with guaranteed power-sharing. My twin principles will be: no parallelism; and no domination by one Constituent people over the others.” Oslobodjenje pg 4 inset ‘Not even a millimetre when it comes to Mostar’ – Announcing his visit to Mostar on Friday, Ashdown said that: “I will not give in for a single millimetre. The citizens of Mostar must have unified administration.” Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 2 ‘Defence, Intelligence Agency, Mostar and SIPA – crucial for reforms’ – High Representatives Ashdown concluded that OHR cannot be expected to implement the reforms instead of BiH politicians and that further imposing of the decision would be a bad sign: ‘“I will make proposals, corrections, harmonisation – but I will not act, unless I observe some obstructions.”’ |
| SD interview with Ashdown on judiciary, security | Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 13 ‘BiH facing catastrophe’ by Blazica Kristo – The High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown said the issue that worries the IC the most is a campaign against the work of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, which undermines the whole process of appointment of judges and prosecutors in BiH. “It is without a doubt a danger to this country. It is about certain principle there cannot be compromise on. Politicians in no way must interfere into the process of appointment of judges and prosecutors, and if the country wants to join Europe, the BiH politicians must realize that”, says HR Ashdown. Questioned whether the State intelligence-security service will be functional within six months, HR Ashdown says he believes it is possible, adding that the answer rests with politicians. Commending the reforms to the military, HR Ashdown says: “Now we must continue. I am afraid we are losing time and we did not have a good start to the year. If we now lose the momentum we now have, it will be a catastrophe”. |
| Sarajevo Mayors write to Ashdown | Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Mayors of Sarajevo seek prevention of apartheid’, Dnevni Avaz pg 8 ‘To prevent apartheid, racism and fascism in BiH’, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘You should prevent racism and fascism in BiH’, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Prevent apartheid and fascism’, Dnevni List pg 6 ‘Prevent apartheid, racism and fascism in BiH’ – The Sarajevo Mayor, Muhidin Hamamdzic, and previous Sarajevo Mayors have addressed a letter to the High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown. In the letter, Sarajevo Mayors call on HIRep to “prevent apartheid, fascism and racism in BiH”. The letter stresses that “an open and hidden apartheid and segregation are on scene in BiH”. They added that this was evident from titles and names clearly containing attributes of national exclusivity that were given by force to cities, towns, streets, squares and structures during the aggression on BiH. “We call for this illegal, unnatural and inhumane process to be cancelled in order to return to people the faith in humanity and justice, equality and security. This perfidious action is aimed at concealing genocide and ethnic cleansing both in history and now towards the world suggesting that if something belongs to us than others cannot have any right to it. Streets, squares, structures… are filled with names aimed at telling others and those different that they do not belong there. BiH is a country that treasures the unity of diversity. Its citizens are proud of that”, the mayors stated in the letter. |
| Law on rights and obligations of BiH Parliamentarians | FTV – According to proposed Law on the rights and obligations of the BiH Parliamentarians, delegates and representatives would receive much higher pensions and favourable conditions for retirement. Their pensions would be on average 1700 KM, what is tenfold average pension in Federation. Also they would be eligible for full pensions after 20 year of working. Delegated to the BiH House of Representatives Irfan Ajanovic opposed the draft Law: “Who will pay such high pensions for representatives? Of course, tax payers.” Munib Jusufovic, head of Administrative Commission in HoR: “We were suggested to pursue such solutions since similar solutions were used in other countries… It would help representatives from RS to be more independent, since they would be able to resist different outside pressure”. Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘SDA representatives voting in favour of the Law to sanction from the party’ – Irfan Ajanovic addressed in written to his colleagues in BiH Parliament expressing his “disgust and both citizen’s and human resistance” to the draft Law on rights and obligations of delegates and representatives at the state level. He also invited SDA to sanction all delegates voting in favour of the Law from the party. |
| Merdzo: Bosniaks cannot be the only people protected in Mostar | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Merdzo: Bosniaks cannot be only ones protected in Mostar’ – Announcing his upcoming visit to Mostar, the High Representative Paddy Ashdown said that solution for Mostar should be based on the grounds of the structures at the state level, where majority cannot over-vote minorities. However, HDZ Representative in the Mostar Commission Josip Merdzo comments that it was not logical for Ashdown to make such analogy as the local and state authorities cannot be at the same level: “I cannot happen for only Mostar as the authorities at the state level just to protect Bosniak. Than the same system should be implemented in all cities of our country. Other peoples should be protected too, not only Bosniaks in Mostar.” Both SDU and Party for BiH commented Ashdown’s statement by saying that they support a system that ensures equal status for all peoples. |
Appointments in judiciary | |
| PIC Steering Board on appointment of judges
| FTV, Oslobodjenje pg 8 ‘Independent judiciary a condition for admission to EU’, Dnevni Avaz pg 3 ‘Concern over politicising appointments of judges and prosecutors raised’, Nezavisne Novine pg 2 ‘Ethnic balance in judiciary is jeopardised by campaign against HJPC’, Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Tihic’s campaign damaging and counter-productive’, Dnevni List pg 5 ‘Media campaigns in service of intimidation’ – The Ambassadors of the Peace Implementation Council’s Steering Board expressed concerns over politicising the issue of the appointments of judges and prosecutors in BiH. Following their meeting at the beginning of this week, Ambassadors discussed possible negative impact of this on the BiH road towards the European integrations. It was concluded that current media campaign could only further discourage Bosniaks from applying for the positions in Republika Srpska making it difficult to set up the multiethnic balance. RHB, RTRS – Ambassadors reminded political leaders in BiH that professional and independent judiciary is a key requirement for integration of BiH into Europe and North Atlantic structures. |
| SDA not answering OHR’s letter | FTV by Blazica Kristo – Following the letter sent by the Office of the High Representative on Wednesday with ten questions on judiciary posed to SDA leader Sulejman Tihic, his cabinet responded to the press inquiry that Tihic did not want to communicate at ‘such’ level. Report says that no other official from SDA, including Vice President Seada Palavric, wanted to comment on the letter before the cameras. After long-lasting session of SDA on Wednesday journalists were not issued a press release despite promises. Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Tihic [still] did not respond’ – At the press conference, Paddy Ashdown confirmed that the SDA leader still did not answer to OHR’s letter regarding judiciary appointments. Dnevni Avaz also mentions this in its article covering HR press conference. |
| SDU, SDP on communication between OHR and SDA | Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘House of Peoples should discuss the respect of constitutional amendments’, Oslobodjenje pg 9 ‘Delegates to discuss it’ – SDU leader Miro Lazovic: “The structure and national composition of judicial and prosecutorial councils that were presented in the media indicate the justification of these remarks. However, the media ‘quarrels’ should be stopped, and the debate should be taken to the assembly in order to consider the overall implementation of constitutional amendments and in this context review the equitability of BiH peoples and discrimination of civil rights.” Oslobodjenje pg 8 ‘With these authorities there is no progress’, FENA – The Deputy Chair of the SDP Main Board +Slobodan Popovic told at the press conference held in Sarajevo on Wednesday that BiH cannot expect radical changes and progress in the upcoming period with ruling authorities. He also commented on the correspondence between BiH Presidency member Sulejman Tihic and High Representative Paddy Ashdown over appointments in judiciary, by saying: “I do not know which side had greater expectations and who was let down – did Ashdown let down Sulejman Tihic and SDA or did SDA expect more than was possible.” |
| Ashdown visits HJPC | Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘I am not giving up from my demands’ – The High Representative Paddy Ashdown on Wednesday visited the members of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. At that occasion, Ashdown stressed that need for independent and professional judiciary in BiH, which would be able to tackle the organized crimes and improve the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal, and added he would not give up on this. He also warned “if SDA decides to continue with this campaign, I can tell them that I will not give up from these demands”. |
| Oslobodjenje editorial on ‘duel’ between OHR and SDA, political context | Oslobodjenje pg 2 ‘How dreams of pocket Bosniak’ editorial by Gojko Beric – Referring to debate between OHR and, mostly, SDA around the issue of appointments in judiciary, author writes: “Starting with unequal duel with Paddy Ashdown, Sulejman Tihic was anticipated as the looser even after the first round. That became clear in the moment when US Ambassador [Clifford] Bond stood beside the High Representative… [Representatives of the international community] together with Ashdown carried out contra-attack accusing SDA of ‘destroying European dream’ which this country, allegedly, dreams. The case went too far, and both sides call up the principles they see as to be right, so it is unlikely that either of them will let it go.” Furthermore, editorial reads “it is easy to make any people in BiH believe they are threatened, but it is much harder to do something to make it better.” Beric also evokes that the High Representative, in his New Year’s address, warned SDA of having to be careful not to make “[Alija Izetbegovic’s] big dream about BiH, whole and free moving towards Europe, nothing but simply maintenance of pocket BiH they have a control of.” Beric comments that such accusations “equalized SDA with SDA and HDZ. And the only certain thing in that entire story is that wasted time in post-Dayton period still grows. Trials to politically stabilize… BiH last for too long, so long that it is clear that ruling nationalists parties… don’t want that. They are only interested in the power.” |
Economic and social issues | |
| Brajkovic on Aluminij production, cooperation with Croatian Govt
| RHB, Vecernji List front pg ‘Aluminij is expecting support of Ivo Sander’s Government’, pg 4 ‘Protect capital in Aluminij’, Dnevni List front pg ‘If ‘Aluminij had been stopped, collapse of Elektroprivreda BiH would have taken place’, pg 15 ‘Last year most successful one in history of Aluminij’, Slobodna Dalmacija front, pg 17 ‘To go from Mostar to Leipzig to get electricity’ – The Director of Aluminij company from Mostar Mijo Brajkovic stated on Wednesday, at the press conference held to present the company’s result for 2003, that the company have expected the support of the new Croatian Government to protect its capital invested in the Aluminij. Republic of Croatia has invested 9 million US$ in the renovation of Aluminium, through the factory of light metals in Sibenik which now owns 12% of Aluminium shares, explained Brajkovic. He added that business partners of Aluminuim from Western Europe expressed readiness to invest 300 millions euros to build new factory facilities for the electrolysis. Aluminij Director also said that this company had reached a record production of 110,700 tons of related products, which presents 20% increase in comparison to 2002. Oslobodjenje pg 7 ‘Bosniak politicians are responsible for former workers’ – Mijo Brajkovic also stated, answering the question on Bosniak representation in the company, that several years ago he was ready to start the production of the company in the East Mostar, where about 300 workers would be employed, however that Bosniak politicians did not support this idea. |
| DL editorial on Ashdown decision on Industrial Electricity Tariffs | Dnevni List pg 2 by Miso Relota – Commending the High Representative for BiH, Paddy Ashdown, for taking the Decision of Industrial Electricity Tariffs, which according to the author saved BiH from disaster, Relota argues that HR Ashdown forgot to take one other important decision, to punish the management and CEO of Elektroprivreda of BiH, Enver Kreso, for neglecting the FBiH Government’s conclusions and for his self-will like behaviour. Relota says the HR should have sanctioned Kreso to let the BiH citizenry know that BiH cannot go into process of reforms and Europe with managers of public companies that take political and not economic measures. Noting that it is well known that Kreso is a senior official of SBiH, Relota writes: “How can you have a reform if for example Haris Silajdzic declares economic war to Croat areas and Mostar’s Aluminij over the media”. |
| BH authorities surprised with Sanader’s announcement on Peljesac bridge | RHB – The statement of the Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader that building a bridge through the Peljesac, thus skipping Neum en route, would solve the problem of Split-Dubrovnik highway provoked negative reactions of the Bosniak representatives of BiH authorities. BiH Civil Affairs Minister and President of Party for BiH Safet Halilovic said that Sanader tries to force BiH to finally accept the Agreement on Ploce port. Status of Ploce port will be briefly discussed at the upcoming meeting between Croatian PM and BiH Prime Minister Andan Terzic, when they are also expected to discuss the implementation of Free Trade Agreement prolonged for three months by the BiH Council of Ministers. Talking about the Peljesac bridge announcement, Terzic stated: “I have to admit that fast and categorical decision of this kind by the Croatian Government was surprising.” FTV, Dnevni List pg 9 ‘Construction of bridge to Peljesac cannot be used for political purposes’, Slobodna Dalmacija pg 3 ‘Bridge to Peljesac to benefit of BiH too’ – Croatian President Stjepan Mesic stated that the issue of road should not be used for political struggle, adding that more communications can only be of benefit and cannot harm the co-operation. |
| Dokic on Vc corridor related activities | Dnevni Avaz pg 5 ’54 candidates applied for the Concession Commission’ by Mersiha Drinjakovic – Answering journalists question as to why, as it was envisaged, Concession Commission for Vc corridor building did not start with its work at the beginning of 2004, BH Minister of Transport and Communications Branko Dokic responded that in next few days candidates for the Commission members will be proposed to the Council of Ministers. He further says CoM is expected to endorse proposals by the end of January, and to send it to the parliamentary procedure. Dokic also informs that 54 candidates applied for the position with the Concession Commission, out of which six candidates would be appointed by CoM and one by the OHR. Additional, 20 candidates expressed their interests to draft project documentation for composing the Vc Feasibility Study. |
| VL interview with Eronet director | Vecernji List pg 5 ‘Eronet gets license!’ by Z. Kresic – VL carries an interview with President of Eronet Steering Board Bozo Knezevic. Talking about the price of the GSM license, Knezevic says: “The price is high and at the moment I cannot tell whether Eronet is able to pay it. We shall make a serious financial analyses on this issue, however, the owners, who will discuss this issue in mid this month, will pass the decision.” Asked whether HT Mostar has a chance to get the third GSM license, Knezevic says that it depends on the financial possibilities of HT Mostar, however, in his opinion it is impossible for HT Mostar to reach the current position that Eronet has in this area at the moment. |
Defence and security issues | |
| Colak: BiH Defence Minister should be Croat
| Dnevni List front, pg 3 ‘BiH Defence Minister should be Croat’– The President of HDZ BiH, Barisa Colak, told the daily that the office of BiH Defence Minister should be given to a representative of the Croat people. “When you look at the structure of the army in Republika Srpska, there are no Croats and Bosniaks in it. On the other hand, when you look at the Federation (of BiH) army, in the command structure, it is majority Bosniak. We also know that with the transfer of defence onto the State level, when it comes to Defence Ministers and entity levels, the offices would be losing their meaning. That’s the dedication of the new Law of Defence of BiH”, says Colak. |
| VL on Delic as candidate for BH Defence Minister | Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Candidate who formed El-mudjaheed?’, by M. Jukic – VL carries that General Rasim Delic, who is currently a military advisor of Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency Sulejman Tihic, is the most serious Bosniak candidate for position of BiH Defense Minister. VL says that the International Community must not accept Delic’s, possible appointment to the aforementioned position and as an argument for this VL carries a copy of the document which shows that Delic himself ordered to form the unit ‘El-Mujahedeen’ in the area of responsibility of the 3rd Corps of the BH Army in August, 1993. The author says that this unit committed massacres over non-Bosniak population. |
| VL editorial on appointment of BiH Defence Minister | Vecernji List pg 2 ‘Defence to representative of minorities’ by Robert Bubalo – The author is amazed why all three constituent peoples in BiH are grappling for the office of future BiH Defence Minister saying all three peoples deserve to get it, because the Bosniaks do not have its entity Defence Minister, because the Serbs allegedly made most concessions in the process and because the Croats are the smallest in numbers people in BiH. The author concludes: “It seems that everybody in this country believes that the arms have not been definitively silenced, so it is good to have your man at the helm of the army. That’s why it would be best to offer the office to a representative of national minorities so we can have a nice sleep”. |
| Cengic dismisses accusations for illegal arms trade | Dnevni Avaz pg 4 ‘SDP commenced pre-electoral campaign in which they plan to criminalize SDA and HDZ’ – SDA delegate in BiH Parliament, Hasan Cengic, commented the recent allegations by the FBiH Police Administration which suspects him for the involvement in the illegal arms trade by saying that was only the media information so far, without anybody officially informing him on this. In addition, he said that ‘if it was not that sad, it would be funny’, adding that the entire campaign was directed by SDP which was in this way launching its pre-electoral campaign. |
| SD on violation of arms embargo | Slobodna Dalmacija pg 15 ‘Police ‘forgot’ to mention responsible ones’ by M. Erceg – SD carries that a high-ranked official of the FBiH Government, who was a member of the Commission tasked with investigation into possible violation of arms embargo, stated that he was very surprised when he saw in media some names ‘mentioned in the official report of the Police Administration of the FBiH Ministry of Interior’. According to this official, the names of Ante Jelavic, Dragan Covic, Miroslav Coric and Hasan Cengic are not mentioned in the report since there were neither indications nor evidence that they participated in the violation of the arms embargo. The source added that Manager of ‘Bratstvo Novi Travnik’ Abaz Mandzuka, former Deputy Minister of Defense Sakib Mahmuljin and former Minister of Defense Mijo Anic are among the responsible ones. SD says that the Republika Srpska officials who violated the arms embargo were sanctioned and probably for this reason some well-known names are being involved in this game in order to raise tensions and as much political dust as possible so that culprits can escape the responsibility. |
| NN: Al’Qaida in BiH | Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 3 ‘Al Q’Aeda recruits in BiH as well’ – A source close to SFOR in BiH confirmed to NN that young men from BiH go to battle fields in Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya, where they fight on the side of radical Islamic groups. According to the source, ‘BiH is involved in these activities in two manners. Bosnian men, mainly members of vehabije (radical islamic movement) volunteer to go to Iraq, Afghanistan and Chechnya. On the other hand, the citizens from other states come to BiH, where they wait to be transferred to these states. The so called mujahedeens, who came to BiH during the war, take care for them while they are here.”The source further explains that young men, who decide to go to these battle fields, get BAM 40 thousand. Their departure is organised by few organisations linked into informal associations. |
| Blic interview with RS MoI Djeric | Blic pg 12 ‘The police is only a part of the ‘trilling’’ – The Ministry of Interior cannot be burdened with the entire responsibility for crime and corruption, as RS Minister of Interior Zoran Djeric has stated. He pleads for an independent judiciary, yet he points out that everyone should carry its own responsibility. It is unacceptable, as Djeric points out, to have judiciary reform that lasts for two years. According to Djeric, only after an efficient cooperation of the ‘trilling’ – Ministry of Interior, judiciary and courts – is achieved, one could start talking about development of rule of law and legislative state. He also said that stories brought by the opposition saying that he is at the head of the police ‘in order to hide crime of Mladen Ivanic’s were only speculations. ‘I would not like to go into this, yet I think in this way they are trying to hide their participation in crime’, Minister Djeric said. Regarding the security situation, the Minister claims there is no threat of terrorism in RS at the moment, because the RS Ministry of Interior has a control over the situation. He said that there is a much bigger threat of terrorism in the Federation of BiH, because of which the RS Ministry of Interior must be on guard and must constantly cooperate with colleagues from the Federation of BiH. |
War crimes issues | |
| Ashdown on Srebrenica Commission
| Nezavisne Novine cover, pg 2 ‘Defence, Intelligence Agency, Mostar and SIPA – crucial for reforms’, Oslobodjenje pg 5 ‘I cannot work instead of domestic politicians’, Oslobodjenje pg 3 ‘Destiny of individual important’ – “The task of the Commission is not to develop a large report on what happened in Srebrenica, but to fulfil legal requirements towards the Human Rights Chamber, which precisely means to reveal every single information on the faith of individuals in order to respect human rights of individuals involved in this case,” stated Paddy Ashdown at the press conference held in Sarajevo on Wednesday. Dnevni Avaz pg 3 inset ‘Message to RS authorities’ – Stressing that the Republika Srpska bodies must prove their readiness to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, Ashdown said: “It is not enough just to seat aside and say ‘we do not obstruct it’. The Tribunal’s work must be support in fair manner, not only through successful arrest operations… but also through full cooperation with that international tribunal.” |
| Covic meets Justice for All foundation, talks on lawsuit against SCG | Oslobodjenje pg 4 ‘Lawsuit to be given a state character’, Dnevni Avaz pg 2 ‘Lawsuit against SCG should have state character’ – BiH Presidency Chair Dragan Covic met on Wednesday with the delegation of Justice for BiH Foundation, established with the purpose of supporting the BiH lawsuit against Serbia-Montenegro for aggression and genocide. Members of the delegation, Avdo Sofradzija, Luka Markesic and Mehmed Drino, informed Covic about up to now activities aimed at providing financial and moral support to the lawsuit. Sofradzija said it is important to provide for a multiethnic character of funding the lawsuit, because it is not an interstate dispute, but a dispute between two multiethnic countries, stressing that it is necessary to include and affirm the greatest possible number of citizens in supporting the Foundation, considering that only a massive response of the citizens will give the lawsuit a state character. |
| Srebrenica lawsuit against Duth Govt | Oslobodjenje pgs 4&5 ‘Lawyers expect Holland to settle’ – The member of the international team of lawyers presenting the families of Srebrenica victim in the initiative to file the lawsuit against the Dutch Government, Semir Guzin, stated that the lawsuit was read and that all documents necessary for the beginning of the process were prepared. “As the lawsuit is difficult and long process… international team of lawyer decided to offer accused side with the settlement possibility. We believe that the compensation of 50.000 US dollars per every killed member of families would satisfy both sides. However, we are expecting the answer from the accusee in next two or three months and we hope it would be a positive one.” – said Guzin. |