Friday
| RADIO HERCEG BOSNA (18,00 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| Hercegovacka Bank Case | Detention extended | Detention extended | SIPA |
| Detention of Jelavic | Charges against B. Stevic | Charges against B. Stevic | BIH Minister of Defence |
| Croatian Assembly | FBiH Army issues | FBiH Army issues | Charges against Stevic |
| Dnevni Avaz’s Protest | SIPA establishment | SIPA establishment | Croatia News |
Saturday
| NTV Hayat (18,55 hrs) | BH TV 1 (19,00 hrs) | FED TV (19,30 hrs) | RT RS (19,30) |
| RS delegation in Russian | RS delegation in Moscow | Drugs issues in BiH | Russia’s support to RS |
| Solana statement | Reaction of Sulejman Tihic | Producers of organic food | Reform of Administration |
| Guest: Fahrudin Radoncic | PDP Assembly | Tito street in SA | Avaz on HR |
| Story on Sandzak | Round table in Mostar | Round table in Mostar | PDP Assembly |
Saturday
| Oslobodjenje | Ban from writing lies in newspapers is not censorship |
| Dnevni Avaz | Paddy, one should resign because of this! |
| Dnevni List | “Raguz: Up to 100 million Kunas of assistance to Croats in BiH”; “To appoint HT Mostar Supervisory Board in accordance to law” |
| Vecernji List | “Smaller severance pay to extra soldiers”; “Jim Caviezel: I agreed to act Jesus because of Medjugorje” |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | “Blockade of border again”; “BiH in EU between 2009 and 2012” |
| Glas Srpske | Owing to increase of wheat cost at world market: One bread – one BAM; Agency for standards and grading: Girls learn better |
| Nezavisne Novine | Following court decision: “Avaz” journalists protested in front of OHR building; Baktijar Aljaf: PDP would not pass election limit at extraordinary elections; Dragan Lukac: Prosecutor Carla del Ponte is not informed well; Javier Solana: BiH is heaven for criminals |
Sunday
| Oslobodjenje | Tito may be moved out only by BiH parliament |
| Dnevni Avaz | Washington requests SDS to hand Karadzic over |
| Dnevni List | “Brkic: Breakdown of HDZ-HNZ-CCD Coalition?; “New details in process against Ante Jelavic and others” |
| Vecernji List | “D. Cavic and D. Mikerevic visited Moscow: Russia supports preservation of Dayton Accord”; “Protected witness Merim Galijatovic admitted that he was telling lies” |
| Slobodna Dalmacija | Features Croatia related headlines |
Judiciary/media | |
| Dnevni Avaz employees protest to OHR against “censorship”, Ashdown says court decides what is a lie and what is not
| Herceg Bosna Radio, FTV on Friday, Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 8 ‘Avaz employees refused to talk to Ashdown’, Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 3, ‘“Avaz” journalists protested in front of OHR building’, FENA – Journalists, editors and printers of Dnevni avaz on Friday held a peaceful demonstration outside the OHR building in Sarajevo against what they say is the introduction of censorship in BiH, for which they hold High Representative Paddy Ashdown responsible. The protest rally with half an hour silence was organized after the court ruling banning the newspaper from reporting on the chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Zlatko Lagumdzija. The newspaper believes this violates freedom of thought. The editors, led by editor-in-chief Fahrudin Djapo, handed to the OHR a letter with their demands, asking the High Representative to eliminate court censorship and the ban on critical reporting on politicians. The journalists and printers of Dnevni avaz also demand that the law on lustration be passed, and that judges who had cooperated with the communist intelligence services be banned from working in the judiciary. They say this has been done in all the European countries in transition and that this is one of the conditions for BiH’s joining the EU. They demand equality in all key positions in the courts, state prosecutor’s offices, police, intelligence service and other state and public services. “Court decides what is a lie and what is not,” High Representative Paddy Ashdown told journalists following the protest. He expressed regret that the representatives of the newspaper refused to meet him. Ashdown believes that a ban on publishing lies is not censorship, since, he said, judges in this country decided that journalists do not have the right to report untruths. This is not censorship, but normal practice in any law-abiding country, he said. “It seems that Dnevni avaz knows what to do after all. They have already told me in the letter that they would seek redress from other international courts, and this is the right way to go about things in law-abiding societies,” the High Representative added. Journalists and printers of Dnevni avaz said they would gather in protest outside the OHR in Sarajevo at 1100 every Friday until their demands are met. Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 2 ‘Ashdown’s turn has come as well’ Op-ed by Mirko Sagolj – According to Sagolj, in its own, well-known style, Avaz is approaching (start attacking) Ashdown since they asses the High Representative cannot be useful for them any more. Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz reports on the issue on pg. 4 ‘Half an hour silence against censorship’; ‘Ashdown deliberately confused ban from writing and 10,000 KM fine’. In a separate article on the same page ‘Court ban reminds of Bolshevik regimes’, Avaz quotes Party for BiH’s Safet Halilovic, SDA’s Elmir Jahic and SDU’s Sejfudin Tokic who all support Dnevni Avaz employees’ protest. |
| OHR: Surely Avaz not demanding the right to tell lies? | Saturday’s Oslobodjenje front page, pg. 8 ‘Ban from writing lies in newspapers is not censorship’, Slobodna Dalmacija Saturday, page 6, by D. Pasic, FENA – Following the demonstration by employees of Dnevni Avaz outside the Office of the High Representative on Friday, the OHR made the following statement: “The employees of Dnevni Avaz are free to demonstrate peacefully wherever they want in accordance with the law. This is a fundamental democratic right and European standard. Unfortunately, the demonstrators from Avaz did not take up the High Representative’s offer to come in to the OHR and discuss their concerns with him directly. The OHR would however like to make two points. First, the OHR does not understand why Avaz is demonstrating against “the introduction of censorship”. According to the letter Chief Editor Djapo sent to the High Representative on 17 February, the Sarajevo Cantonal Court has introduced provisional measures banning Avaz ‘from further distribution and presentation of false claims pertaining to Plaintiff Zlatko Lagumdzija’. Avaz is not banned from writing about Mr Lagumdzija, only from publishing falsehoods about him. Is that the right that the journalists of Dnevni Avaz are demonstrating for? Second, while the right to demonstrate peacefully is a fundamental European standard, so is the introduction of an independent judiciary. About that there can be no compromise if BiH wants to join Europe. The administration of the law is a matter for the courts and the legal system, not for the High Representative. So while Avaz is welcome to continue to demonstrate outside the OHR, the OHR cannot and will not interfere in the administration of the law or the decisions of the courts. The principle is clear in a modern European state: the appointment of judges and their decisions cannot be subject to the influence – or intimidation – of politicians; or newspapers; or, for that matter, High Representatives. What is also equally clear is that without an independent judiciary, independently selected, BiH will never get into Europe. The current judicial reappointment process, under the supervision of the independent High Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, is an essential and necessary part of this process. As their recent statements have shown, the European Union, the Peace Implementation Council, and the United States support this process and are not prepared to see it undermined. Just because judges rule against Dnevni Avaz is not evidence that the process is flawed, that the judges are corrupt, or unprofessional, or spies, as Avaz has claimed. Such media pressure and intimidation against the judiciary has no place in a modern democracy.” |
| Dnevni Avaz : Paddy, one should resign over this! | Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz front page pg. 3 ‘Paddy, one should resign over this!’ (RTRS on Saturday reported on the Avaz article) – The daily wonders whether the persistent refusal by the current High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, to even think about a brutal discrimination of Bosniaks conducted by Jan Eric Oja has some to date unknown motives? The answers to such questions will be known sooner or later, according to Avaz. “However, a photo unveiled yesterday (Friday) in Avaz (Ashdown sitting with some people allegedly in the premises of Bileca bus station on May 7 last year below a photo of Karadzic hanging on the wall) is simply shocking both from moral and diplomatic angle,” said the newspaper. Sunday’s Oslobodjenje ‘Always the first’ Op-ed by Senka Kurtovic – Kurtovic wonders why Dnevni Avaz needed ten months to find a photo showing Ashdown and Bileca citizens sitting below a photo of Karadzic hanging on the wall? She added she believed Ashdown had been aware (warned) of methods and ways in which Avaz’s owner lives and hates. Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz pg. 4 ‘It is inappropriate that any official sits in room in which there is a photo of Karadzic’ carries reactions by SDA’s Sulejman Tihic, BOS’ Mirnes Ajanovic, Party for BiH’s Safet Halilovic and OHR’s Oleg Milisic to the Saturday’s Dnevni Avaz front page photo of Ashdown sitting below the photo of Karadzic hanging on the wall. Toihic said that he did not know if Ashdown had been aware of the Karadzic’s photo in the room but that he should have definitely been warned of the fact by his associates. Ajanovic believes that “Ashdown’s policy is not in the interest of the state of BiH, Bosniaks as well as other peoples living in the country”. Halilovic said it was worrying if Ashdown had been aware of Karadzic’s photo. Milisic emphasized that anyone following Ashdown’s activities in the past 12 years knew how non-serious such claims (linking Ashdown and Karadzic in any sense) had to be. |
Political developments/reforms | |
| OHR supports BiH authorities readiness to take over the responsibility for reforms
| Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 9 ‘Support to fight against Mafia’, FENA – The OHR supported the Thursday’s decision of the BiH Council of Ministers (CoM) and stressed that it as a “very encouraging sign that BiH’s political leaders are prepared to turn words into deeds”. On Wednesday, all BiH’s parliamentary parties agreed to support BiHs European integration and membership in NATO’s PfP. On Thursday, CoM agreed key laws that will help BiH fight the mafia and are required for European integration, OHR spokesperson Vedran Persic said on Friday. |
| SDA’s Sadovic: First results of political consensus expected in coming days | Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 6 ‘Responsibility for BiH’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘We see BiH as a state of multi-ethnic regions’, FENA – The Party of Democratic Action (SDA) welcomes the signing of the statement with which leaders of all BiH parliamentary parties expressed willingness to work towards European integration and BiH membership in the Partnership for Peace program. Head of the SDA Caucus in the RS National Assembly Tarik Sadovic told a press conference in Sarajevo on Friday that this act represents taking of responsibility for the European future of BiH by the most important political structures. “We expect first results of the political consensus to be achieved in the next several days when the BiH Parliament is planned to pass a set of laws on SIPA and the law on the intelligence service. This will allow us to fight organised crime, money laundering, human trafficking, war criminals and terrorism more efficiently”, Sadovic said. SDA supports the initiative by representatives in the European Parliament for a constitutional reorganisation of BiH. He added that SDA views Bosnia as a state of four to seven multi-ethnic regions based on geographic, economic, communications criteria. The SDA Caucus requests the RS Constitutional Court to use its constitutional powers and start the procedure for evaluating the constitutionality of laws declared by Radovan Karadzic between 1992 and 1996. SDA representatives in the BiH Parliament will vote against the appointment of Vitomir Popovic to the post of BiH Ombudsmen due to his war background. Sadovic reminded that Popovic served as the Banja Lula Court President and RS Deputy Prime Minister. “We also wish to remind that as the BiH Constitutional Court judge he voted against the decision on equal constitutional status of peoples in BiH. For exactly these reasons BiH Presidency member Sulejman Tihic also refused to support his appointment”, Sadovic said. Nezavisne Novine, pg. 6, ‘BiH with four or seven multi-ethnic regions’; Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘Regions instead of entities’ – At a press conference in Sarajevo on Friday, Tarik Sadovic, Head of SDA Caucus at Republika Srpska Parliament, said that SDA would set BiH as a state with four or seven multiethnic regions established on geographical, economic an communication criteria. NN further carries some comments on this statement. Dusan Stojicic, SDS Spokesperson, finds such proposals to be in violation of Constitution. Velimir Sakan, member of PDP Chair Board, said that such initiatives do not contribute to consolidation of institutions or inter-entity cooperation. Igor Radojicic, SNSD Secretary General, says such initiatives remind him of 1990 and 1991, when nationalistic parties were speaking some things they are speaking today. |
| NN edtorial on BiH political leaders’ declaration | Nezavisne Novine editorial by Mirza Cubro, pg. 7, ‘Statement for Europe’ – The author is critical about a joint statement on Wednesday signed by parliamentary parties’ officials, in which they expressed readiness to fully implement reforms in BiH an ensure BiH admission into PfP mid this year and launchment of talks on admission and stability agreement with EU. He also says authorities have already broken all deadlines possible (appointment of defence minister, any discussion on Feasibility Study, etc). All this makes it almost impossible to believe in their real intentions and promises. |
| Ivanic says Bosnia could be admitted to EU, NATO between 2009-2012 | Herceg Bosna Radio on Friday, Sunday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘BiH in EU in between 2009-2012’, ONASA – BiH Foreign Minister and president of the Party for Democratic Progress (PDP) Mladen Ivanic said on Friday that it will be seen very soon whether parties from BiH are determined to meet the conditions for accession into the Partnership for Peace and European integration, or are their promises a “political marketing”. “If we work very fast, BiH could become full-time member of the European Union between 2009 and 2012,” Ivanic said. “Currently, there is a conflict between two concepts in BiH. One wants to make big changes that cut into the Dayton agreement, while the other one wants to improve the economic situation,” Ivanic said. He said that most parties prefer the first concept, since “it is easier to politicize”. “Even the international institutions are running away from the second concept, which means improving living conditions for ordinary citizens, since the international institutions are into other bigger issues that attract media attention,” Ivanic said. |
| PDP leader says preservation of RS’ independence main goal | BHTV, RTRS on Saturday, Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Strengthening of the state must not be at the cost of the entities’, Dnevni List Sunday, pg 10, ONASA – President of the Party of Democratic Progress (PDP) Mladen Ivanic said at the third PDP assembly on Saturday in Banja Luka that one of the main goals of this party in the upcoming period will be the preservation of independence of the Republika Srpska (RS). “The interest of the PDP is that BiH institutions be efficient, but not in the way that a political ambient be in Sarajevo and that it means the loss of autonomy of the RS. It is necessary to find the measure between the preservation of independence of the RS and the implementation of reforms at the state level,” Ivanic said. He added that the RS wants to be a part of Europe within BiH and a guarantee of the survival of the Serb people in these areas, because of which there is no reason for the creation of an ambient for the abolishment of the RS. “The priorities of the PDP in the upcoming period will be the increase of level of production and the reform of pension and health systems, without which resolving of social issues cannot start,” Ivanic said. According to Ivanic, the PDP has the future, since it is currently the most stable and united party in the RS. Approximately 500 delegates of the PDP are attending the assembly, as well as representatives of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), Serb People’s Union (SNS), RS Pensioners Party and representatives of international organizations. |
| Ivanic on IC/OHR’s mandate in BiH | Vecernji List Sunday, page 2, “International Community’s mandate should expire in 2005”, ONASA – BiH Foreign Minister and PDP leader Mladen Ivanic said that the mandate of international institutions in BiH in current form should expire in the year of 2005. “If BiH is not capable to govern itself ten years after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, that would be a very bad message, and the tenth anniversary of the Dayton Agreement will take place next year,” Ivanic said at the third PDP assembly in Banja Luka on Saturday, adding that the international community in BiH will have “the advisory role” in the future. Ivanic estimated that the international community in BiH is in position to request and propose solutions and not to be responsible for effects. “It leaves responsibility to local politicians, it pushes them to certain courses and does not want to take over responsibility,” he said. He mentioned that the international community created two years ago the new platform “Business and Justice”, but that he thinks that it has forgotten that basic idea regarding that it does not deal with justice and business. “Citizens of BiH and of the Republika Srpska (RS) need justice and business, and the international community is strictly responsible for justice but it did not succeed or has not so far succeeded in that,” Ivanic said. Nezavisne Novine, pg. 6, ‘OHR will not discipline me’; Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘The preservation of Republika Srpska is the most important’ – Mladen Ivanic, PDP President, on Friday stated that “OHR will not discipline me, and I will continue to perform my work the way that best suits Republika Srpska and BiH”. He commented on Thursday’ press release by OHR, in which OHR expressed expectation that Ivanic would ensure that Serb politicians in BiH are not obstacle to BiH path towards Europe. Ivanic also said that: “If their goal is to scare somebody or to undertake some disciplinary measures, it would not have any effect.” |
| Mikerevic: Russia supports vital interests of Serbs in BiH | TV Hayat, BHTV, RTRS on Saturday, Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 ‘Moscow supports presrvation of Dayton, interests of the Serb people in BiH’, Oslobodjenje pg. 4, Vecernji List Sunday, front page: “Russia supports preservation of Dayton Accord”, and page 3, “Russia is against abolishment of entities”, by B. Stevandic, Dnevni List Sunday, page 10, Dayton ahs not been exhausted yet”, not signed, FENA, SRNA – RS Prime Minister Dragan Mikerevic has said on his return from Russia that the RS representatives were given Moscow’s political support for the protection of the vital interests of the Serb people in BiH and for the preservation of the Dayton Agreement. “We asked for a clear stand of the Russian Federation on the ideas on unitarization, centralization and departure from the Dayton blueprint,” Mikerevic said, adding that the answer was the support for the Dayton Agreement. Mikerevic said that the RS was focusing on turning around its economic policy and strengthening the GDP, and thus wanted to improve the economic cooperation with Russia which was almost completely ignored at the moment. “There are many avenues for making the RS economy’s presence felt in Moscow, and vice versa,” Mikerevic said, adding that there was a proposal on the opening of Russian business and trade centres in Banja Luka, and the Serb Republic’s centres in Moscow. According to Mikerevic, prospects for the Russian investment in the RS are very good in many spheres, but particularly in the power production and supply. |
| Tihic: RS delegation’s Moscow visit gross violation of Dayton | BHTV on Saturday, Sunday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 4 ‘Serious violation of Dayton Agreement’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 2, Vecernji List Sunday, page 3, “Visit to Moscow – violation of Dayton”, by Fena, Dnevni List Sunday, page 7, “Visit to Moscow violation of DPA”, ONASA – A visit of the Republika Srpska delegation, comprising only the ethnic Serbs, to Moscow, which has been prepared and organized secretly and without informing the BiH Presidency, is a gross violation of the Dayton Peace Accord, it was said in a statement from the cabinet of the Bosniak member of the BiH Presidency, Sulejman Tihic. “It is not even known who took part in organization of the visit and according to whose instructions acted the BiH ambassador to Russia,” the statement cited. “Hence, calls addressed to the Russian authorities for preservation of the Dayton accord cannot be valid. We could rather say those were the calls for preservation of the RS as an ethnic Serb community with all the prerogatives of a state,” the statement added. According to the statement, statements made by the RS officials, on return from Russia, claiming they obtained Kremlin’s support for protection of vital interests of the Serb people of BiH, are neither to the benefit of the RS nor Russia. “Namely, both president and premier of the RS are representatives of all three constitutional ethnicities, and not of the Serb people only, and Russia provided guarantees for the Dayton accord to all the ethnicities in BiH,” the statement pointed out. The RS delegation, headed by the RS President Dragan Cavic, departed for Russia on February 17. |
| Mostar North Municipality to leave the City of Mostar | Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 5 ‘Mostar North Municipality to leave Mostar’, Slobodna Dalmacija last page, “North against shutting down of Municipality”, by Fena carries that an enlarged session of the Local Communities’ Board of the Mostar Municipality North and Councilors of this Municipality took place in Cultural Center in Potoci on Friday during which the issue of Mostar organization, as well as, the HR’s decision on shutting down of the Mostar Municipalities, was discussed. Also, it was unanimously concluded that they support the stands of the Councilors of the Mostar Municipality North not to participate in the implementation of a new Mostar Statute and that the struggle for their Municipality must not stop. The conclusion says: “Since the will of citizens to preserve the status of the Municipality within the city of Mostar was not respected, we have launched the procedure that citizens declare themselves on the initiative to form an independent Municipality North out of current local communities Bijelo Polje, Vrapcici and Dreznica in accordance with positive legislation of this country and European Charter on local self-government.” Dnevni List (Saturday, page 14, “Initiative for separation of Municipality North from Mostar”, by S. Bjelica) also covered this issue. |
| Susan Johnson: We do not want Brcko to be a small island within BiH | Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz pg. 5 ‘We do not want Brcko to be a small island within BiH’ – Interview with Brcko International Supervisor Susan Johnson. “Our priorities are development and strengthening of relations with the state of BiH and the entities in order to come to a moment when the transition will be carried out and the end of the supervisor’s mandate announced,” said Johnson. |
| IFIMES on BiH | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 6, ‘PDP would not pass election limit at extraordinary elections’ – Baktijar Aljaf, Director of the International Institute for Middle East and Balkans’ studies (IFIMES) from Ljubljana claims that BiH will be faced with extraordinary elections, because the current authority has failed to fulfil pre-elections promises given to citizens. On the High Representative to BiH, Paddy Ashdown, he said he makes a smokescreen for the nationalistic parties, saying that it is evident HiRep “protects” them for alleged sake of democracy and election results. He also says that Dragan Kalinic is the most cooperative politician in Republika Srpska , working against the interests of Republika Srpska and Serb people for his own sake. On PDP, he says PDP would not pass election limit at extraordinary elections. He denies accusations that opposition parties from BiH ordered this IFIMES analysis. |
| NN interview with Solana | Nezavisne Novine, cover and pgs. 4 & 5 in NN supplement Revija, ‘BiH is heaven for criminals’ – In an interview to NN, Javier Solana, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, said that EU wants to see BiH as self-sustainable state, capable of being admitted into this association. However, a long way is ahead of BiH to achieve this, according to him, stressing BiH needs to fulfil international obligations, especially those referring to The Hague and Council of Europe. He also says that inefficiency, lack of responsibility and politicisation of issues on crucial reforms decelerates this process of BiH getting closer to EU. TV Hayat, RTRS on Saturday and Sunday’s Dnevni Avaz pg. 2 carried excerpts from the interview. |
Crime/corruption | |
| Children Embassy to press charges against Branko Stevic
| BHTV, FTV, RTRS on Friday, Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pgs. 4-5, mentioned on the front page ‘Stevic should be permanently banned from holding public offices’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 11 ‘Criminal report against Stevic on Monday’, Nezavisne Novine, pg. 4, ‘Branko Stevic must be prosecuted for war crimes’,Vecernji List Saturday, page 2, “Criminal charges against Branko Stevic”, by eme, Slobodna Dalmacija Saturday, page 7, “Now in BiH everybody keeps defending ‘their criminals’!”, by Z. Rerig, FENA – The Children Embassy announced on Friday that it would file charges before the BiH Court against Branko Stevic, wartime chief of the Bijeljina police and candidate for the BiH Defence Minister, due to his command responsibility for the killing of 22 members of Sarajlic and Sejmenovic families, including seven children, which took place in Balatun on September 24 1992. Children Embassy’s Steering Board Chair Gajo Sekulic told a press conference in Sarajevo that the Embassy raises its voice against the past so that it is not forgotten and in order to prevent those potentially responsible for crimes from having peace. “Unfortunately the official institutions are not dealing with such issues and they are even covering up the crimes”, Sekulic said. Children Embassy General Secretary Dusko Tomic said that Stevic is without any doubt responsible by chain of command for the death of members of Sarajlic and Sejmenovic families. Stevic told the members of the families and their friends who survived a number of times after the crime that their murdered relatives had been in fact exchanged in Celic. Tomic also requested High Representative Paddy Ashdown to entirely ban Stevic from holding public office. |
| BiH Court extends former Croat officials’ detention | Herceg Bosna Radio, BHTV, FTV, RTRS on Friday, Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 5, mentioned on the front page ‘Detention extended of Jelavic, Prce and Rupcic’, Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 5, ‘Detention to Jelavic, Prce and Rupcic extended’, Vecernji List Saturday, front and page 5, “Another two months to Jelavic”, by Z. Kresic, Slobodna Dalmacija Saturday, page 6, “Custody to Jelavic, Prce and Rupcic extended for another two months”, by Hina,Dnevni List Saturday, page 5, “Custody to Jelavic, Prce and Rupcic extended”, FENA – At the request of the special department of the state prosecutor’s office of BiH for organized crime, economic crime and corruption, the Court of BiH on Friday extended the detention of Ante Jelavic, Miroslav Prce and Miroslav Rupcic for another two months. They are suspected of the abuse of office and powers. The detention was extended because it is believed that they might escape and also for fear that, while on bail, they might hide or destroy important evidence, or try and influence witnesses and accomplices, and thus influence the criminal proceedings, the Court of BiH has said. |
| OHR says human rights endangered mostly by corruption | Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Unscrupulous rich men and social poverty’, Vecernji List Saturday, page 2, “Corruption against human rights”, FENA – With regard to endangering human rights in BiH, OHR pointed out at corruption long time ago, concluding that BiH authorities at all levels were acting/behaving more in their own interest. “OHR would not declare itself on individual cases, because it is in competence of local authorities”, the OHR spokesman Vedran Persic told FENA. “OHR also maintains that corruption is especially manifested inside the rule of law sector, better to say in judiciary. Therefore a priority objective should be the training of special inspections to ensure more efficient work of judicial bodies and strengthening of the function of prosecutor’s offices”, Persic said. |
| SNSD’s Simic on judiciary | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 9, ‘Lack of judges in Republika Srpska ’ – Krstan Simic, President of RS NA Commission for Judiciary reform, says that during the future process of selection of judges and prosecutors, the best qualified of all applicants should be chosen. Namely, he said that the current practise of choosing “the best candidates on the principle of discrediting the others” should be abandoned. He wlaos pointed at necessity at changing the legal provision setting the number of judges and prosecutor, stressing that the practise has shown there is lack of judges and prosecutors in comparison with the number of population and cases. |
| Three Serb police officers from black list dismissed | Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 3 ‘Three Serb police officers from black list dismissed (relieved from duty)’, Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 3, ‘Borovcanin, Sarac and Basevic dismissed’, Vecernji List Saturday, page 3, “3 policemen absolved from duty”, by B.S., Dnevni List Saturday, page 3, “Policemen on black lit” – Zoran Glusac, Spokesperson of Republika Srpska Interior Ministry, on Friday confirmed that following request of OHR, Republika Srpska Ministry of Internal Affairs has dismissed police officers Veljko Borovcanin, Ivan Sarac and Dragan Basevic from police duties. |
| Update to Mandic affair
| Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 2, ‘Assent given by Ministries of Energy an Finance’ – Nenad Radovic, Legal officer at Republika Srpska Elektroprivreda, confirmed to NN that Republika Srpska Elektroprivreda did choose the firm MVS Impex from Bijeljina as the best bidder for oil supply tender for Mines and Plants Gacko and Ugljevik only after it had received assents by Republika Srpska Ministries of Energy (singed by Minister Milan Bogicevic) and Finance (signed by Ostoja Travar, assistant to Minister). NN also carry an inset, in which Ljiljana Radetic, OHR Regional Spokesperson, did not want to make any comment whether OHR plans to block the work of MVS Impex (owned by Momcilo Mandic son Vladimir), stressing that OHR never comments on future plans. |
| Lukac denies del Ponte | BHTV, RTRS on Friday, Nezavisne Novine, cover and pg. 2, ‘Prosecutor Carla del Ponte is not informed well’’; Glas Srpske, pg. 2, ‘Old duties to police officers’ – Dragan Lukac, SIPA Deputy Director, yesterday enied claims by Carla del Ponte, ICTY Chief Prosecutor, who said that information on war crime suspects do leak from SIPA. He said that: “The Agency has not become operational as yet and conclusively it cannot have any information related to whereabouts of war crime suspects. Least to say, del Ponte is not informed enough.” He also denied media speculations that he would be new SIPA Director. Vecernji List (Saturday, page 3, “SIPA does not take away authorities of entity Ministries”, by bs) carries that Deputy Head of SIPA Dragan Lukac stated that SIPA will not take away authorities and autonomy of entity and Cantonal Ministries of Interior and that there will be no interweaving of their authorities. Lukac said: “Department for criminal information should grow into Department for Criminal Investigations.” |
Defence | |
| FBiH Defence Minister Nikolic disappointed with redundancies
| Herceg Bosna Radio, BHTV, FTV on Friday, Saturday’s Oslobodjenje pgs. 4-5, mentioned on the front page ‘Nikolic requests increase of severance pays’, Dnevni Avaz pg. 11, mentioned on the front page ‘Nikolic disappointed with severance pay of 6,000 KM’, Vecernji List Saturday, front page, “Smaller severance pay to extra soldiers”, and page 3, “Severance pays have been halved already”, by D. Jazvic, Dnevni List Saturday, page 2, “Increase of severance pay to soldiers possible”, by E. Mackic,FENA – Defence Minister of the Federation of BiH Miroslav Nikolic is disappointed with Thursday’s decision by the Federation government to pay a redundancy package to every dismissed soldier to the amount of 6,000 KM, which is 4,000 marks less than the ministry had asked for and what was paid last year. At a press conference in Sarajevo on Friday, Nikolic said that the government explained the decision by saying that the amount of 6,000 marks was decided upon “in line with the instructions and the framework stipulated by the IMF”. “This raises a question why the IMF approved the 10,000-mark amount to the previous government, and refused to do so to this government. It means the IMF has completely different attitude towards different governments, since the issue affects exactly the same group of people. I wonder why,” Minister Nikolic said. He expressed the hope that the deadlines would be respected and that the Federation’s Defence Ministry and the army would have the lists of all redundant staff by 15 March, and carry out the necessary cuts by 1 April. |
| SDP slams government over decision on army redundancies | BHTV on Saturday, Sunday’s Oslobodjenje pg. 5, mentioned on the front page ‘Former government fought out severance pay of 10,000 KM’, Dnevni List Sunday, front and page 2, “Army ‘sold’ for 11,5 million KM”, by De.L.,SRNA – The deputy chairman of the BiH Social Democratic Party (SDP), Alija Behmen, has said that the ruling coalition in the Federation of BiH, including the SDA, the HDZ and the Party for BiH, was irresponsible when it decided to set the redundancy package for soldiers who would be dismissed this year at 6,000 convertible marks, the SDP said in a statement on Saturday. The statement added that the decision had placed the redundant soldiers in an unequal position compared to their colleagues who were demobilized last year, with the redundancy package amounting to 10,000 marks. Not only did the government of reformed nationalists not have the knowledge and the strength to defend its view before the international community and ensure the same conditions for all redundant soldiers, but wants to “save” almost 11.5m marks from the budget on soldiers, the SDP said. |
| Update to defence minister nomination | Nezavisne Novine, pg. 4, ‘Kapetina is the only serious candidate of SDS’ – Mirko Blagojevic, delegate of Serb Radical Alliance “Dr Vojislav Seselj” at BiH Parliament, stated on Friday in Bijeljina that the candidature of Branko Stevic for the position of first BiH defence minister was just a sort of game of SDS. He added that the only serious candidate of this party all time long was Dragan Kapetina, advisor to Borislav Paravac. He was also critical of Drago Vukovic, media advisor to Paravac, saying that he should be tried for some operations, which took place in Bijeljina during the war. |
| OHR on appointment of BiH Defense Minister | Dnevni List (Saturday, page 5, “Vetting procedure of candidates for position of Deputies only after new proposal”, not signed) carries that OHR spokesperson Vedran Persic stated that the OHR will consider the ruling coalition made of SDS, HDZ and SDA, responsible for the proposal of a new candidate for the BiH Defence Minister and not only one party or individual. He added that none proposed candidate for the position of the BiH Defence Minister or his Deputies including Branko Stevic went through the vetting procedure in the OHR since Chairman of the BiH CoM Adnan Terzic withdrew his candidacy. |
Economic/social issues | |
| Increase of bread price
| Glas Srpske, cover page story, ‘One bread – one KM’ – Following the increase of wheat cost at the world market, the rice of bread in Republika Srpska has already increased to 1 KM in Gradiska and Srbac, while the increase is expected to take place in all cities across Republika Srpska. |
| OHR on appointment of HT Mostar Supervisory Board | Dnevni List (Saturday, front and page 3, “To appoint HT Mostar Supervisory Board in accordance with law”, by Z. Jukic) carries that the OHR representatives stated on Friday that Federation of BiH Minister of Traffic and Communications Nedzad Brankovic must appoint a new HT Mostar Supervisory Board in accordance with strict provisions of Law on Ministerial and Government’s Appointments. |