Strategic Analysis Balkan Brief

First half of September 2024

Petra Bošková,  Zuzana Šmilňáková, Dominik Boris, Kristína Šebová , Matúš Vicen, Victoria Širocká

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Albania
Albania’s Ex-PM Berisha Accused of Corruption

Former Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced on September 11 that the country’s Special Prosecution Against Corruption and Organised Crime has formally charged him with corruption.

Berisha, who leads the opposition Democratic Party, stated to the media, “Today, I have been officially charged” with corruption, following several months under house arrest. Berisha was placed under house arrest in December 2023 after prosecutors began investigating him for approving a special law that allegedly enabled his son-in-law, Jamarber Malltezi, to earn millions of EUR from a construction site project. Both Berisha and Malltezi have denied any wrongdoing.

The house arrest was imposed after Berisha failed to comply with a requirement to report to the police twice a month, which he claims was part of a politically motivated vendetta against him. Since then, Berisha has regained control of the Democratic Party from his successor, Lulzim Basha. In July, a Tirana court officially recognised him as the leader of the party, solidifying his position as the head of the main opposition force.

The corruption charges are linked to legislative changes made by Berisha’s government in 2008, which allowed for privatising sports facilities that had been confiscated under communist rule. Prosecutors state that this was one of several legal amendments made by Berisha’s administration to facilitate business ventures in which he and his son-in-law had a financial interest. They claim that the two together received around 5.4 million EUR in kickbacks from these deals.

In 2021, Berisha, now 79, was sanctioned by the US State Department for “involvement in corrupt acts,“ including a ban on entering the United States. In July 2022, he revealed that he was also barred from entering the UK over similar corruption allegations, a move he blamed on current Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama.

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Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina undergo new rules

On October 6, the local elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina will take place. Political parties have already started their campaigns to gain as many votes as possible. Beyond gaining voters, some of them have also already obtained financial fines as new stricter election rules have entered into force.

New rules have been added to the Election law in March this year. These rules have been added by the High Representative by using so-called “Bonn powers” which enable him to change the law. It is already the 11th time when he has used Bonn’s powers since 2022. New rules primarily focus on hate speech, which can now be more easily monitored and reported via an online platform called stopgovormrznje.com, in translation, Stop Hate Speech. Internet users can go to this website and report any hate speech they have noticed on social media platforms, at public gatherings, or in the media. The reports are made anonymously.

Since April, 250 reports have been made, and most of them are concerning hate speech and inflammatory rhetoric. 70 per cent of these have occurred in media, 20 per cent at public gatherings related to local elections, and 10 per cent at various social media platforms. These reports are now being investigated and forwarded to the relevant authorities, such as the Central Election Commission. Member of CEC, Vanja Bjelica-Prutina, emphasises the importance of the possibility for voters to report hate speech related to political campaigns.

According to CEC president Irena Hadziabdic, various political parties have already been charged with fines in the amount of 268,000 BiH marks (cca. 137,000 EUR).
The other rules added to the Election Law include professionalisation of the Local Election Committees, usage of modern technologies in favour of campaign ́s transparency, and rules for selection into the Local Election Committees.

Full implementation of these amendments is expected in the 2026 election cycle.

Sources:
  • Kurtic, Azem. Balkan Insight. Sarajevo.: “ Bosnia Local Election Campaign Starts Under New, Stricter Rules” https://balkaninsight.com/2024/09/06/bosnia-local-election-campaign-starts-under-new-s tricter-rules/
  • Begic, Jasmin. Balkan Insight. Sarajevo.: “ Bosnians Use Online Platform to Report Hate Speech Ahead of Elections”,https://balkaninsight.com/2024/09/04/bosnians-use-online-platform-to-report-hate-speec h-ahead-of-elections/

Photo: Shutterstock.com

Montenegro
Montenegrin Prisoners Threaten to Boycott Elections Over Amnesty Law Delay

Prisoners in Montenegro’s largest jail, along with their families, are threatening to boycott the upcoming elections if the government doesn’t deliver on its promise to introduce an amnesty law. Inmates at the Spuž prison, near the capital Podgorica, voiced their frustration through their lawyer, Damir Lekić, saying that despite pre-election promises, no action has been taken, and there is no sign of progress on the law.

The prisoners had previously appealed to top officials, including President Jakov Milatović, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, and Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić, urging them to introduce the amnesty law. However, no specific politicians were named in their latest statement.

The prisoners argue that the law would help ease overcrowding in Montenegrin prisons and provide opportunities for rehabilitation. Human rights advocate Jovan Bojović from NGO Juventas also supported the request, saying that better prison conditions and the proposed law could improve the situation.

As Montenegro prepares for local elections, the prisoners have made it clear that if there are no steps taken to adopt the amnesty law soon, both they and their families will refuse to vote in these elections and any in the future.

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Kosovo
Kosovo Indicts 45 Suspects Over the Deadly Attack in Banjska

On September 11, 2024, Kosovo’s Special Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had filed an indictment against 45 people allegedly connected to last year’s attack in Banjska. Among the names of the indictees is also a high-profile suspect, Milan Radoičić, who is believed to have led the group of suspected gunmen. Radoičić was previously questioned in front of the Belgrade Higher Prosecutor’s Office following the attack in October 2023, however, he was not detained.

On September 23, 2023, several ethnic Serb gunmen ambushed a Kosovar police patrol in the village of Banjska, Kosovo. They killed Kosovar police Sergeant Afrim Banjuku and wounded two others. Afterwards, they proceeded to a nearby Serbian Orthodox monastery, where they exchanged further fire with Kosovo’s forces. Following the ambush, a Serb businessman from Kosovo, Milan Radoičić, claimed responsibility for the attack in a written statement in which he promised to work with the Serb authorities. After appearing before the Belgrade Higher Prosecutor’s Office, the authorities confiscated Radoičić’s passport, and he was ordered not to leave the country.

In the meantime, Kosovo’s law enforcement gathered evidence to file indictments against the 45 suspected attackers. According to Kosovar Prosecutor Naim Abazi, the investigation has been the most complex in the history of his office and would not be possible without the help of the United States and the European Union.

Despite the help of international partners in investigating the attack, the prosecution has been challenging due to the lack of cooperation between the justice systems of Serbia and Kosovo in the matter. The Belgrade Higher Prosecutor’s Office informed the media that it had requested Kosovo authorities to share complete documentation regarding the attack under the EU rule-of-law mission EULEX, yet they have not received any information. The Ministry of Justice of Kosovo commented on the issue in August, claiming that Serbia’s request was invalid since they do not exercise jurisdiction over Kosovo.

Moreover, after the indictments were released on September 11, the chief prosecutor of the Prosecutor-General’s Office in Serbia, Nenad Štefanović, claimed that “From the perspective of the legal order of the Republic of Serbia, the indictment by the provisional institutions in Pristina against Milan Radoičić and others is of no importance.”

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Photo: Shutterstock.com

Serbia
President of Serbia Refused Invitation to BRICS Summit

The President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, has declined the invitation of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, to take part in the BRICS summit, which will take place on 22-24 October in Kazan (Russia)

President Vucic said he had received an official invitation to the summit. He explained his non-attendance at the summit on the grounds of important foreign visits. “Thanks to the people in BRICS for the invitation and President Putin. We also have New York, and I know now that I will have talks with at least six presidents and at least 7-8 prime ministers on the margins of the UN General Assembly,” President Vucic told the media. He added that in addition to the planned meetings with foreign partners, Belgrade will be celebrating the city’s liberation in WW2 at the same time. “Do not forget that the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belgrade is on October 20 and that the Red Army liberated the city with the help of our troops and brought freedom to the country with everyone else who took part in the liberation.

In addition to the official invitation to the summit, President Vučić also received a greeting and an invitation from President Putin. During a meeting with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin, he said: “We are expecting President Vučić at the BRICS events in Kazan in an expanded format. We have sent an invitation and I hope they will accept it”. Serbia is trying to maintain good relations with the BRICS countries, and one of the topics to be discussed at the Kazan summit was the determination of the status of BRICS partner countries.

Political analysts agree that President Vučić’s participation in the BRICS summit in Kazan could be a security risk after the Russian Federation’s accusation of selling Serbian weapons to Ukraine. The meeting could also harm Serbia’s relations with its EU and NATO partners. On the contrary, the political party Movement for the Restoration of the Kingdom of Serbia (POKS) said in its statement that Serbia should accept the invitation to the summit. “If it rejects this invitation, Serbia will miss a great, historic opportunity to protect its national interests in Kosovo and Metohija, Montenegro and the Republika Srpska,” said POKS party chairman Vojislav Mihailovic.

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North Macedonia
Turkey’s bet on the new North Macedonian government in its transnational repression campaign on FETO members and other opposition figures

Since 2016, after the military coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish regime started an unprecedented crackdown against the Gülen movement, which is alleged to be behind the attempted coup. Both domestic and transnational repression campaigns have claimed more than 300 thousand arrests and detentions or passport confiscations. The campaigns include military personnel, public servants, professors, businesses, organisations, and institutions somehow linked to the Gülen movement, but also with PKK and other terrorist/opposition organisations and movements.

Recently, in the Balkans, Turkey has set its bet on the new right-wing North Macedonian government, elected this June, to extradite Gulenist supporters to Turkey. The regime had been unsuccessful in completing the extradition process with the previous North Macedonia’s Social Democratic government. Turkey’s long-term efforts in North Macedonia were unsuccessful due to the country’s European aspirations, citing the former Prime Minister: “We are a European country that strives to become part of the EU, so we have to respect fully all international rules”. The latest efforts were made during the official visit of the foreign minister of North Macedonia in Ankara, where the main discussed topics were trade and investments in Macedonia.

However, Turkey has been successful in their campaign in the Balkan region. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, where after the request made by the President Erdogan, 4 resident permits for Turkish citizens were withdrawn. According to the lawyer of the 4 citizens, they were supposed to be exchanged for investments from Turkey. In Kosovo, 6 individuals were deported to Turkey in 2018, breaking several national laws and procedures. Similarly, in Albania, one person was detained, reportedly with the assistance of the Turkish state intelligence, at the Tirana airport after trying to travel from Kazakhstan to Kanada with illegal documents, later transferred to Instanbul, waiting for a court trial. And also in Moldova, where 6 Turkish nationals teaching or studying at the private school Horizont Turkish High School, which is supposedly close to the exiled Fethullah Gulen, were taken by the Moldovan anti-terrorist unit with the support of the Turkish intelligence service.

 

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