Balkaninsight.com

Contrasting reactions to the conviction of Radovan Karadzic and to a Bosnian Serb referendum challenging the state’s authority contributed to a mood of political tension in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2016.

A look at a rich mix of themes from this week’s premium articles finds both worrying signs of crisis, some signs of calm thinking, as well as new winds in some of the different corners of the Balkans. 

Court declares in favour of controversial law that remained stalled for months and is considered crucial both for judicial reform and for setting a date for accession talks with EU. 

A Croatian medical team has made positive identifications of the remains of 20 Serbs who were killed during the war in Croatia in the 1990s.

At a meeting with Albanian President in Ankara, Erdogan again raised Turkey's demands for Albania to do more to investigate followers of the exiled Turkish cleric Fetullah Gulen. 

Global Terrorist Data, GTD, records a large number of terror attacks in the Balkans between 1970 and 2015, and carries reminder of how many cases remain unresolved.

Former policeman Nebojsa Mirovic was charged with involvement in detaining, torturing and beating dozens of Bosniaks from the Teslic area in the spring and summer of 1992.

Unions plan protests on Thursday in Banja Luka against cuts in public-sector salaries in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity, Republika Srpska - timed to coincide with MPs' discussion of the budget.

Former anti-terrorist police spokesperson Radomir Pocuca was acquitted of endangering members of the peace campaign group Women in Black by calling for football hooligans to target them.

Former International Criminal Court judge Ekaterina Trendafilova has been appointed as the president of the new Hague-based special court set up to try former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters.

Youth activists in Novi Sad staged a protest after an exhibition depicting the destruction of the Croatian town of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People’s Army in 1991 was vandalised.

Fed up with just fixing shoes, veteran cobbler Branislav Stajic decided to resurrect classic shoemaking techniques and teach the traditional methods to others – an idea that’s proved surprisingly popular.

A demonstration in the Bosnian capital, which was besieged in the 1990s, will bring civil society activists and ordinary Sarajevans together in solidarity with Syrians in eastern Aleppo.

Fleeing the violence in Syria, Nivin met Salim in Lebanon and fell in love, and the couple finally came to Albania's capital Tirana to start a family and set up their business in peace.

Albania's ruling Socialist Party has called for the obligatory registration of news sites and the blocking of those that fail to register themselves during election campaigns.

The formation of a new Macedonian government will be a daunting task, observers said after Sunday's elections ended with a near-tie between the ruling party and the opposition.

On the final day of closing arguments at Ratko Mladic’s trial in The Hague, defence lawyers urged the UN court to acquit the former Bosnian Serb Army commander of war crimes and genocide.

Newly-published research has identified 600 sites at which around 160,000 prisoners were detained during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Croatian officials and veterans opened a monument to a military police battalion at the former Lora prison camp, where several Serbs were tortured and killed by battalion members in 1992.

The Croatian capital has introduced new events and sites for the Christmas holiday season across the city centre, including the baroque upper town, attracting a record number of locals and tourists.