Balkan News

Kosovo prosecutors are discussing amending the criminal procedure code so that they could try war crimes suspects in absentia, as an extradition deal with Serbia seems unlikely.

Free movement across Europe, high poverty rates at home and lack of effective government policies have left thousands of Romanian women vulnerable to human trafficking networks.

Many Serbs living in Kosovo may not benefit from the visa liberalisation with the EU that Kosovo is hoping to secure soon, rights activists are warning.

Moldova has confirmed talks about copying the US and shifting its embassy to Jerusalem – reportely in exchange for Israel lopening an embassy in Moldova.

As Macedonia moves closer towards NATO and the EU, relations with Moscow have taken a nosedive – with more trouble expected ahead.

Dragan Vucicevic, editor of the pro-government tabloid Informer, has been found guilty of publishing hate speech in a lawsuit filed by the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, YIHR, an NGO.

Bosnian mayors plan a protest in Sarajevo on Thursday against plans to set up migrant and refugee facilities in their municipalities.

Journalists that have criticised the nationalist tone of the recent World cup celebrations now find themselves on a right-wing black list.

Anti-government slogans were displayed at a Massive Attack concert on Tuesday in Bucharest – another sign of how music festivals have become popular venues for protest against the ruling party.

If Spain adopts a new historical memory law, the tombs of Croatia's World War II Fascist leaders Ante Pavelic and Vjekoslav Maks Luburic may have to move to less prominent sites, or back to their native Bosnia.

Celebrations of Croatia’s World Cup performance continue unabated, with nationalist singer Thompson still in a starring role.

Experts caution against complacency in recent cases of death threats against senior judges in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

If – as seems likely – Macedonia joins the Atlantic alliance, Russia’s interests will have suffered another blow, while Serbia’s policy of military neutrality will come under further pressure.

As Albania’s vetting process shows many judges in Albania are unfit for their posts, the country’s highest courts have been effectively disabled.

Montenegro, seeing a rise in migrant and refugee numbers, says a Hungarian-style border fence is not necessary, yet.

Serbia said it would ask Montenegro to hand over a former Serbian fighter accused of war crimes in Kosovo in 1999 and arrested in the Adriatic republic last week.

The President’s astonishing musings about Montenegro say less about the Balkans – and more about his worrying attempt to re-orientate US foreign policy away from its old allies towards Russia.

The Bosnian state prosecution has failed for six years to decide on appeals against a decision to stop an investigation into 14 people suspected of involvement in the killings of retreating Yugoslav People’s Army soldiers in Sarajevo in 1992.

Croatia's unexpected silver in the 2018 World Cup caused an explosion of national joy – but, as the excitement ebbs away, the old problems of corruption and mismanagement are rearing their heads again.

The construction of a new highway to Greece looks likely to seal the fate of the ancient Roman settlement of Skaptopara, which is standing in the way.