Balkans

Two former Bosnian Serb Army soldiers told the trial of their wartime commander Ratko Mladic that Bosniak forces were responsible for attacking civilians in the besieged capital.

Former Kosovo Liberation Army commander Sylejman Selimi and three other ex-fighters were cleared of abusing prisoners at a KLA detention centre during the late 1990s conflict.

Leaders in the Serb-run north have suspended election activities in a row about the composition of election committees and the presence of Kosovo state insignia on ballot papers.

Belgrade prosecutors and police officials working on an investigation into the wartime killings of Bosniaks said that they have been threatened by former Bosnian Serb fighters.

The international court released Ranko Cesic, an ex-policeman jailed for 18 years for ‘depraved’ crimes at a notorious detention camp near Brcko, after he served two-thirds of his sentence.

At the trial of Bosnian Serb ex-soldier Vitomir Rackovic, accused of illegally detaining Bosniaks in the Visegrad area in 1992, witnesses recalled how villagers were seized and mistreated.

Belgrade and Pristina must keep working to implement their agreement to normalise relations, the head of the United Nations’ Kosovo mission told the Security Council in New York.

Leftover weapons from the 1992-5 war in Bosnia have started emerging as the flood water recedes – proving that many people kept hold of their arsenals after the conflict ended.

Former Bosnian Army soldier Nezir Merdzic was acquitted of killing three Serb civilians in June 1992 due to a lack of evidence against him.

Despite the untroubled nature of last year’s elections, international monitors will still be a prominent force in the June 8 elections to ensure that the democratic process is followed.