Balkans

Kosovo journalists have elected a new leadership following the resignation of their previous chairwoman.

The trial of seven indictees charged with crimes in Kotor-Varos begins with the reading of indictment and presentation of introductory statements by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Defence teams.

Floods and landslides in Bosnia prompted people to put aside ethnic differences and highlighted what is widely seen as a failure of nationalist politics.

The District Court in Banja Luka acquitted Devad Zec of having killed a Serb civilian in Vasiljevici, a hamlet near Kotor Varos.

Prospect of united Belgrade-backed bloc in parliament raises chance of Serbia extending its influence to heart of Kosovo’s government.

After surrendering to the police, three ex-KLA fighters who went on the run will now face trial for war crimes allegedly committed during the 1990s.

The trial of Ratko Mladic continued with testimony by Defence witness Branko Radan, who admitted that crimes were committed against Bosniaks and Croats in the Grbavica neighbourhood of Sarajevo, but denied that Serbian authorities deported them.

After three former Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas accused of war crimes during the 1990s conflict went on the run, the Justice Ministry has blamed EULEX for allowing their escape.

An estimated 2,000 children fought in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, sometimes in horrific conditions on the frontlines, but their efforts to win special state benefits have been rejected.

A witness at the trial of five Bosniak military policemen, charged with crimes against prisoners of war in northern Bosnia in 1995, said detainees who were being set free were beaten first.