Belgrade Court Doesn’t Detain Radoicic & more–10th Oct 2023

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 10th of October twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Wednesday the 4th, the Higher Court in Belgrade rejected the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office proposal to detain Milan Radoicic, the former vice president of a Serb party in Kosovo, Serbian List, after he admitted to organizing the recent shootout in Banjska, Kosovo. The Higher Court has, however, temporarily confiscated his traveling documents, namely his passport, and ordered Radoicic not to leave Serbia. Recall that a few weeks ago, a group of armed Serbs carried out a shootout in Banjska where they killed a Kosovo policeman.

On Tuesday the 3rd, Belgrade’s Higher Prosecutor’s Office questioned Radoicic about his involvement in the Banjska shootout and later stated that they believe Radoicic bought the weapons for the shootout in Bosnia and hid them in abandoned buildings and forests in Kosovo. The prosecutors further accused Radoicic of “serious crimes against general security”, but Radoicic has denied the charge. President Vucic commented on Radoicic’s involvement in an interview with CNN and said that Radoicic would face justice for the violence he had inflicted.

Some officials are requesting that the EU sanction Serbia for the Banjska shootout. Such is the case with Vjosa Osmani, the president of Kosovo, who said she wouldn't meet with Vucic until the EU imposed sanctions against Serbia. On Thursday the 5th, Osmani attended the third summit of the European Political Community held in Spain, where she stressed the importance of Serbia taking responsibility for the recent Banjska shootout. She also accused Vucic of being directly involved in the planning of the aggression against Kosovo.

In a response to Osmani, Vucic said that Kosovo is campaigning for imposing sanctions against Serbia, adding that Serbia had never done anything like that to Kosovo. He also denied any involvement in the attack.

Another party asking the EU to impose sanctions against Serbia is Albania.

On Friday the 6th, Albania held a meeting for foreign ministers ahead of the Berlin Process leaders summit in Tirana which is scheduled for the 16th of October. The main focus of the meeting was the EU’s enlargement policy for the Western Balkans and the heightened tensions between Kosovo and Serbia.

The German Foreign Minister commented on the Banjska shootout and said that Serbia needs to conduct an investigation to find out where the weapons came from and the reasoning behind the attack. Albanian Foreign Minister said that the EU-facilitated Kosovo-Serbia talks are the key to peace in the Western Balkans.

EU Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said that the EU's enlargement plan for the Western Balkans is currently the EU's key priority. He also said that the tensions between Kosovo and Serbia must be completely reduced, adding that the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue must continue.

Serbia is also facing criticism from the US Department of State for not getting rid of Russian TV channels.

James Rubin, the Coordinator for the US Department of State's Global Engagement Center, said that Serbia is the only country in the Western Balkans that has not shut down Russia Today and Sputnik, two Russian TV channels that the EU suspended. Rubin explained that by allowing the broadcast of Russian news, Serbia is spreading Russian propaganda to its citizens. He went on to say that if Serbia wants to enter the EU eventually, it needs to at least shut down the Russian shows.

Speaking of Russia…

Their army has been recruiting Serbian mercenaries for the Ukraine war. Once recruited, the Russian military then transports these mercenaries to Moscow, who are assigned to the 106th Airborne Division. Journalists discovered that the recruited soldiers were given housing and special notaries who handled their paperwork. BBC Russian Service obtained a recording where Davor Savicic, a Serbian commander and one of the recruiters, described his plan to establish a full Serbian brigade within the 106th Airborne Division by the end of twenty twenty-three.

However, Serbian laws prohibit Serbian citizens from participating in any wars outside of Serbia. Still, Serbian soldiers are finding various jobs within the 106th Airborne Division, while posting photos on the internet where they brag about fighting for Russia.

However, Serbia is trying to keep good relations with other countries by asking for help. On Thursday the 5th, the UK announced that they will work with Serbia to tackle the issue of illegal migration. Rishi Sunak, the British Prime Minister, said that the number of illegal migrants in Serbia has never been higher, adding that thousands of individuals die in the hands of people smugglers, usually at sea. He said that the UK and Serbia will work on enhancing their cooperation in prosecuting and disrupting criminal networks and their operational cooperation on border management. Sunak also said that he and Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Prime Minister, will co-chair a small-group meeting with other European partners to discuss joint action on lowering illegal migration.

In other news…

The 23rd Serbia Against Violence protest took place in Belgrade on Saturday the 7th, five months after the mass murders that sparked it. The focus of this protest was the lack of free media in Serbia and the promotion of violence in a lot of TV shows, specifically those broadcasted by the TV company Pink. The crowd gathered in front of the Assembly and walked to the headquarters of the Radio Television of Serbia, or RTS, in a path they called “a media route”. Some of the protesters carried signs demanding honest journalism without corruption, the truth about the reasoning behind the shootout in Kosovo, while others carried drawings of Serbian officials in prison uniforms. The protesters also touched on the subject of Milan Radoicic and his involvement in the Banjska shootout, condemning the government for not punishing him accordingly. The main protest demands are the ousting of several corrupt Serbian officials, the confiscation of national frequency of certain TV channels that broadcast violent content, and the banning of print media whose content violates the Journalistic Code. However, even five months after the protests started, the Serbian government has not fulfilled any of these demands.

What the government has worked on though is the inclusion of the Roma people in Serbia. Tomislav Zigmanov, the Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, met with some EU representatives on Thursday the 5th, with the main topic of the meeting being the EU’s assistance to Serbia in improving Roma integration in the country. The Minister for European Integration expressed Serbia’s readiness to tackle the issue of Roma inclusion in the country but added that EU funding is necessary. At the end of the meeting, the EU agreed to finance projects aimed at improving the education, employment, and social housing of the Roma people in Serbia.

In some news on the economy…

Serbia has made a few changes in its excise tax law which has affected the prices of fuel, cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee. The excise duties on these products have risen by eight percent, however, Bojan Stanic, one of the directors at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, said that even though prices will go up, they won’t necessarily increase by eight percent. Stanic explained that the strain on the Serbian budget is one of the reasons behind this increase, adding that the Serbian budget is under pressure due to rising interest rates of the payments the country has to make to settle the state’s debt. He said that the state needed to find additional revenues and that the increase of excise taxes was the way to go. Stanic defended the excise tax increase by saying that it applies to non-essential goods.

Aaaaand that’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!