Category Archives: Serbia

Jailed Bosnian Serb general says he aided and abetted Srebrenica genocide

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Confession met with scepticism after other war criminals made similar statements to win early release from prison

A Bosnian Serb general jailed by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has confessed to having “aided and abetted the genocide”.

Survivors and families of the more than 8,300 people who died in the mass killing reacted with scepticism to the confession by Radislav Krstić, a corps commander who led the assault on the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica and oversaw the execution of captured men and boys.

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Roof collapse kills at least 14 people at Serbian train station

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Young child among the dead at Novi Sad’s main station as country’s president vows to punish those responsible

At least 14 people have been killed after part of an outdoor roof collapsed at a train station in the Serbian city of Novi Sad, the country’s president has said.

The roof, which provided shade over benches near the station’s entrance, came crashing down early on Friday.

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Protest from US after Kosovo closes Serbian offices

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Risk of raising tensions after parallel institutions serving Serb minority are declared illegal and shuttered by ethnic Albanian-led government

Kosovo authorities on Friday closed five parallel institutions working with the ethnic Serb minority, a move that was immediately criticised by the US and could further raise tensions with neighbouring Serbia.

Elbert Krasniqi, Kosovo’s minister of local administration, confirmed the closure of five so-called parallel institutions in the north – where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives – writing online that they “violate the Republic of Kosovo’s constitution and laws”.

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Directors and actors urge Serbia not to extradite activist to Belarus

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Dozens from European film industry and other artists write letter warning Andrei Gnyot could face death penalty

Dozens of European directors, actors and other artists have called on Serbian authorities not to extradite a Belarusian activist back to Belarus. In an open letter published on Monday, the artists warn that Andrei Gnyot faces “imprisonment, torture and even the death penalty” if sent back to Belarus.

Gnyot, a film-maker who was instrumental in organising an alliance of athletes to oppose the dictatorial rule of Alexander Lukashenko, was detained on arrival in Serbia last year after Belarus issued a warrant for his arrest on tax evasion charges via Interpol. He says the charges are political.

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Thousands of Serbians protest in Belgrade against lithium mine

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Controversial mining project is a political fault line in Balkan country over fears about environmental impacts

Thousands hit the streets in Serbia’s capital Belgrade Saturday to protest against the rebooting of a controversial lithium mine set to serve as a vital source to power Europe’s green energy transition.

Before the rally, two leading protest figures said they were briefly detained by security officials who warned that any moves to block roads during the protest would be viewed as illegal.

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Weather tracker: Heavy seasonal rain causes widespread flooding in China

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Six people dead, thousands evacuated and transport disrupted after at least 20 floods in major rivers

China has been experiencing heavy and widespread rainfall since the start of the rainy season, which runs from May to September. It has resulted in at least 20 floods in major rivers across the country, with 31 rivers surpassing their flood warning levels.

Dianjiang county, in Chongqing, received 269.2mm in one day last week, a single-day record there. It led to six deaths, more than 10,000 evacuations, and 40,000 people being affected, as well as severe disruptions to rail services and transport caused by flooding.

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Belgrade authorities cancel ethnic bridge-building arts festival after nationalist protests

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Youth groups from Serbia and Kosovo who organise the Mirëdita Dobar Dan cultural event accuse Serbia’s interior ministry of failing to protect them from intimidation

Organisers of a festival designed to promote cultural exchange between Kosovo and Serbia say Belgrade authorities have caved in to pressure from hooligan groups by banning this year’s event.

In a statement released on Thursday afternoon, Belgrade police cited security concerns as the reason to cancel the event Mirëdita Dobar Dan (meaning “Good day” in Albanian and Serbian), which was due to start in the Serbian capital yesterday.

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German police admit to ‘blind spot’ over possible violence at England v Serbia

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2016 Euros was last tournament where people could travel freely, making it hard to judge how current fans will behave

German police have spoken of concerns about an intelligence gap in the level of aggression of the latest generation of England football fan, as supporters gather in Germany for the first post-Covid Euros.

England’s Sunday evening tie against Serbia in their first game of Euro 2024 has been designated as “high risk” due to a heightened threat of violence between two groups of supporters with a history of thuggery.

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Serbia prepares warm welcome for Xi in contrast to China-EU tensions

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Chinese president hails two countries’ friendship before his arrival, after visiting Pyrenees with Macron

Chinese flags adorned highways as Serbia got ready to give a home-from-home welcome to Xi Jinping, contrasting tensions on the first leg of the Chinese president’s six-day European tour over a potential trade war with the EU.

Xi prepared for his arrival in Belgrade on Tuesday night by hitting out against Nato for its 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, in which three Chinese journalists were killed.

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Xi’s European tour: where is Chinese leader going and what are visit’s aims?

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Emmanuel Macron and Viktor Orbán among leaders Xi is meeting, with several key issues on the table

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has begun a three-country tour of Europe – his first state visit to the continent in five years – at a time when China-EU ties are under strain from trade disputes and Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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Xi Jinping arrives in France with Ukraine and EU trade row at top of agenda

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On his first visit to Europe since 2019, Xi is set to meet with Emmanuel Macron before heading to Serbia and Hungary

Xi Jinping has lauded China’s ties with France as a model for the international community as he arrived in Paris amid threats of a trade war over Chinese electric cars and French cognac.

On his first visit to the EU in five years, China’s president will meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, who will urge him to reduce trade imbalances and use his influence with Russia over the war in Ukraine.

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Xi Jinping to visit France, Hungary and Serbia amid EU trade tariff row

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China’s president arrives as EU anti-subsidy investigations and tensions over espionage, Ukraine and Taiwan continue

China’s president, Xi Jinping, is to visit Europe next week for the first time in five years, in a tour that will take in the unlikely trifecta of France, Hungary and Serbia.

The visit comes as China pushes to avoid a trade war with the EU, while attitudes towards Beijing in the bloc are hardening after multiple spying scandals and China’s ongoing support for Russia in the war in Ukraine.

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Videos show migrants stripped of clothing in freezing temperatures at Serbian border

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Exclusive: footage of semi-naked men is evidence of increasing abuse during illegal pushbacks on Europe’s borders, say rights groups

Videos appearing to show groups of men stripped of their clothing in near-freezing temperatures and being forced back from the Serbian border into North Macedonia are evidence of escalating mistreatment of migrants at European borders, according to human rights groups.

Two videos shown to the Guardian by Legis, a North Macedonian NGO, show a line of semi-naked men on a stretch of road near the Serbian-North Macedonian border.

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‘They hit me so hard I lost consciousness’: Serbian opposition leader tells of secret service ordeal

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Arrest of pro-west politician Nikola Sandulović, who dared to apologise over Kosovo crimes, exposes tensions still festering in the Balkans

Bed-bound in the gargantuan brick and marble villa that is his home, Nikola Sandulović recounts the attack that has, he says, left him paralysed on his right side and unable to walk.

It was 3 January at 3.20pm when three vehicles carrying agents from Serbia’s BIA secret service screeched to a halt outside his home in Belgrade’s plush Senjak area. Bundled into a black van – its tinted windows shielding what would happen next – the masked men soon told him why they had come: the former entrepreneur and one-time opposition politician had dared to apologise for crimes committed by Serbs when inter­-ethnic conflict convulsed Kosovo in the late 1990s after the violent break-up of Yugoslavia.

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Parents of boy accused of killing 10 in Belgrade school shooting go on trial

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Mother and father of teenager are accused of failing to safeguard weapon and ammunition used in massacre

The parents of a 13-year-old accused of killing 10 people in a school shooting in Serbia last year have gone on trial for allegedly failing to safeguard the weapon and ammunition used in the attack.

The massacre last May – and a second mass shooting a day later – rocked the Balkan nation, setting off major anti-government demonstrations that led to the formation of an opposition coalition that stood in recent elections.

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Serbian opposition leader left partly paralysed by attack, say family

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Secret service agents allegedly beat up Nikola Sandulović after he apologised for crimes against ethnic Albanians

The family of a Serbian opposition leader who was allegedly beaten up while in detention by the country’s secret service say he has been left partly paralysed by the attack.

In an assault that has fuelled fears about the future of democracy in the country, Nikola Sandulović’s family say he was taken from his home on 3 January after making an apology for crimes committed by Serbs against ethnic Albanians during the Kosovan war of independence in 1998 and 1999.

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US joins Bosnia in show of support on eve of planned celebration by Serb nationalists

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Two US fighter jets flew over Bosnia as parts of the country prepared to mark the anniversary of the proclamation of Republika Srpska as a breakaway state

Two US fighter jets flew over Bosnia on Monday in a gesture of support for the country on the eve of a military-style nationalist parade planned by Serb separatists at a time of high tensions.

The American embassy in Sarajevo said that the flight by the F16 planes was a joint training exercise with Bosnian forces, as well as a “demonstration of US commitment” to ensuring Bosnia’s territorial integrity in the face of “secessionist activity”.

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Serbia opposition doubles down on election fraud claims as full results released

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Opposition politicians say they would have won Belgrade in a fair race and call for a re-run

Serbia’s opposition is doubling down on its campaign to challenge the legitimacy of last month’s elections, after full results gave the country’s ruling party a large win in a parliamentary vote.

Data released by the election commission on Wednesday showed President Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive party (SNS) won 46.75% of the vote in a parliamentary election last month, while a pro-European opposition coalition, Serbia Against Violence, got 23.66%.

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National archives: Tony Blair was advised to work with militants in Kosovo

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Former prime minister had concerns about being seen to be too close to the Kosovo Liberation Army

Tony Blair was advised to work with militants in Kosovo, some of whom have subsequently been put on trial for war crimes, despite reportedly believing they were “not much better than the Serbs” whose own crimes against humanity he was seeking to end, it has been revealed.

Blair, then the UK prime minister, had grave concerns about being seen to be too close to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which was fighting against the Serbian nationalist forces led by Slobodan Milošević.

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