Belgrade - After World War II, the communist regime in Serbia confiscated a house and some 30 acres of land belonging to Dragan Djokic's grandfather to build a school and a school yard.
The family was later compensated for the house, but not the land. The school was built without a yard.
Djokic is one of thousands of people in Serbia waiting for the government to adopt a restitution law and begin the return of the properties confiscated or 'nationalized' after the war.
Serbian officials however argued that restitution would be an expensive undertaking, costing taxpayers millions of dollars at a time when the economy, weak since the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, is being battered by the global economic crisis.
But since the country aspired to join the European Union, Belgrade began working on a restitution law, which it planned to adopt by the end of last year.
State secretary in the Finance Ministry Slobodan Ilic said he would resign if the law is not passed by the end of 2009.
The law has yet to reach Parliament and Ilic has not kept his promise amid speculation fuelled by the secrecy surrounding the proposed law.
According to the unofficial reports, the government is to propose the return of the actual property or its value in bonds.
The owners of confiscated properties suspect the government is deliberately dragging its feet with the restitution law because most of the property in question is now state-owned. Political parties obtain money through the lease and sale of such properties, often at low prices, to business tycoons.
The original owners reject compensation in the form of bonds because the country has no cash to pay them. They are demanding that the properties be returned or, in the case where the land now houses public buildings, alternative land must be provided.
Serbia is 'a black hole' on a map of former communist countries with restitution laws, says Milivoje Antic coordinator of The Network for Restitution in Serbia.
'A data base with records of confiscated properties, made in 2005, shows the majority of the confiscated property is in the hands of the state and only one fifth of all that was nationalized is now being asked for,' Antic told the German Press Agency dpa.
Since Serbia is more than 20 years behind with restitution compared to other ex-communist countries, many of the original property owners have died or lost interest in restitution, he says.
Antic dismisses the government's assessment that restitution would cost the country millions.
'The problem with restitution in Serbia is corruption and the law on planning and building,' he says. Often the ownership of land is transferred to those leasing land and building on it, with the previous owners bypassed, he says.
The law on planning enables parties in power to hand the nationalized land over to tycoons in exchange for financial support, he added. 'That is how political parties are being financed.'
That law, which allows 'all investors whether local or foreign, to buy the land directly from the state or municipalities', is a thorn in the side of people waiting for restitution.
Those campaigning for restitution point to the 2007 sale of bankrupt retail chain Robne kuce Beograd as an example. The government sold two buildings that were nationalized in the 1930s along with it, without compensating the original owners or their descendants.
The planning law also 'enables the state to handle the properties which are waiting for restitution but are not protected,' according to Dragana Milovanovic from the League for the Protection of Private Property.
'This way, instead of protecting those properties and returning them to old owners, the state would be able to sell them while old owners will get bonds which they would not be able to cash in because the state is broke,' she told the daily Danas newspaper.
'The problem is that tycoons who already bought some firms and got the rights to use the land would now, under the protection of government, be able do buy the land under their own terms,' Milovanovic added.
'The story of restitution is the story of whether we will see better days, whether we will grow stronger economically, whether we are truly for European integration, whether our state is a regulated one,' says Antic.
Djokic is determined to see justice. 'I'm still waiting for the restitution of my grandfather's land and I will not give up.'
Source:monstersandcritics.com/
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Segezha Packaging closes converting facility in Serbia
Segezha Packaging has closed a converting facility run by Segezha Packaging doo in Backa Palanka, Serbia. A company spokesperson said that paper sack production was suspended at the end of December 2009. Segezha was planning to merge its production capacities at larger, more efficient units. Consequently, the majority of Segezha Packaging doo's production will be transferred to the group's modernised plants in Uvalno, Czech Republic and Ploiesti, Romania.
Source:euwid-paper.com/
Source:euwid-paper.com/
Exiting Croat leader says he’d attack Bosnian Serbs
RIJEKA, BANJA LUKA -- Outgoing Croatian President Stjepan Mesić said that he would send the military to cripple RS if it called a secession referendum.
.jpg)
Stjepan Mesić (FoNet, file)
The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity, that would violate the Dayton accord.
The peace deal ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and organized the coutnry into two entities: the Serb RS, and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Mesić said, according to Rijeka daily Novi List, that if Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik was to call a referendum for toppling the Dayton Agreement, he would send the Croatian military immediately, which would cripple the RS, “which would then have to disappear”, by closing the corridor by near the northern town of Brčko.
At Tuesday’s informal meeting with journalists, Mesić said that Croatia is a Dayton Agreement guarantor, and that if he were the president at the time that such a referendum was announced, he would use the military against RS in the corridor near the Sava River .
“It is unbelievable how much Dodik is fooling the international community,” Mesić said, adding that the RS prime minister “thinks that the world will grow tired of Bosnia-Herzegovina and that a referendum for secession will be announced”.
“Someone will protest for a few days, and then everything will die down and Greater Serbia will be realized,” Mesić was quoted as saying, adding that he will be interested in seeing how the newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipović would react to the situation.
Mesić gave the same opinion to international officials, “but in a less heated manner”, the daily stated.
The corridor he mentioned is 15 kilometers wide and connects the eastern and western part of RS, sitting 30 kilometers from the Croatian border.
Fierce military, but also political battles were fought over the corridor during the 1992-95 war, since the survival of the town of Banja Luka and RS depends on it, said the report.
Using up his last moments in office, Mesić did not miss a chance to stir controversy once again, one month ahead Croatian President-elect Ivo Josipović’s inauguration.
Previously, he strained relations in the region by visiting Kosovo and pardoning a Croat war criminal found guilty of killing Serbs.
The Rijeka-based newspaper that carried Mesić’s statements threatening that Croatia would invade RS, said in an editorial that “such belligerent language has not been heard in the region for the past 15 years”.
Mesić himself reacted today by saying that he was “misinterpreted”, but adding that “nobody must touch Bosnia’s integrity”.
“We are a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, and the Dayton Agreement guarantees the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And in any case, Croatia cannot accept the break-up of Bosnia. That is quite clear, and I don’t believe that anyone could embark on such an adventure. I don’t believe there is still someone who would try to break Bosnia up again,” said Mesić in his latest statement, reported this afternoon.
“Radical extremism”
Milorad Dodik (FoNet, file)
.jpg)
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik believes that Mesić’s latest statements constitute for a disturbing threat by a man who “started his career with war and wants to end it with war”.
“Such radical extremist statements should never have been heard again in the region,” Dodik said.
“They are all the more dramatic calls for war as Mesić is still president of Croatia and commander in chief of its army, and Croatia is a NATO member,” Dodik added.
The RS premier also said he expects all politicians in the region, international community representatives, NATO officials and all peace-loving people in Croatia and other countries to condemn “war threats of the false peacekeeper Mesić aimed at the Serb people and RS”.
“It is well known that Mesić used the language of hate and threats to create an atmosphere for mass crimes against Serbs and for their expulsion from Croatia in the last war,” Dodik said.
Source:b92.net/
.jpg)
Stjepan Mesić (FoNet, file)
The Croatian military, according to Mesić, would incapacitate the Republic of Srpska (RS) in case there was a referendum on independence in this Bosnian entity, that would violate the Dayton accord.
The peace deal ended the 1992-95 war in Bosnia and organized the coutnry into two entities: the Serb RS, and the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Mesić said, according to Rijeka daily Novi List, that if Republic of Srpska (RS) Prime Minister Milorad Dodik was to call a referendum for toppling the Dayton Agreement, he would send the Croatian military immediately, which would cripple the RS, “which would then have to disappear”, by closing the corridor by near the northern town of Brčko.
At Tuesday’s informal meeting with journalists, Mesić said that Croatia is a Dayton Agreement guarantor, and that if he were the president at the time that such a referendum was announced, he would use the military against RS in the corridor near the Sava River .
“It is unbelievable how much Dodik is fooling the international community,” Mesić said, adding that the RS prime minister “thinks that the world will grow tired of Bosnia-Herzegovina and that a referendum for secession will be announced”.
“Someone will protest for a few days, and then everything will die down and Greater Serbia will be realized,” Mesić was quoted as saying, adding that he will be interested in seeing how the newly-elected Croatian President Ivo Josipović would react to the situation.
Mesić gave the same opinion to international officials, “but in a less heated manner”, the daily stated.
The corridor he mentioned is 15 kilometers wide and connects the eastern and western part of RS, sitting 30 kilometers from the Croatian border.
Fierce military, but also political battles were fought over the corridor during the 1992-95 war, since the survival of the town of Banja Luka and RS depends on it, said the report.
Using up his last moments in office, Mesić did not miss a chance to stir controversy once again, one month ahead Croatian President-elect Ivo Josipović’s inauguration.
Previously, he strained relations in the region by visiting Kosovo and pardoning a Croat war criminal found guilty of killing Serbs.
The Rijeka-based newspaper that carried Mesić’s statements threatening that Croatia would invade RS, said in an editorial that “such belligerent language has not been heard in the region for the past 15 years”.
Mesić himself reacted today by saying that he was “misinterpreted”, but adding that “nobody must touch Bosnia’s integrity”.
“We are a guarantor of the Dayton Agreement, and the Dayton Agreement guarantees the survival of Bosnia-Herzegovina. And in any case, Croatia cannot accept the break-up of Bosnia. That is quite clear, and I don’t believe that anyone could embark on such an adventure. I don’t believe there is still someone who would try to break Bosnia up again,” said Mesić in his latest statement, reported this afternoon.
“Radical extremism”
Milorad Dodik (FoNet, file)
.jpg)
RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik believes that Mesić’s latest statements constitute for a disturbing threat by a man who “started his career with war and wants to end it with war”.
“Such radical extremist statements should never have been heard again in the region,” Dodik said.
“They are all the more dramatic calls for war as Mesić is still president of Croatia and commander in chief of its army, and Croatia is a NATO member,” Dodik added.
The RS premier also said he expects all politicians in the region, international community representatives, NATO officials and all peace-loving people in Croatia and other countries to condemn “war threats of the false peacekeeper Mesić aimed at the Serb people and RS”.
“It is well known that Mesić used the language of hate and threats to create an atmosphere for mass crimes against Serbs and for their expulsion from Croatia in the last war,” Dodik said.
Source:b92.net/
Top Seeds Advance To Australian Open Second Round
Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams took contrasting paths into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament Tuesday.
Three-time champion Federer overcame a spirited challenge from world No. 37 Russia's Igor Andreev in the men's grueling first round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-0 win.
The Swiss, who is seeking a record-extending 16th major championship in Melbourne, had to fight off three set points in the third set before winding up the match in two hours and 44 minutes.
Defending women's champion Williams, playing her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, routed Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1.
Radwanska, however, gave a tough fight to Williams keeping her on the court for 73 minutes.
With this, the 28-year-old American improved the record of not losing in any of the 41 Grand Slam first-round matches she played so far.
Her sister, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, too did not face much resistance in the first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, winning in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2.
None of the other seeded women who took to the court Tuesday faced any upset. No. 8 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 13 Samantha Stosur of Australia, 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, and No. 20 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the next stage.
Three seeded players in the men's section were eliminated in the first round Tuesday.
Eighth-seeded Robin Soderling, who is also last year's French Open runner-up, became the highest men's seed to see an early exit, losing a five-set match. No.16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and 25th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US also crashed out of the major season opener.
In an extraordinarily well-played match on Rod Laver Arena, veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia eased past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Gael Monfils of France, and Marin Cilic of Croatia were the other prominent winners in the men's section.
Second round matches start Wednesday.
Source:rttnews.com/
Three-time champion Federer overcame a spirited challenge from world No. 37 Russia's Igor Andreev in the men's grueling first round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-0 win.
The Swiss, who is seeking a record-extending 16th major championship in Melbourne, had to fight off three set points in the third set before winding up the match in two hours and 44 minutes.
Defending women's champion Williams, playing her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, routed Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1.
Radwanska, however, gave a tough fight to Williams keeping her on the court for 73 minutes.
With this, the 28-year-old American improved the record of not losing in any of the 41 Grand Slam first-round matches she played so far.
Her sister, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, too did not face much resistance in the first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, winning in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2.
None of the other seeded women who took to the court Tuesday faced any upset. No. 8 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 13 Samantha Stosur of Australia, 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, and No. 20 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the next stage.
Three seeded players in the men's section were eliminated in the first round Tuesday.
Eighth-seeded Robin Soderling, who is also last year's French Open runner-up, became the highest men's seed to see an early exit, losing a five-set match. No.16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and 25th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US also crashed out of the major season opener.
In an extraordinarily well-played match on Rod Laver Arena, veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia eased past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Gael Monfils of France, and Marin Cilic of Croatia were the other prominent winners in the men's section.
Second round matches start Wednesday.
Source:rttnews.com/
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Serbia: Taxi protest blocks downtown Belgrade
Hundreds of taxi drivers have blocked downtown Belgrade to protest a new rule requiring them to give receipts to their customers.
The new government measure requires the drivers to have small cash registers, provide receipts and report their income for tax purposes.
The taxi drivers insist the new procedure would complicate and slow their work.
They have driven up to the government headquarters in the center of the Serbian capital, causing a major traffic jam in the city, which already is coping with heavy snow and ice.
A protest organizer said the blockade won't end until the drivers' demands are met.
There has been no comment from the government.
Similar measures have been introduced in other businesses in Serbia.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
The new government measure requires the drivers to have small cash registers, provide receipts and report their income for tax purposes.
The taxi drivers insist the new procedure would complicate and slow their work.
They have driven up to the government headquarters in the center of the Serbian capital, causing a major traffic jam in the city, which already is coping with heavy snow and ice.
A protest organizer said the blockade won't end until the drivers' demands are met.
There has been no comment from the government.
Similar measures have been introduced in other businesses in Serbia.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
Minister for Kosovo meets with local Serbs
RANILUG -- Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović was on Wednesday touring several villages in the province's Kosovsko Pomoravlje district.
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
Croatia opens probe into 1995 killing of 5 Serbs
Croatia said Thursday it is investigating the execution-style killing of five Serb civilians in their village in 1995 as Croat forces drove Serbs out of the country.
Three men and two women were killed in their homes in Grubori, southwest of Zagreb, in August 1995 during Croatia's "Storm" offensive against Serb forces in the country's breakaway Krajina region.
The investigation forms part of an indictment against three Croatian generals who are being tried at a United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Police officer Krunoslav Borovec said 17 people have been questioned _ some as suspects, others as witnesses _ including five active Croatian police members.
Croatian authorities long had downplayed the Grubori killings as isolated acts of vengeance that could not be prevented as its troops fought for independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Among the five dead, Croatian prosecutors say, were 45-year-old Djuro Karanovic, who was beaten up and shot to death, and 90-year-old Marija Grubor, who was burned to death. Grubori, a village of about 20 houses, also was burned down.
Croatia has belatedly begun to pursue its alleged war criminals from the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia as part of its effort to win admission to the 27-nation European Union.
Zeljko Sacic, Croatia's special police deputy commander in 1995, was arrested Thursday on charges of covering up the Grubori killings, according to his lawyer Zvonimir Hodak.
Sacic was deputy to Mladen Markac, one of three generals currently facing trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on charges they orchestrated an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Croatian Serbs.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
Three men and two women were killed in their homes in Grubori, southwest of Zagreb, in August 1995 during Croatia's "Storm" offensive against Serb forces in the country's breakaway Krajina region.
The investigation forms part of an indictment against three Croatian generals who are being tried at a United Nations war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Police officer Krunoslav Borovec said 17 people have been questioned _ some as suspects, others as witnesses _ including five active Croatian police members.
Croatian authorities long had downplayed the Grubori killings as isolated acts of vengeance that could not be prevented as its troops fought for independence from Serb-led Yugoslavia.
Among the five dead, Croatian prosecutors say, were 45-year-old Djuro Karanovic, who was beaten up and shot to death, and 90-year-old Marija Grubor, who was burned to death. Grubori, a village of about 20 houses, also was burned down.
Croatia has belatedly begun to pursue its alleged war criminals from the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia as part of its effort to win admission to the 27-nation European Union.
Zeljko Sacic, Croatia's special police deputy commander in 1995, was arrested Thursday on charges of covering up the Grubori killings, according to his lawyer Zvonimir Hodak.
Sacic was deputy to Mladen Markac, one of three generals currently facing trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on charges they orchestrated an "ethnic cleansing" campaign against Croatian Serbs.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
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