Serbian nationalists

On a weekday afternoon in the Serbian capital Belgrade, a small watering hole called Luda Kuca - Madhouse - is crammed with elderly but chatty regulars.

"The point is not to force [libertarianism] into Serbian culture but to recognise the elements that are compatible with it here … and then see how those ideas are best adapted to Serbia," Cekarevac, Libek's executive manager, says.

He said this late on Thursday at the Russian embassy in Belgrade, where Defender of the Fatherland Day was celebrated.

On this day in 1804, the Serbs, led by Djordje "Karadjordje" Petrovic, decided to start the First Uprising against occupying Ottoman Turks.

On the same day in 1835, the first constitution of the modern Serbian state was adopted in the town of Kragujevac.

President Aleksandar Vucic is this Friday presenting state decorations to deserving individuals and institutions.

The president of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals rejected a request from Serbian Radical Party leader Seselj to allow him to appeal against a second-instance verdict convicting him of persecuting Croats in Serbia in 1992.

N1's executive producer Igor Bozic told BIRN that the station's office in Serbia has received the latest in a series of threats targeting its journalists, and argued that Serbian politicians' anti-media statements were responsible.

Public broadcaster RTS reported this earlier.

According to initial information, they are members of the opposition Dveri Movement.

Due to the scene causing great disturbance among the public, the police yesterday announced an intensive search for the persons in question.

Vulin assessed that these media are hoping for clashes and riots in Serbia.

The Serbian war crimes prosecution asked for a total of 59 years in prison for eight Serb ex-fighters accused of killing Croatian civilians in the village of Lovas in 1991.

Vucic welcomed Putin at Belgrade's Nikola Tesla Airport, and the two presidents then took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Cemetery of the Liberators of Belgrade and at the Monument to the Red Army Soldier in the Serbian capital.

Putin was then given the official red carpet welcome in front of the Palace of Serbia in New Belgrade.