Bosnia's Radoncic Shruggs Off Kelmendi Row

Media mogul and former Security Minister Fahrudin Radoncic has been forced on the defensive following reports that he was mentioned by name during the reading of the indictment of Naser Kelmendi, who is being tried in Kosovo for murder among other grave offences.

The controversy over Radoncic was re-ignited after an international prosecutor in Kosovo, Andrew Hughes, on Monday read out the indictment of Kelmendi in Pristina, naming Radoncic as a member of Kelmendi's inner circle.

Radoncic's party was swift to assure the public that Radoncic had not been indicted himself by the court.

The Alliance for a Better Future, SBB, the party founded by Radoncic, on Wednesday said the Bosnian Prosecutor's Office had assured them that their president was not included in the indictment.

Recalling that the Bosnian Prosecutor had first indicted Kelmendi, but then forwarded the case to the EU law mission in Kosovo, Eulex, Radoncic himself asked the Bosnian courts to tell him whether he was under investigation in the same case.

Bosnian Prosecutor Goran Salihovic answered on Wednesday that the former minister was not under investigation.

Radoncic's relationship with Kelmendi came under renewed scrutiny after he announced on Monday that he was running for the Bosniak post in the country's tripartite Presidency.

Eldin Karic, director of ACCOUNT, a project that focuses on corruption in Bosnia, said the allegations might not make much much difference to Radoncics's supporters, either way.

“It would be good if such things did affect voters, but I think they won't,” Karic said.

“That reflects the ambient being developed here. If people were affected by politicians' integrity none of these politicians would...