The Hague

A retired Serbian State Security Service officer told the retrial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Wednesday that he met the defendants in November 1994 on Petrova Gora mountain in Croatia, which at that time was part of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina established by rebel Croatian Serbs.

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague has again rejected a request for early release filed by Radislav Krstic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb Army's Drina Corps, who was convicted in 2004 of aiding and abetting genocide.

In February this year, Krstic asked to be released early on the basis of the law in Poland, where he is serving his sentence.

BIRN, in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, is calling for journalists to apply for a three-day course next month on reporting on transitional justice issues such as war crimes trials.

The Hague-based Kosovo Specialist Prosecution has summoned Lulzim Kabashi, a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, for questioning on allegations of crimes committed during the Kosovo independence war of the late-1990s.

"I have been invited by Hague prosecutors in the capacity of witness," Kabashi told BIRN.

He is due in The Hague on 24 September.

Conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to The Hague on Tuesday, where he met with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, marks the end of the first round of contacts with foreign leaders as the Greek government seeks to boost its international image.

Defence witness Nebojsa Bogunovic, who was a police official in the Serbian town of Backa Palanka, told the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals in The Hague on Wednesday that he volunteered to go to the Eastern Slavonia region of Croatia in the summer of 1991 as the conflict there was developing.

Talks between Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in The Hague on Tuesday focused on the prospects for boosting growth in Greece through investments while Rutte left open the possibility of using bond profits to ease the country's primary surplus target, Kathimerini understands. 

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis reiterated Greece's call for a fairer distribution of migrants among EU member-states following a meeting with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in The Hague on Tuesday.

Developments in Europe, Greece's economic reform program and the migration crisis will top the agenda of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' talks with Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte in the Netherlands on Tuesday, the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) has reported.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is visiting the Netherlands on Tuesday for a meeting with counterpart Mark Rutte, his office said Monday.
Mitsotakis aims to develop synergies with the Dutch government and institutions and explore high-tech partnerships as part of his plan to develop new technologies and a favorable ecosystem in Greece.