The Hague

The UN's International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals in The Hague announced on Tuesday that the verdict on Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic's appeal against their conviction for war crimes in Bosnia will be handed down on May 31.

Two war victims' associations in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday urged the prime minister of the Croat- and Bosniak-dominated Federation entity, Nermin Niksic, to condemn statements made by the Federation's president Lidija Bradara and minister of culture and sport, Sanja Vlaisavljevic, claiming that they expressed support for convicted war criminals.

Officials in Pristina have yet to publicly respond since the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague urged Kosovo to create a new reparation mechanism for war crimes victims in order to ensure "equal treatment between the suspects and accused".

Two protected witnesses testified this week at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague at the war crimes trial of former Kosovo Liberation Army member Pjeter Shala, alias 'Commander Wolf', describing the poor conditions at the Kukes Metal Factory in Albania, where detainees were allegedly held and mistreated by KLA fighters in 1999.

Besides such abuses, experts also say the procedure could be illegal. "There are some doubts over the legality of what we are seeing happening between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in terms of European law," Italian jurist and migration expert Gianfranco Schiavone told BIRN.

Not allowed to seek asylum

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived at Amsterdam's airport late Wednesday for an unannounced visit to the Netherlands, with a trip to the International Criminal Court on his agenda, local media reported.

Dutch news agency ANP said Zelensky, making his first visit to the Netherlands, landed at Schiphol airport after attending a Nordic summit in Helsinki.

"Bulgaria will arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if for some reason he ends up in our country", announced Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev in an interview with the Faktor.bg.

Greek maestro Yorgos Ziavras will conduct his own orchestra, ÉRMA Ensemble, at International Acht Brücken (Eight Bridges) Festival in Cologne, on April 30, 2023. The orchestra will perform a selection of contemporary works by Antonio La Spina, Po-Chien Liu, Luca Ricci, and Tom Belkind.

As Elvira Kova, a member of the delegation of the Serbian Assembly to the Council of Europe and vice-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE, said, at yesterday's session of the PSSE Bureau, it was decided to create only information about Albania's initiative.

Traveling when you're introverted can be overwhelming as cities are often noisy and busy. Believing that everybody should be able to enjoy the benefits of exploring new places, UK Therapy Rooms conducted an index study to find out which are the best European destinations for introverts.