Bosnian Serb Army

The Republika Srpska parliament, a Bosnian Serb-dominated part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is preparing to discuss a declaration that has exacerbated tensions in the country and heightened fears of disintegration and has brought back memories of ethnic violence a quarter of a century ago.

The retrial of Sakib Mahmuljin began on Tuesday at the appeals chamber of the Bosnian state court after the first-instance verdict sentencing the former commander of the Bosnian Army's Third Corps to ten years in prison was quashed.

State Investigation and Protection Agency officers on Tuesday arrested nine people suspected of crimes against humanity against Bosniaks and Croats during the war in 1992.

Unidentified perpetrators spraypainted insults and defamatory messages on the entrance door of Women in Black's office in Belgrade on Sunday night - the latest in a series of graffiti attacks on the anti-war NGO's premises.

The doors of the building were sprayed with messages like "Whores in Black", "Ratko Mladic - Hero" and "[Women in Black head] Stasa [Zajovic] - Ustasa".

The Bosnian state court found Miodrag Josipovic, Branimir Tesic, Dragomir Vasic, Danilo Zoljic and Radomir Pantic not guilty on Monday of participation in the partial extermination of Bosniaks from Srebrenica in July 1995.

"The prosecution has not proved that the defendants had the intent to commit extermination," said presiding judge Minka Kreho.

'Watch Out, Sniper', a multimedia exhibition documenting the wartime siege of the Bosnian capital through photographs, research into Hague Tribunal archive material, witness testimonies and 3D modelling, opens at the Historical Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo on Thursday evening.

The Bosnian state court on Tuesday sentenced former Bosnian Serb Army soldiers Bratislav Bilbija and Djuro Adamovic to two and three years in prison respectively for committing a war crime against civilians in the hamlet of Bukvik, near Prijedor, in August 1992.

The court acquitted Bilbija and Adamovic, and third defendant Ranko Babic, of murder, torture and forced disappearances.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and Bosnia presidency member Milorad Dodik (L) meeting in Sarajevo, July 8, 2019. Photo: EPA-EFE/FEHIM DEMIR

The Bosnian Serb leader earlier threatened to withdraw all Bosnian Serb officials from state-level institutions and re-establish a Bosnian Serb army, fomenting fresh fears of Bosnia's collapse and of armed conflict.

Montenegrin Special State Prosecutor Lidija Vukcevic. Photo: PR Centar.

"Bosnia and Herzegovina's Prosecutor's Office transferred this case to the relevant judicial authorities of Montenegro. There is a suspicion that Pekovic was involved in killing two Bonsiaks and raping and sexually abusing civilians in Foca," Vukcevic said.

The prosecution urged the Bosnian state court in Sarajevo on Tuesday to increase the sentence handed down to Sakib Mahmuljin from ten to 20 years for failing to prevent murders and inhumane acts by members of the Bosnian Army's El Mujahideen unit in the Vozuca and Zavidovici areas during the war.