Albania mass grave site photos surface

Source: B92
BELGRADE -- The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution has come into possession of photographs of the locations believed to be mass graves in northern Albania.

B92 has seen the photographs, taken by UN investigators in 2004, with places marked as possible mass graves containing the remains of Serb and other non-Albanian victims, who were first kidnapped in Kosovo, and then taken to Albania where their vital organs were removed and sold in the black market.

The mass grave in question is some 1.5 kilometers away from the so-called yellow house near the town of Burrel where the criminal activity was taking place.

The photographs are a part of a report on the case compiled by UN investigators. However, despite numerous appeals, this organization is yet to officially send the document to the War Crimes Prosecution.

It was revealed today that the prosecution managed to obtain the missing pages of the report through unofficial channels.

The mass grave marked in one picture is located in a field close to a cement plant near Burrel. The UN document, first reported about by B92, states that surgical instruments and various medication, including muscle relaxants, were found in the yellow house.

But the report, in its available format, is missing the photographs that now confirm these claims.

The prosecution has learned that the yellow house served "to prepare patients for surgery", while the extraction of organs from the victims was conducted in a psychiatric hospital in Burrel, registered as Prison 320, where the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, took the persons it kidnapped in Kosovo.

Suspicion that human organ trafficking was taking place here is additionally strengthened with information that 75 persons captured in Kosovo and 75 kidney patients were taken to the same place in Albania at the same time.

"The number of people kidnapped in Kosovo is equal to the number of patients brought there. It seems to us that those patients could have been organ recipients while the kidnapped could have been donors. When you have a donor whose life is unimportant to you, the surgery takes 20 minutes," prosecution spokesman Bruno Vekarić explained.

The prosecution also says that the best course of action would be to cooperate with their counterparts in Albania on this case, and in line with a cooperation agreement signed in 2005.

However, should the prosecution in Tirana stick to its position that it will not cooperate, it seems likely that CoE-appointed envoy Dick Marty, expected in Serbia and Albania as soon as in January, will investigate the case.

In the meantime, the location marked as the mass grave is "monitored around the clock" to make sure there is no exhumation done there, reports say.

State does not provide scholarships genius

From: B92
Belgrade - Despite the success, fifteen mathematical genius Theodor von Burg does not fit in standard Fund for young talents, and because there is no support for the state of Serbia.

Young mathematical genius, Theodore von Burg, the won medals in different competitions, but nevertheless does not meet the criteria of the Fund for young talents. Fund early December it was announced that opened the account in order to be rewarded with 320 thousand dinars for the success of the competition last year, however, did not receive the promised money, was not high school students.

Theodore is the first-grade math student gymnasium, and recently finished scientific Junior Olympic Games in South Korea won the silver medal, won older than themselves.

Compete in the category of older grades, with only the most important international competitions in Serbia brought 10 medals - two gold, six silver and two bronze.

Serbian economy successful in 2008

Belgrade, Dec 17, 2008 – Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic today said that the Serbian economy was successful during 2008 but the country will have to face challenges in the coming year that it has not met with up until now.
Speaking at the Summit meeting of Largest Serbian Exporters organised by Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic’s cabinet and the Serbian Chamber of Commerce Cvetkovic said that we are facing an economic crisis of historic proportions.

He said that it was noticed during the last trimester of this year that the crisis will also hit countries that were not affected initially, adding that one of Serbia’s largest problems is a high foreign trade deficit, therefore exporters have a very important role to play.

The Prime Minister said that the government has taken a series of restrictive as well as incentive measures and a sum of nearly €200 million in incentives will be made available through the Development Fund, as well as €250 million for encouraging the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, loaned by the European Investment Bank.

Cvetkovic said that the banking sector is liquid but the liquidity level of the rest of the economy is not very high.

He said that solidarity and shared responsibility are the principles required to deal with the crisis, reiterating that the government will make every effort to avoid hyperinflation.

He said that he expects that the 2009 budget will be approved by the end of the year, adding that in the case that this does not happen interim financing will be necessary for only a few days, until the budget is adopted.

He said that the government will withdraw one law from the Parliament’s agenda to shorten discussion and to initiate the debate on the budget, which could begin as early as tomorrow, although this is not definite.

He said that the Horgos-Pozega concession contract cannot be terminated because it never came into force.

He said that the December 31 deadline for the concessionaire, Sever Jug Autoput, to complete financial preparations has not expired yet and a discussion about further steps by the government can only begin after that date.

Cvetkovic confirmed that the government yesterday received a note from the concessionaire and is familiar with the proposal put forth by the mediator.

The purpose of the Largest Serbian Exporters Summit is to hold talks with business-people in order to examine the current economic situation and to present the measures planned by the government and the National Bank of Serbia to support the economy and exports.

Prominent business-people and entrepreneurs will present their opinions and recommendations at the meeting to jointly reach solutions to mitigate the effects of the global financial crisis.

Fiat deal Serbia’s great export opportunity

Belgrade, Dec 17, 2008 – Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic today said that Zastava’s deal with Fiat is a great export opportunity for Serbia, especially in the context of the global economic crisis.

At the summit of Serbia’s largest exporters Dinkic said that a lot of public attention is being paid to the enforced holiday leave of Fiat employees in Italy, whereas its increased production in Poland is being overlooked. Fiat produces small cars in Poland, the kind of which it should start producing in Kragujevac as well, recalled the Minister.

He said that Serbia’s key export markets will still be those of the EU and regional countries, adding that export will be stimulated thanks to the free trade agreements.

The Minister recalled that Serbia has signed such an agreement with Russia, noting that its full potential has not yet been exploited. He also repeated that talks on free trade agreements with Belarus and Turkey are underway and the plan is to sign them with Ukraine and Iran as well.

According to him, if Serbia wants to attract foreign investments and increase export, customs procedures must be speedier. Serbia must also enable railway transport of goods from Turkey to the EU via Serbia, because the goods are now transported by trucks, which takes 130 hours, whilst by railway it could be cut down to 35 hours, explained Dinkic.

He announced that the government and the National Bank of Serbia are preparing measures to ensure the stability of the dinar and prices, noting that Serbia can respond to the crisis properly only if it is aware of its cause.

He explained that the crisis was caused by poor decisions made by a portion of the banking sector.

This crisis will cause problems for Serbian exporters as well, he said, adding that Serbia should seek to increase exports to countries in the region.

Speaking about basic macroeconomic indicators, Dinkic stressed that inflation should be around 8% by the year’s end, which is also the government’s projection for the next year.

Foreign direct investments in Serbia this year will amount to $3 billion, just as in 2007, which is quite satisfactory, he said.

Dinkic specified that Serbia’s public debt is pretty low and will this year stand at around 25% of GDP, which will enable the government to receive favourable loans for infrastructure investments.

Serbia’s largest problem is the deficit in the balance of payments, which this year stands at 17% of GDP but its growth is expected to slow down next year.

Serbia, Cyprus to fight organised crime

The Serbian and Cypriot governments will begin two-days of negotiations, on December 17 at 9 am, at the Serbian Government Palace (Bulevar Mihajla Pupina 2), regarding the text of the Memorandum of Cooperation they are to sign.

The Memorandum concerns cooperation in the fight against terrorism, organised crime, narcotics trade, illegal migrations and similar.

The talks will be opened by State Secretary of the Interior Dragan Markovic and the Ministry’s media office will issue a statement afterwards.

Cavic takes silver at European swimming championship

Rijeka, CROATIA, December 14, 2008 - Serbia’s best swimmer Milorad Cavic won silver medal in the men’s 50 meters butterfly at the 12th European Short Course Swimming Championship in Rijeka.

His time was 22.36.

Amaury Leveaux of France took first place and gold medal in a time of 22.23, and Rafael Munoz Perez of Spain was third with 22.48.

Cavic wins gold at European swimming championship

Rijeka, CROATIA, December 12, 2008 - Milorad Cavic won gold medal in the men's 100 meters butterfly at the 12th European Short Course Swimming Championship in Rijeka.

The best Serbian swimmer improved upon European record with a 49.19.

The silver medal went to Spain's Rafael Perez (49.74) and bronze was won by Russia's Nikolay Skvortsov (49.98).

Tadić: Solution together with Albanians

30 November 2008 | 12:42 | Source: Politika
BELGRADE -- President Boris Tadić says that Serbia has a policy of strengthening on the road of EU integrations without giving up on the defense of the country's integrity.


Boris Tadić (FoNet, archive)


"This increases the chances that Serbia will, after the International Court of Justice decision, which we believe will be in our favor, return to the negotiating table and redefine the question of the future status of Kosovo, in good faith and without endangering anyone," Tadić told the Belgrade daily Politika in an interview published today.

Sooner or later, he continued, "we must sit down and talk with the legitimate Kosovo Albanian representatives".

"Those international factors that are incessantly repeating that the issue of Kosovo's independence is a done deal, in fact know very well that the Albanians will sooner or later have to sit down with us and find a sustainable and compromise solution for the future status of the province," Tadić said.

"We wish to find a solution with the Albanians, because there is no one else to find it with. And for this reason, all those who are against any kind of talks with the Albanian representatives in Kosovo and Metohija must offer a logical answer: who will solve this problem if not the Serbs and Albanians who live in Kosovo."

Tadić also told the newspaper that Serbia has made no changes to the state policy that includes maintaining the country's integrity, respect of Resolution 1244 and that any civil or military mission in Kosovo must be defined by the UN Security Council.

At the same time, he added, Resolution 1244 has been confirmed once again in the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's recent report on Kosovo.

"I remind you that the criticism is being leveled by those people who four years ago accused me of withholding the names of Zoran Đinđić's killers. Those people said in a court process, after those beastly accusations, that they only did it for the benefit of their political campaign. Now the same people, the same parties, were saying that we had recognized the independence of Kosovo by signing the Stabilization and Association Agreement," Tadić, who is also the leader of the Democrats (DS), said of his political opponents.

"That was only a few months ago. If we did recognize Kosovo and Metohija's independence, why did the world negotiate with Serbia over the six points, why was Serbia, which according to the opposition has recognized Kosovo's independence, a crucial factor in these negotiations? Clearly they were saying untruths then, misleading citizens and introducing fear that someone had secretly recognized Kosovo. The same lies are repeated now."

Tadić said that the state policy of Serbia is active and does not stray from the basic principles that were defined in previous years, when it comes to the issue of preserving the country's integrity.

For this reason, according to him, no one can accuse Serbia of obstructing the international political process related to Kosovo.

"No one can accuse Serbia of being a factor of instability in the region, and no one in Serbia or abroad can say that her integrity in Kosovo and Metohija was at any point given up on. Ban Ki-moon, the EU's presidential statement do not say that, the EU Council of Ministers will not say that, and I in my message to the UN and EU am not saying that," he continued.

Tadić explained that the first phase of this active policy was to seek the ICJ's opinion on the legality of Kosovo Albanians' unilaterally declared independence, while the second was to, through the six-point plan, create conditions for EULEX to deploy in Kosovo in line with the standards and principles contained in Resolution 1244, and the mission's status neutrality that overrides the Ahtisaari plan.

Asked how the UN SC decisions will reflect on the country's EU perspective, Tadić said that one year ago "no one could have imagined that we would succeed in finding a path that leads us toward European integrations and preserves our capacity to defend Kosovo".

"When I said in the elections that our policy is both Kosovo and EU, that is precisely what I meant. But, back then, we could not come forward in public with all the measures that we intended to undertake, because in politics, you can't quite always reveal in advance what you plan to do. I am very satisfied that we are at the end of a political cycle that was started at the beginning of last year."

Tadić described this as "objectively, Serbia's great political success".

The president also addressed the issue of Kosovo's partition, and said that although the recent UN SC decision on the reconfiguration of UNMIK and deployment of EULEX provides for two regimes of administration – one in Serb and other in Albanian majority areas – "a partition of the province is not a topic for Serbia and is not on the agenda at all".

"Those who are speaking about partition, that would leave northern Kosovo in Serbia, and all the rest to the Albanians, seem to be oblivious to the fact that most Serbs live in southern and central parts of Kosovo, and that our greatest cultural and holy places are in central and southern Kosovo," he said.

"We have repeated this so many times for everyone: Serbia wishes a compromise solution that is acceptable to both sides, and will not accept a solution that would see one side, the Albanian, gain everything, while the Serb side loses all," Tadić concluded.

Church website defaced by Albanians

24 November 2008 | 10:08 | Source: Beta
BELGRADE -- A group of Albanian hackers, Beta news agency reported, on Sunday attacked the Raško-Prizrenska Eparchy website.

The eparchy, a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in Kosovo, said in a statement that the website's content was defaced with messages "glorifying Islam and Greater Albania, along with a deluge of offenses aimed at the Serb people".

Serbian author wins Austrian accolade

25 November 2008 | 17:34 | Source: B92, Tanjug
VIENNA -- Dragan Velikić was last night in Vienna presented with the Central European Prize for Literature, reports say.

The award is given each year by the Austrian Danube and Central European Institute, and the Austrian Ministry of Science.

The award is presented to figures who have made specific contributions to preserving and developing the spirit of Central Europe.

Former Austrian Vice-Chancellor Erhard Busek, until recently the coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), delivered a speech in honor of Velikić at the Essl Museum in Klosterneuber,near Vienna.

Previous recipients include Polish politician, social activist, reporter, and writer Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, Hungarian writer Gyorgy Konrad, and Austrian editor and writer Karl-Markus Gauss.

Velikić, this year's laureate for his novel The Russian Window, is also Serbia's ambassador to Austria.

The Russian Window was printed in thirteen editions in Serbia, winning two of the country's top literary awards: the NIN Award for Literature, and the Meša Selimović Prize.

Serbia national football team outclassed Bulgaria

Author: Blic online | Foto: A.Dimitrijević | 20.11.2008 - 09:36

Serbia national football team outclassed Bulgaria in a friendly match in Belgrade 6-1, while a pair of missed penalties did not bother Savo Milosevic much, who still scored twice in his last appearance for Serbia.

Serbia delivered a magnificent first half in Belgrade, with the impression that Bulgaria approached the friendly international too lightly.
Radomir Antic’s side put in a terrific performance and after only four minutes Serbia striker Milan Jovanovic was awarded a penalty. Savo Milosevic had a perfect opportunity to break the deadlock, but his mild shot in the left-hand side corner was easily stopped by Bulgaria keeper Petkov. Four minutes later Serbia took the lead as Jovanovic connected on Danko Lazovic’s assist netted from close range to make it 1-0. Seven minutes later the busy Jovanovic was once more brought down in the penalty area. Milosevic stepped up to the ball once more, sent it to the other corner this time, but Petkov saw his intention through and saved the captain’s second penalty of the match.
Serbia were punished only five minutes later, as Bulgaria were awarded a free kick in one of their rare attacking forays, and Bulgaria’s biggest threat Blagoj Georgiev scored a beautiful set-piece goal to level the score to 1-1.
From that moment on it was all Serbia on the pitch before the end of the half. After 35 minutes of play the score was 4-1.
Having missed two penalties, Milosevic first exchanged a one-two with Jovanovic at 26 minutes, fed his partner striker a fine pass, and the Standard Liege man made it 2-1. Only one minute later, Milos Krasic was in bursts of speed down the right flank, sent a cross in the area, when Savo Milosevic finally reacted in the right way to score Serbia’s third goal of the night.
Milosevic, making his 102nd cap and his farewell game for the national team, scored his second goal of the match and 37th of his career after 36 minutes, in an attack that was the carbon copy of Krasic’s goal. After that Milosevic was substituted by Dragan Mrdja.
Radomir Antic opened the second half with substitutions, but the new players continued to impress the crowd at Partizan Stadium. Hertha Berlin midfielder Gojko Kacar hit the woodwork twice, after which Red Star captain Nenad Milijas capitalized on Mrdja’s pass to score his first ever goal for Serbia. The final score was made on 70 minutes, as Milos Krasic once again stormed down the right flank and crossed the ball perfectly for Lazovic, who made it 6-1 on the night.
Serbia took the foot off the pedal in the final 20 minutes, but Bulgaria were not able to reduce the deficit in the remainder of the friendly tie.

Djokovic wins Masters Cup

Shanghai, CHINA, November 16, 2008 - Third-ranked Novak Djokovic won his first Masters Cup title with a 6-1, 7-5 win Sunday over Nikolay Davydenko in the season-ending tournament.




Djokovic twice broke the serve of No. 5 Davydenko to establish a 5-0 lead, then two games later saved two break points before taking the opening set.

The Russian saved two match points at 5-3 down before breaking back to tie at 5-5. The 21-year-old Serb replied with a break in the next game before holding his serve to secure a title.

Djokovic collects a check for $1.34 million and moves within ten points of second-ranked Roger Federer in the year-end ATP Race standings.

Zimonjic, Nestor win Masters Cup tennis doubles

Shanghai, CHINA, November 16, 2008 - Wimbledon champions Serbian Nenad Zimonjic and Canadian Daniel Nestor finished the year as the number one ranked doubles team after beating American duo Bob and Mike Bryan, 7-6, 6-2, in Sunday's Masters Cup final.


Zimonjic and Nestor prevailed over the US Open champions in 74 minutes to take a cheque of US dollar 220,000.