Day of mourning in Belgrade on Friday

Belgrade, April 15. 2010 (Serbia Today) - The Serbian Government proclaimed Thursday April 15th to be the Mourning day because of the death of the Polish president Lech Kacinski, and Polish State officials in plane crash at Smolensk, government representative announced. Lech Kacinski, his wife Marija, the members of the Polish Government and military leadership, as well as the crew members have died on April 10 after the plane crash at Smolensk in the west of Russia. To have an official day of mourning according to legislation according to legislation the media houses are obliged to broadcast the adequate music and the program, and the newspapers and publishing organization to print the magazines in black color, stating on the covers the decision to declare its days of mourning and celebration.

The Presidents of Serbia and Croatia in Backi Monostor on Friday

Belgrade, April 15. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Boris Tadic and Ivo Josipovic, the presidents of Serbia and Croatia, will talk on Friday April 16 in Backi Monostor (Vojvodina) and after the meeting President Josipovic will meet with National Croatia Community in Vojvodina, said Jerka Alajbeg, Croatian Consul in Croatia. The two presidents will previously participate at the trilateral meeting in Pecuj and they will be hosted by Laslo Soljom, president of Hungary. Josipovic”s visit to Backi Monostor, a place near Sombor, will be his first visit in Serbia since he became a president in February. According to Jerka Alajbeg, the Croatian National Council delegation will be lead by its president Branko Horvat, who will inform the Croatian president of the position of Croatian national minority in Vojvodina. One of the main topics will be the election for the members of the Croatian National Council announced for June.

Sutanovac signs book of condolences at Polish Embassy

Belgrade, April. 14. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac signed the Book of Condolences at the Embassy of Poland in Belgrade today following the tragic death of Polish President Lech Kaczyński and a number of top Polish officials and citizens in an airplane crash near Smolensk. With great sadness we received the news of the tragic death of the President of Poland and officials of your country. On behalf of the members of the Ministry of Defence and my own behalf I express my deepest condolences to the Polish people and the families of those killed, wrote Sutanovac. The book of condolences was also signed by Serbian Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletic.

PM receives one million signatures

Belgrade, April 13. 2010 ( Source: B92) - Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković met with opposition SNS and NS leaders Tomislav Nikolić and Velimir Ilić on Monday. The two opposition leaders from the Serb Progressive Party (SNS) and New Serbia (NS), and Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) Vice-President Nenad Popović, handed over a petition signed by one million citizens calling for early parliamentary elections to be announced in Serbia. Nikolić told reporters that Cvetković said during the meeting that he believes his cabinet was "performing well" and that it had fulfilled "almost all goals it set out to achieve". Nikolić, Ilić and Popović announced that they would continue such joint campaigns because Serbia "needs change". The opposition parties do not believe that the government is working well and say that citizens have a low standard of living. The meeting between the three opposition officials and the prime minister lasted for about an hour. During this time, the street on which the government building is located was closed because of the large number of SNS, NS, and DSS activist, who were carrying party flags and banners. On Sunday, Nikolić told B92 TV that he sees Cvetković’s decision to meet with them as a wise one, but does not have great expectations for the meeting. “Truthfully, he is showing that this campaign we carried out is important, since the prime minister is participating in it in some way, and is showing that he is interested in what the Serbian citizens think, and that he should maybe give arguments against what we are calling for, since he obviously does not want to listen to us and meet our demands,” Nikolić said. He added that while there have been different reactions in public from government officials, it has been made clear by everyone in the ruling coalition that they do not want to announce new elections. Asked about the fact that DSS is sending its vice-president instead of its leader, Nikolić said, “Why would I insist on Vojislav Koštunica coming if he does not want to,” adding that by sending their deputy leader, it showed that DSS supports the campaign and “will support others, just as we will support some of theirs”. CeSID Director Marko Blagojević, who took part in the same talk show, said that the SNS push was a successful "marketing action", but that it would not be enough to force early elections. “I think that the chances are very slim. Only if the SNS initiative coincides with the political will inside the ruling coalition to head in that direction, to dissolve parliament and announce early parliamentary elections. It is an issue of the political will of the ruling coalition at this point, not an obligation,” he said. “SNS is a relatively new party on the Serbian political scene, regardless of the two decades of experience of its political leaders, so now they have to mobilize their supporters, and that is what SNS was successful in doing with this campaign,” political analyst Jovo Bakić, another guest on the program, said. He said that the number of signatures on the petition "does not mean that Nikolić would defeat President Boris Tadić in new presidential election"s, while Blagojević said that the campaign was "a good indication of how many votes SNS can count on receiving in future elections".

Serbia “to convince British courts” in Ganić case

Belgrade/London, April 10. 2010 (Source:B92) - War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević said that he would do everything possible to convince the London courts to extradite Ejup Ganić to Serbia. Vukčević will be attending a hearing in London on Tuesday, at which the extradition will be discussed.The former president of the Bosnia-Herzegovina presidency, Ganić, is suspected by Serbia of having committed war crimes in Sarajevo. The London courts must decide whether he will stand trial in Sarajevo or Belgrade. “We are constantly communicating with the prosecution in Great Britain. I don’t want to put pressure on the English court in any way. All decisions of the English legislature will be respected by our institutions,” Vukčević told daily Politika. Asked if he believes that Ganić would stand trial if he is extradited to Sarajevo, Vukčević said, “Many problems could occur if he stands trial in Bosnia.” “Firstly, the main problem is the problem of a fair and just trial which is needed for the satisfaction of the victims. If it is true that the president of the Bosnian Supreme Court said ‘We are all Ganić,’ then I have a reason to question the objectivity of a trial in Bosnia-Herzegovina,” Vukčević said.

Interior ministry, US security structures to continue cooperation

Belgrade, 8 April 2010 – (Serbia Today) - First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ivica Dacic met today with US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg. During the meeting they voiced their pleasure with the cooperation between the Serbian Ministry of the Interior and US security structures in the fight against organized crime and terrorism and agreed that this cooperation should continue. Dacic informed Steinberg about the political situation in Serbia, underlining that the government is stable and that all coalition The Minister said that Serbia has established good cooperation with countries in the region, which is a precondition for a successful fight against crime. The Ministry of the Interior also desires good cooperation with representatives of the international community in Kosovo-Metohija, namely the Kfor, UNMIK and EULEX, because it is Serbia’s goal to maintain peace and security for all citizens. They also discussed the participation of Serbian police officers in EU peace missions and the increase in their number in Haiti. Dacic thanked the US embassy in Belgrade for endorsing the ministry’s work through a number of projects.
partners wish to preserve it until the end of the mandate.

Prosecutor: Officials to face investigations

Belgrade, April, 05, 2010 (Source: B92) - Organized Crime Prosecutor Miljko Radisavljević says that investigations will be launched soon against some heads of public companies. The probes would focus on corruption, he told Belgrade daily Blic. Radisavljević also revealed that early procedures were ongoing against "some officials from public companies and the judiciary", and expects that investigations would start in a month's time. The prosecutor, who since January has jurisdiction over investigating corruption cases, said that the names of the possible suspects would be given once requests for investigations against them had been submitted.

Radisavljević also noted that "there are no untouchables" when it comes to fighting organized crime, and that the prosecution expects to be supported by successful performances of other state bodies, "above all the police". The prosecutor said that his office had set continued financial investigation into Darko Šarić's crime group as its priority. Šarić and his gang are suspected of attempting to smuggle 2.7 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe last year. Radisavljević explained that the investigation against them must be completed by mid-April, and that this is when it must be decided if indictments will be raised against the group. He voiced optimism that this would happen, and said the investigation, which saw Serbia cooperate with Uruguay, Argentina, and also Italy and other European countries, had produced "convicting evidence". According to Radisavljević, that investigation would expand to include other suspects. However, he did not wish to provide any other details.