Bosnia Press Review - December 25

Here are the top stories in Bosnia and Herzegovina's main newspapers. Balkan Insight has not verified the reports and cannot vouch for their accuracy.

OSLOBODJENJE

The parliament of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated part Republika Srpska will discuss on Monday a request from the region’s government to organize a referendum on the decision by the top international envoy in the country Valentin Inzko on extending the mandates of international jurists who are handling war crimes cases in Bosnia’s State Court. In its request, the government said that Inzko has overstepped his mandate and that his decision was violating international law and Bosnia’s and Republika Srpska’s constitutions. United States embassy in Bosnia warned Republika Srpska that it risked jeopardizing its future relations with the US if it organized a referendum while Inzko’s office said that a referendum would represent a clear violation of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement for Bosnia and a number of the UN Security Council resolutions on the country.

NEZAVISNE NOVINE

Serbian president Boris Tadic has met on Thursday with representatives of Serb communities from Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Montenegro and Macedonia. During the meeting, Tadic said he expected the Serb communities in other countries to be loyal to their states, as well as that Serbia was strongly supporting sovereignty and integrity of its neighbors. The meeting was held to discuss a new Law on Diaspora which is being drafted in Serbia.

DNEVNI AVAZ

The newspaper reports about a decision by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague to reject Radovan Karadzic’s attempt to fire his court-appointed lawyer. The UN war crimes court appointed British lawyer Richard Harvey to defend Karadzic if the former Bosnian Serb leader fails to appear in the courtroom when his trial resumes in March. Karadzic insisted that he should be allowed to choose a lawyer who shares his language and Serb heritage.