Kosovo Constitution Takes Force; Serbia Arrests Zupljanin; Italy Deploys Troops to Its Own Streets

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PRISTINA, Kosovo - Kosovo's Constitution has come into force this Sunday, June 15, but not without incident. 

Kosovo's Constitution stipulates that the European Union is to take on oversight of the territory from the UN forces.  Serbia and Russia, however, insist that the EU's mission (known as Eulex) is illegal because it was not approved by the UN Security Council.  In a compromise effort, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon proposed that UN forces be reconfigured to allow the EU to deploy its mission, but this effort was also blocked by Serbia and Russia.  For now, UNMIK and KFOR forces remain in Kosovo, and roughly half of the EU mission has been deployed.

Serbia's minister for Kosovo, Slobodan Samaedzic, today announced also that a new parliament for minority Serbs will be established, further defying the implementation of the new Constitution. 

Reaction to the new Constitution and its implementation is mixed among Kosovo Albanians and Serbs.  Many celebrate the news, while others are more skeptical.  The International Herald Tribune reports that in the Serbian enclave of Caglavica where 200 Serb families live an isolated existence, Zoran Ristic, a theater director, said neither the EU nor the new Constitution would make any difference to his life.

"The new Constitution may be a happy day for some people, but we have constant electricity outages, our water is cut off, and we are living in a ghetto where most people never leave," he said. "This Constitution is just a lot of blah, blah, blah."

Many Kosovar Albanians were equally skeptical, saying they had little faith that the Constitution would put them in charge of their own destinies.

"The Constitution is just a piece of paper," said Sevdije Kastrati, 24, a camerawoman. "I am happy the EU is here, because I don't trust our government to build a country. They are corrupted and only looking out for themselves."

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune - Tension mounts as Kosovo Constitution takes effect - 15 June 2008

BBC - Serbs form rival Kosovo assembly - 15 June 2008

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BELGRADE, Serbia - Former Bosnian Serb security chief Stojan Zupljanin was arrested Wednesday (11 June 2008) by Serbian police in an apartment in Pancevo.  Stojan was one of four war crimes fugitives still at large and wanted on charges of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The extradition of the four suspects is key to furthering Serbia's EU bid.

Zupljanin was indicted by ICTY prosecutors in 1999 for crimes associated with his oversight of Serb-run prison camps during the war.  The arrest came after two-months of surveillance.  Upon being arrested, Zupljanin insisted that he was in fact someone else and produced a false identity card of a deceased man from Backa Palanka.  Fingerprint and DNA tests have since confirmed his identity. 

President of Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal Rasim Ljajic stated that “this arrest was proof that Serbia was doing everything it can to meet its commitments to cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.”

Bosnian Serb military commander Gen. Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, and Serb rebel leader in Croatia Goran Hadzic remain at large.

For more information, please see:

AP - Serbia nabs 1 of 4 war crimes fugitives - 12 June 2008

eYugoslvia - Hague Fugitive Zupljanin Arrested in Serbia - 12 June 2008

VOA - DNA Tests Confirm Indentity of Bosnian Serb War Crimes Suspect - 12 June 2008

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ROME, Italy - Italian government officials announced Friday (13 June 2008) that up to 2,500 soldiers will be deployed to patrol city streets in an effort to combat street crime.

Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa on Saturday said "There is a strong call from citizens for better control of the streets, for improved safety."  The 2,500 soldiers, some of whom have served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, will be made available for a trial period of six months to bolster the police in difficult urban areas.

Silvio Berlusconi's new conservative government won election in April on a law-and-order platform, and the  BBC reports that crime and public safety have stayed atop the political agenda.  Roberta Pinotti, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, criticized the move as a "militarization of the streets," and many Italian trade unions have called for Italy to put the 25,000 police officers doing desk work back out on the streets. 

According to the International Herald Tribune, the mayor of Turin called the move "populist demagoguery" that would hurt tourism and Italy's image abroad. "I have only seen soldiers on the streets in Bogotá, but there the situation is rather different," the mayor, Sergio Chiamparino, said in the newspaper La Repubblica.

Up to 300 soldiers are expected to begin patrolling Milan in the coming days to help combat muggers and pickpockets. 

The BBC reports that Antonion Di Pietro, head of the small center-left party, remarked that "Using armed forces to control cities is a mistake by an authoritarian regime... We are not in Colombia where these forces are used to fight terrorism and armed insurrection." 

Centre-left leader Walter Veltroni described the move as "the wrong choice that humiliates forces of law and order".

The BBC reports this peace-time deployment to be the first since WWII.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune - Italy defends street patrols by soldiers - 15 June 2008

BBC - Row in Italy over army deployment - 15 June 2008