The far-right is creating a ‘them against us’ narrative in the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to pick up followers and spread hate. And Balkan states are not immune, according to the findings of a BIRN investigation.
The Chinese manufacturer of a ‘transport’ ventilator bought by Bosnian officials to treat COVID-19 patients had said publicly, repeatedly, that its product was not for critically-ill patients, but the purchase went ahead anyway, BIRN BiH and Singapore-based The Initium can reveal.
Taking advantage of slack rules, professors from Serbia are teaching in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity as well – even if they have already met their work quotas at Serbian faculties, or lack a licence to teach abroad, BIRN can reveal.
The men of Sveti Georgije say they are simply handing out aid parcels, but their leader’s criminal past, their glorification of Ratko Mladic and a penchant for black uniforms and a coat of arms speak to a very different agenda.
Court records in Bosnia reveal that prominent members of Serb nationalist Chetnik organisations have been charged with war crimes, while the Bosnian Security Ministry has warned that such groups are extremists who could pose a security risk.
BIRN reveals how a campaign to build renewable energy plants, supported by the EU, siphoned away subsidies and wrecked pristine waterways in Serbia and beyond.
Hague Tribunal documents reveal the names of Croatian Defence Council brigade commanders and military policemen associated with the unlawful detention, abuse, rape and killing of prisoners in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Prozor-Rama area in 1992 and 1993.