October 2018

Dodik’s Luxury Limo Stands Out in Bosnian Election

Posted on October 5, 2018January 26, 2023 by BIRD

Among the many politicians driving around Bosnia in the campaign for the general elections on October 7, Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb president and candidate for the Serbian seat on Bosnia’s state presidency is riding the costliest limo of all, according to a BIRN database of cars in government ownership.

The current president of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, RS, has listed a Mercedes 500 from 2010 at his disposal, which his office procured for 125,000 euros, based on latest official documents on car maintenance and insurance.

Office of the president of Republika Srpska also has an Audi A8L from 2011 which was procured for 85.000 euros.

The second most expensive passenger car in the BIRN register of official vehicles is a Volkswagen Phaeton from 2013, worth 109,000 euros, which belongs to the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers – the state government.

The car is available to the Chair of the Council, Denis Zvizdic, from the main Bosniak Party of Democratic Action, SDA, who is standing as a candidate for the state-level parliament.

Zeljka Cvijanovic, now RS Prime Minister and a candidate for the post of RS president, has at her disposal two Audi A8s, worth more than 100,000 euros. The RS assembly’s General Secretariat spent over 18,000 euros on car tires this year.

The members of Bosnia’s state presidency all have expensive cars. Four of the ten most expensive passenger cars in the Register of Official Cars belong to the presidency.

Three expensive Audi A8s, each worth about 100,000 euros, form part of a fleet of 36 cars worth 1.7 million euros, available for the three members of the presidency and for two candidates standing for this year’s new mandate – Mladen Ivanic and Dragan Covic.

Bosnian Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak, a candidate for the RS assembly, from the opposition Party of Democratic Progress, has an Audi A8L valued at 75,000 euros.

Bosnian Justice minister Josip Grubesa, a candidate for the state parliament from the main Croat party, the Croatian Democratic Union, HDZ BiH, has an Audi A6, worth 50,000 euros.

The BMW of Bosnian Security minister Dragan Mektic, who is running for a seat in the state parliament, has the same value.

Mirko Sarovic, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, from the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS, drives a slightly cheaper Audi A6 than his party colleague Mektic.

The head of the public roads company in the RS, Putevi Srpske, Nenad Nesic, has a luxury Skoda Superb, worth a bit over 30,000 euros.

Nesic is a candidate for the state parliament from the Democratic People’s Alliance, a coalition alley of Dodik’s Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, SNSD.

In 2018, this company bought two more cars, a Skoda Superb and a Hyundai Tucson, and 16 others vehicles, bringing its fleet up to a total of 44 passenger vehicles.

The BIRN database, containing a register of vehicles owned by institutions and public companies, and showing their average cost – around 25,000 euros – can be seen here.

Bosnian Serbs to Protest Over Officials’ Luxury Limos

Bosnia elections 2018

Facebook Pulls Pages Linked to Rightists Active in Balkans

Posted on October 4, 2018January 26, 2023 by BIRD

Facebook has taken down at least 14 pages identified in a BIRN and BBC collaboration as linked to the Knights Templar International, KTI.

KTI – which calls itself “a living shield and sword for the defence of Christian communities and the upholding of Christian principles” – has boasted about how its vast network of social media pages helped to elect Donald Trump as US President and swing the UK referendum on leaving the European Union.

Current news feature items on its website hail “a huge drop in abortions in Russia” and the upcoming referendum against gay marriage in Romania.

The organisation has attracted controversy for its hard-line views on Muslim immigration to Europe and donation of equipment to so-called “migrant hunters” in Bulgaria and to Kosovo Serbs preparing for confrontation with Kosovo’s mainly Muslim Albanian majority.

The news of Facebook’s decision was first reported by activists at the International Report Bigotry and Fascism.

It also published a letter, apparently from KTI, appealing for funds to fight Facebook and blaming mainstream media “smears” for the decision.

The letter claimed that 20 “British, American, Australian and European pages” were pulled on Friday, September 7, with a total of 3 million Facebook likes.

BIRN has not independently verified the authenticity of the correspondence.

However, on September 7, KTI published a statement on the social media site GAB, which is popular with the right, saying Facebook “has launched another big purge on surviving ‘right-wing’ & Christian accounts today”.

Facebook and KTI did not respond to requests for comment.

The Knights Templar International is named after the medieval Catholic crusading monastic order, founded in the 12th century, which played an important part in the wars in the Holy Land against Muslims. Originally based in Jerusalem, the order was forced later to shift base to Cyprus. The order was dissolved by the Pope in 1312 and many of its member executed.

The modern organization, which has no links to the Vatican, has been linked to the Scottish-born far-right and anti-abortion activist James “Jim” Dowson, called an “extremists’ marketing mastermind” by the UK Times, although he denies playing any official role in the organisation.

In 2016, Dowson was banned from Hungary, formerly a key centre in the KTI network, as part of a wider crackdown by the Hungarian authorities on far-right activists using their country as a base.

He and the KTI have since increasingly used Belgrade for their media activities. Dowson is meanwhile appealing the Hungarian decision.

KTI’s activities in Serbia include filming videos from the capital, helping to launch websites and training right-wing groups and activists in how to win the “information war”.

Alongside media training, the KTI – which Dowson describes as a “militant Christian order” – has also supplied equipment to volunteers on what it calls the frontline between Christianity and Islam.

It has used its funds to provide tactical vests (protective body armour) and communications equipment to Serbian groups in the volatile area of northern Kosovo, and to vigilante groups stopping migrants from crossing the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

While Dowson did not respond to BIRN’s requests for comment, in a response to the Scottish-based Sunday Post, he described the connection between him and the sites as “fake news”.

He added: “There are no Facebooks [sic] that I own down, removed or even restricted.
“However, I do see in the media many instances where the tech giants are removing thousands of platforms from Christian, conservative and pro-Brexit organisations. I think that’s deeply worrying for the rule of law and democracy.”

Facebook told the Sunday Post: “We have removed these pages as they breached our community standards.”

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