When BIRN was founded two decades ago, media freedom in the Balkans faced serious challenges, but there was hope; now, the prospects are even bleaker.

Film screened at BIRN’s Reporting House in Pristina features harrowing testimonies of survivors of the Dubrava prison massacre, in which nearly 120 inmates were shot dead in May 1999.

The reconstructed government may have a bigger majority in parliament but its component parts are at odds with one another on key policies, expert tells BIRN.

Student-led protesters calling for snap elections continues to block roads in various towns and cities as they maintained their campaign against a government they accuse of corruption and brutality.

As BIRN celebrates two decades of work, there never seems to be a dull moment in the region, as our selection of Premium stories this week shows.

In an interview with BIRN, Mary Lawlor said human rights defenders and critics of the government in Bosnia’s Republika Srpska are being targeted and stigmatised.

Twenty years ago, a union launched an uphill battle to take over their failing machine-tool factory and return it to the workers. Today, they savour the fruits of that victory.

Our selection of Premium stories this week takes a look at the region’s slow-burning political crises, smuggling networks, digital surveillance and a whole lot more.

The surveillance scandal made headlines but did not hurt the Greek government at the ballot box. Experts say this reflects a general ambivalence about privacy violations in the digital era.

As well as the large-scale installation of surveillance systems with facial recognition technology in urban areas, the authorities have sought to monitor opponents, activists and journalists, says ...

Turkey condemns Israeli attacks, while other countries in Southeast Europe voice concern about likely political, security and economic implications.

Nesrin Lushta, head of Kosovo’s Committee for Crime Victims Compensation, who is also a Supreme Court judge, said that not a single victim of war crimes in the country has received any ...