Boris Tadić

The First Basic Court in Belgrade has ruled in favor of Dragan Sutanovac in a defamation case he brought against Bratislav Gasic.

Gasic will have to pay RSD 200,000 to Sutanovac for damaging his honor and reputation when he said the latter eavesdropped on former Serbian President Boris Tadic. He will also have to pay the legal expenses of the trial.

Opposition SDS President Boris Tadic has called on Sasa Jankovic and Vuk Jeremic to reach agreement so that only one of them runs for president.

Tadic thinks that after the announced candidacy of Tomislav Nikolic, now is the chance to for the opposition to unite and to have a joint candidate.

Speculation that Aleksandar Vucic will stand for the Serbian presidency mounted on Friday when the vice-president of his ruling Serbian Progressive Party, Milos Vucevic, announced that would propose Vucic as the party's candidate for the elections, expected in March or April.

In an interview with Serbian tabloid Kurir on Tuesday, President Tomislav Nikolic said there is no reason for the ruling Progressives not to support him as their candidate in the upcoming presidential election, which is expected to be held no later than April this year.

SDS leader Boris Tadic thinks the opposition must unite if they wish to defeat "the candidate of SNS leader Aleksandar Vucic" in the presidential elections.

"Both Sasa Jankovic and Vuk Jeremic have the potential to win, but only if one of them is a joint candidate while the other backs him," the former Serbian president told the newspaper Blic.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has written to President Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia saying that the Kremlin will follow the 2017 Serbian presidential election "with full attention".

In the letter handed to Nikolic by Russian ambassador to Belgrade Aleksandar Chepurin, Putin confirmed Russia's wish to continue a strategic partnership.

Days before the fifth vote in the UN Security Council for the post of Secretary General on September 26, Serbia's candidate, Vuk Jeremic, is winning support from important Western media outlets as the best candidate.

Despite the praise, a foreign policy expert for the Serbian newspaper Politika, Bosko Jaksic, told BIRN that Jeremic would probably not be elected.

BELGRADE- Serbian First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic on Wednesday described as utterly hypocritical the statements by Bosniak and Turkish politicians about Srebrenica that were aimed at Serbia, noting it was high time everyone realised Belgrade was ready for reconciliation, peace and building a common future, but that it would never let anyone humiliate Serbia.

BELGRADE - The leaders of several opposition lists staged a protest rally in Belgrade Saturday to demand the resignation of the chairperson and vice-chairperson of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK), calling them responsible for vote-rigging in recently held parliamentary elections.
    

Boris Tadic has accused the Progressives (SNS) of wanting to change the electoral will of citizens, and "appropriate" the votes received by opposition parties.

The former Serbian president who now heads the SDS party spoke on Thursday after a meeting of opposition parties.