Darko Saric at court (photo:KRIK)Balkan drug lord is no stranger to courtrooms in Serbia. Stories on his ongoing trials have been published on the front pages of Serbian news portals for the past few years, catapulting the once-obscure organized crime figure into one of the most talked-about "persons of interest" in Serbia. 

In a survey published Thursday, Nov. 19, 33 percent of respondents believed that the new special prosecutor appointed to investigate allegations against the Macedonia's political elite will be able to do her job independently and without obstruction – while 28 percent said she won’t.

New special prosecutor Katica Janeva (pictured) is a woman whose task - to untangle  accusations arising from an incendiary series of leaked 'wiretaps' - is truly great.

But what do we know about her?

Husein "Bilal" Bosnic, the Islamic preacher accused of recruiting young Bosnians to fight for the Islamic State (IS), was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison.

A number of Bulgarian mainstream media outlets have mounted an unusually rigorous smear campaign against investigative journalism website Bivol.bg, an OCCRP partner.

OCCRP takes a look at the reasons behind recent turmoil in Macedonia.

Picture the scene. A mass of people sprawl around the base of a stage. Bare-armed, they sit, stand, drink from water bottles in the lazy heat. It's May 19th.

Young men play soccer at the side of the crowd. A band plays Bob Marley's Redemption Song; as it comes to an end, the audience begins to chant. "Without justice, there is no peace!"

They demand the resignation of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, a man accused of corruption – including an allegation that he illegally wiretapped 20,000 of his own citizens.