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.

Months after a tape recording seemed to show vote-buying by a regional prime minister in Bosnia, the investigation drags on while business continues as usual.

Tamas Bodoky, editor-in-chief of the Hungarian media watchdog and independent journalism outlet Atlatszo, has won the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Digital Activism.

Is Macedonia being run by corrupt politicians who are doing terrible, illegal things?

Or is the beleaguered government fighting off a coup attempt by opposition politicians backed by mysterious foreign spies?

By Medina Malagic and Igor Spaic

Sixteen men were arrested in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Sept. 3 for raising money to recruit and send people to fight for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

Who are they, and how do they fit into the bigger picture of Islam in BiH?