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MILS NEWS
Skopje, February 19, 2001
`A1 TV' CREW KIDNAPPED AND ARM PATROL ATTACKED NEAR MACEDONIA - KOSOVO
BOUNDARY
Friday, larger group of uniformed men bearing UCK marks,
near the entry in the village of Tanushevci (in the proximity of Macedonia -
Kosovo border) kidnapped three members of A1 TV. The group was detained in the
village for about half an hour , questioned and than released with warning that
" they have no further business in this village" . Kidnapers
introduced themselves as " People's Defense of the village " and told
the A1 TV crew they should have been warned by the Macedonian police not to come
near the village. During the 30-minute questioning, the A1 TV crew was not
ill-treated , however their camera and mobile phones were taken. Later, the A1
TV crew reported the incident in the Miravci village police station . As MVR
informed , the police initiated an immediate inspection to determine
details of the incident. As A1 TV crew said, the purpose of their visit to
Tanushevci was to check rumors of the alleged UCK training camps located there.
Two more incidents occurred in the vicinity of Tanushevci village Friday. ARM (
Macedonian National Army) border patrol was twice involved in a shootings with
several armed men in camouflage clothing coming from Kosovo side of the border.
There were no injured among ARM members, whereas the opposite side is believed
to have suffered casualties and injuries. Following these events believed to be
connected, the Ministries of Internal Affairs(MVR ) and Defense ( MO) initiated
an investigation followed by official statements. According to MVR statement,
the terrain investigation conducted by MVR teams revealed that the kidnappers
probably came from Kosovo and re-entered Kosovo territory after the incident.
Those were probably the same persons involved in the shooting with ARM members
Friday near the village of Tanushevci. MVR teams are checking the village for
accomplices of the Kosovar armed group. According to the statement from the
Ministry of Defense, the soldiers from the Tanushevci watchtower were alarmed by
the shots fired in the air during the kidnapping of the TV crew and immediately
organized a terrain search. Later, several persons were spotted in the border
area. When ordered to stop, these persons started running towards Kosovo
territory and fired several shots at Macedonian soldiers. Ministry of Defense
denied the statement given by A1 TV crew according to which their vehicle was
not even spotted by the Tanushevci watchtower. "Not only was the vehicle
spotted by the border patrol, but the soldiers immediately started the
notification and identification procedure of persons in the vehicle. The fact
the border patrol was not detected by the A1 TV crew confirms the ambush was
well camouflaged and the watchtower was already in higher degree of combat
readiness", states MO report.
DISPLEASED SIDES IN MACEDONIA - FRY BORDERLINE SETTLEMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE INCIDENTS
According to the Defense Minister Ljuben Paunovski, the
incidents at the Macedonia - FRY border near the village of Tanushevci were
caused by subjects discontented by the positive settlement of the state border
between Macedonia and FRY. Macedonia must not succumb to such provocation and
allow clashes on part of its territory that would open a serious international
issue" said Paunovski in his interview for A1 TV . Paunovski advised
citizens to remain calm since the MO has complete control over entire Macedonian
territory and ARM is the most significant stability factor in the northern and
western border area as part of a very unstable region. ARM is prepared to cover
the entire boundary area ( 100m) whereas MVR will act in the depth of Macedonian
territory. According to Paunovski , the border cannot be hermetically sealed but
will be secured in accordance with military regulations, which proved effective
in the Tanushevci incident. Macedonian defense minister suggested to the outlaw
Kosovar militant groups to refrain from incidents since it inflicts great damage
to the Albanians on the Balkan. Paunovski referred to the stances of the
legitimate Kosovo leaders according to which incidents like the ones in Tearce
and Tanushevci are terrorist attacks. The international community will
successfully thwart the attempts to copy the picture of obstruction of Albanian
human rights in Macedonia , as it was in Kosovo following the disintegration of
SFRY.
MILS SUPPLEMENT ("Vest", February 16, 2001)
EUROPEAN COUNCIL DOES NOT APPROVE OF THE LAW ON PUBLIC INFORMING
"It cannot be said that the European Council has a
high opinion of the Law on Public Informing in Macedonia. On the contrary,
during our visit to Skopje last year, at the coordinative meeting, we had number
of critiques and negative comments on several articles in the legal text
especially the part referring to journalists' accreditations and the number of
articles in the act" said Christoph Puirell of the European Council and one
of the experts in charge of appraising the legal text. As Puirell said, no one
in the European council had seen the legal text enacted by the Macedonian
government yesterday. European Council experts had remarks regarding the method
of accreditation and issuing of press ID's. " No one can deny somebody's
right to call themselves journalists. There is no point in the existence of an
article that stipulates issue of press ID's by a competent organ, where articles
are appointed and dismissed by a government representative, in this case the
director of the Informative Agency. Everywhere in the world, the press identity
cards are issued by press associations and means of public informing. There can
be no limitations in issuing press ID's to journalists," said Puirell.
Government spokesperson Antonio Miloshoski stated the following at yesterday `s
press conference:" The bill has passed the evaluation. The irregularities
of the previous version have been corrected. In addition, the government
accepted all the suggestions given by the European Council. The main purpose of
this legal act resembles the role of a traffic light on a crossroad. Everyone
wants to pass but the traffic lights stop them. The law will enable order and
discipline. Everyone will be able to accomplish their rights to accurate
informing". As Antonio Miloshoski explained yesterday, members of the
informative Agency briefed him on the positive opinion European Council had
regarding the legal text. However, at the Informative Agency we were told they
were not acquainted with the version presented to the public by the government
spokesperson i.e. they were not sure if that was the same version presented
before the European Council. " The law underwent evaluation by European
Council experts. The creation of a Press Board in charge of issuing press ID's
was suggested by Danish expert Vorhov since a similar board exists in his
country. In the creation of the law, the authors used experiences and materials
from the German and Danish legislative. This is only a preliminary version open
to necessary modifications. The government intends to establish order in the
public informing sphere and unite certain articles presently scattered in
several different acts. The Agency served solely as a link between the
government and the European Council, whereas the Ministry of Justice did the
preparation of the law, says Dimitar Guzelov of the Informative Agency. In the
opinion of legal experts, the stipulations of the law are not disputable, being
in fact copied from the European Convention. What is disputable are the articles
concerning the issuing of press ID's as well as the article allowing press
members access to available state organs data and their limited publication. To
be exact, according to the article, the supplier of the information decides the
time of publishing. Apropos this article, the European Council created a special
commission last year, which had several rigorous objections against such
standards, since it would mean instruction of journalists by their sources. As
legal experts say, this law is redundant in situation when the European
Convention and the Penal Code define majority of articles. Contrary to Macedonia,
FRY abolished this law yesterday. That clearly shows the immensity of misfortune
our country is facing by passing this law. In FRY, the Law on Public Informing
was introduced by the Miloshevic regime two years ago, as a government
instrument of control over the means of public informing and sanctioning of the
media that did not see things the government way. This move by the former
Yugoslav president was condemned by the international community and described as
invasion of freedom of speech and expression.
(end) mils news , February 19, 2001
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