IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 159, July 25, 2000

TRUTH ON TRIAL IN SERBIA

The Yugoslav authorities' case against Miroslav Filipovic seeks to criminalise professional reporting - and open debate - about issues at the heart of the Serbian political crisis.

By Anthony Borden

Truth is on trial in Serbia. For telling the truth about war crimes by Yugoslav forces in Kosovo and potential new conflict in Montenegro, the Serbian journalist Miroslav Filipovic has gone on trial in Nis today, July 25, facing charges of espionage - and a possible prison sentence of 15 years. Opening the proceedings before a tense military courtroom, Capt. Aleksandar Kalicanin, the deputy military prosecutor, charged Filipovic with reporting on the "military and political situation, territorial control and mobilisation of the Yugoslav Army on the territory of Sandzak" as well as "activities and morale" of the army in Montenegro. He further accused the journalist of reporting that the Yugoslav Army "committed atrocities in Kosovo" . . . and that Belgrade is "sending military and political forces to Kosovo and Methoija to provoke conflict between the Serbs and the Albanians."

The first journalist in memory to face espionage charges in Yugoslavia, Miroslav Filipovic, 49, may also be the first journalist anywhere to be arrested for spying because of his reporting on the internet. Many of his stories could not be published within the country itself. An independent media battered by seizures of premises, a draconian law on information, even assassination cannot or will not dare to break political taboos. But through the power of the new electronic samizdat, Filipovic, working with the London-based media development charity IWPR, focused on the core untouchable issues in Yugoslavia, notably using officers and other sources within the establishment itself. The information provided by these sources confirms disagreement within the Yugoslav establishment over the reckless course taken by the government of President Slobodan Milosevic. In one article, officers and soldiers report details of the slaughter of Albanian children in Kosovo, and the shame now felt by many in the army. Another report details an ominous military build up in the Sandzak, the Muslim majority area in southern Serbia bordering Kosovo and Montenegro. Another piece reveals officers within the army opposing potential aggressive moves against Montenegro.

From his base in Kraljevo, southern Serbia, Filipovic represents the instinctive and often more dynamic local democratic energy outside the capital. He is in fact a kind of Yugoslav loyalist: from a military family, he has written a book on the local aviation industry, supported Yugoslav-French cultural exchanges, and helped organize local humanitarian aid after the NATO bombing campaign.

Exactly because he is outside the usual opposition political circus which is Belgrade, he so strongly illustrates the true professional potential throughout the country. "Journalism is on trial, but what my father did proves that there are real journalists in Serbia," asserted his son Sasha, 18, at a moving ceremony in London recently where he accepted on his father's behalf an award as European Internet Journalist of the Year.

If the arrest is a warning shot against potential sources, it has also directly contributed to the fear among journalists, human rights workers and other civic activists. In the words of another outspoken Serbian journalist, "The Filipovic case shows that you could be next." In a country where almost by definition democratic voices depend on outside support, the case could set a scorched-earth legal precedent whereby journalists, activists or anyone collaborating with international organizations may be deemed a "spy". The prosecution made noticeably little effort to dub IWPR or Agence France-Press, for whom Filipovic also works, as espionage organisations - being foreign is enough.

Yet for a man who has undertaken exactly the kind of truth-telling the world has for so long urged the people of Serbia to begin, what has been the response? Silence.

As Filipovic's counsel argued in court, many of the facts he reported have been covered by other media in the region, especially in Montenegro. It is only in Serbia that such basic facts could be seriously disputed - or indeed, deemed too dangerous even to dispute publicly.

Yet even independent media in Yugoslav took two months since his arrest just to mention Filipovic's internet articles - and some never did. Posters calling for his release were for a time plastered around his hometown, and the Belgrade journalists union has led a campaign on his behalf. But leading opposition figures have steered clear of the story.

Internationally, diplomats have been equally cautious. On the eve of the trial - spurred perhaps by coverage of the case on CNN and other major media as well as a statement by Amnesty International - some important efforts have been made to raise the issue with the Belgrade authorities. But many diplomats express concern that being adopted as a western favorite may be counterproductive in Serbia. Others with substantial experience in Belgrade report that the Yugoslav foreign ministry no longer takes their calls. Still others give the impression that a ruckus over a Yugoslav national may threaten work by their own nationals in the country. "We just don't have any leverage now" is a common refrain.

At a time when there has been discussion in Europe of relaxing sanctions of Serbia, this may be mistaken.

But the risks of such silence may be even greater. Political change in Serbia is not about one single man, as monumental as a change of leadership would be. Meaningful change must be based on a much deeper shift of values, from the corrupt, criminal and deeply inhumane instincts of the past decade to ones of reality, legality and above all truth. If one of the first to scratch the truth in Serbia cannot count on serious support, who - quite rightly - will dare follow?

The short case over this enormous issue lasted only a single day, and the judge has retired to consider his verdict on a journalist, and the truth.

Anthony Borden is executive director of the London-based Institute for War & Peace Reporting, where the internet reporting of Filipovic first appeared.

IWPR will be monitoring the trial July 26.

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