ANEM'S WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION IN SERBIA

MAY 20 ­ 26, 2000

RADIO PANCEVO BRINGS CHARGES AGAINST SERBIAN MINISTRY OF INTERIOR

PANCEVO, May 20, 2000 -- Radio Pancevo brought charges today against Ministry of Interior for obstruction of its property, said for Radio B2-92 Goran Matic, the defense attorney of the Radio. First, the wave frequency of the Radio was interfered with another one on May 17th at 04:45 PM; than as of 07:10 PM one could here only folk music on the program. On Wednesday and Thursday, chief engineering officers were prevented by police to approach the transmitter at Milic's Heights at Belgrade suburb Visnica. "We have demanded from the court to prescribe summarily that the Serbian Ministry of Interior allow our technicians approach the transmitter at Milic's Heights", Radio B2-92 cited Matic as saying.

REPRESENTATIVES OF DAILIES "BORBA" AND "BLIC" MEET

BELGRADE, May 20, 2000 -- Milovan Tubic, printing company "Borba" director's deputy, said for SRNA news agency that representatives of the daily talked to representatives of daily "Blic" in order to overcome current misunderstandings.

RADIO INDEX ON AIR AGAIN

BELGRADE, May 20, 2000 -- Radio Index is on air again as of Friday morning. The radio station representatives told us they were broadcasting only music and the news each hour.

RADIO PANCEVO VIA INTERNET

PANCEVO, May 20, 2000 -- In co-operation with internet media "Free Serbia", Radio Pancevo has continued broadcasting its program via Internet. The program is available on the URL www.freeserbia.org, reads the statement from Radio Pancevo. The news are broadcasted each hour and morning news each morning from 8:00 to 8:45 AM. Headline news of the informative show Paralele will be broadcasted every day at 4:00 PM and 09:00 PM.

ACTING EDITOR OF STUDIO B: "SOME EMPLOYEES WERE BACK TO WORK"

BELGRADE, May 20, 2000 -- Ljubisav Aleksic, acting editor in chief of Radio-Television Studio B, stated that "few of employees from previous Studio B crew were back to work" and called on the others to "follow their example". In his statement for daily "Danas", Mr. Aleksic rejected to state precisely when the program would be regular again. According to sources from Studio B, "Danas" reported that Nebojsa Stefanovic could be appointed new editor in chief.

COMMERCIAL COURT EVICTS GLAS JAVNOSTI AND PRINTER

BELGRADE, May 20, 2000 -- The Belgrade Commercial Court today annulled ten years of investments by ABC Produkt in the former public firm Glas, confiscating all assets and the company's subsidiary printing firm which had printed a number of respected independent newspapers for several years. The staff of Glas javnosti has also been evicted from the company's premises in Vlajkoviceva St, according to a statement released today by the paper's director, Slavoljub Kacarevic, in the name of ABC Produkt.

POLICE PROHIBITS DELIVERING LEAFLETS WITH KORAKS’ CARICATURES

BACKA PALANKA, May 22, 2000 -- Last night at 11:30 p.m. three policemen searched the apartment of "Otpor" activist Bojan Lazic’s mother in Backa Palanka. Mrs. Lazic was delivering both "Otpor" and Democratic Youth’s leaflets at the protest rally in the city, reads a statement issued by Novi Sad Crisis Headquarters, according to SRNA News Agency. "I intended to deliver few leaflets with Koraks’ caricatures to my neighbours, but I gave only one to a neighbour that I had met outside. In less then half an hour, three undercovered policemen burst into my apartment", quoted Novi Sad Crisis Headquarters Mrs. Lazic as saying. Police questioned Mrs. Lazic whether she knew that she "belonged to an unregistered and illegal organization" and warned her "she would pay mandatory fine".

FRANCE PRESS AND DANAS CORRESPONDENT REMANDED IN CUSTODY

BELGRADE, May 23, 2000 -- The Military Court in Nis decided yesterday to remand France Press and Danas correspondent Miroslav Filipovic in custody for thirty days pending an investigation.

Filipovic was arrested on May 8 in his Kraljevo apartment by three plainclothes men claiming to be members of the State Security Service. During the arrest his apartment was searched. For two days Filipovic was interrogated by an investigating judge in the District Court in Kraljevo and sentenced to thirty days in custody. At the same time, the District Court ruled that the case was out of its competence and passed criminal charges of espionage against Filipovic to the Military Court in Nis. Filipovic was transferred to Nis on May 11.

The custody order passed by the Kraljevo District Court was revoked on May 11, after Military Prosecutor Stanimir Radosavljevic told the court he would not demand investigation within the legal deadline of 48 hours. At the same time Radosavljevic warned that he might take the case up at a later time. On May 18, the prosecutor ordered an investigation and Filipovic was yesterday ordered to be remanded in custody for thirty days for the second time in two weeks. The Military Court also resolved to launch an investigation against him because of reasonable grounds for suspicion that he has committed the criminal acts of espionage and disseminating false information.

Filipovic has rejected the suggestion that he has committed any criminal act, arguing that someone wanting to deal with espionage would not publish such information under his real name.

SESELJ IN NEW ATTACK ON MEDIA

BELGRADE, May 23 -- Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj launched another savage attack on independent media on prime-time television last night. Speaking on TV Palma, Seselj, who is president of the Serbian Radical Party, accused independent journalists of taking millions of dollars in return for attempting to destabilise the country. Seselj, who earlier this year threatened independent journalists with summary execution, indicated that even more rigorous measures by the state apparatus would ensue.

STUDIO B REINFORCEMENTS

BELGRADE, May 24, -- The new acting editor-in-chief of Studio B, Ljubisav Aleksic, who was appointed by the Serbian Government after it seized control of the broadcaster from Belgrade City Assembly last week, has brought in a number of seasoned staff from regime-controlled media, Belgrade daily Danas reports today. They include Milovan Matic, from Radio Television Serbian in Valjevo. Matic has worked for Studio B in the past and was previously state television's special correspondent for Montenegro. He is also a member of the Socialist Party of Serbia's Information Council in Valjevo.

GLAS PHOTOGRPAHER ARRESTED

NOVI SAD, May 24, 2000 -- Police in Novi Sad at 3.00 a.m. today arrested Novi Sad photographer Miljan Cubranovic for questioning. Cubranovic had been on his way home wearing an Otpor T-shirt. He was released after being photographed and fingerprinted. This is the third time Cubranovic, who works for Belgrade daily Glas javnosti, has been arrested.

COURT RESUMES FRANCE PRESS CORRESPONDENT HEARING

NIS, May 25, 2000 -- The Military Court in Nis today resumed its investigation of charges against France Press and Danas correspondent Miroslav Filipovic who has been charged with espionage and disseminating false information. Defence lawyer Zoran Ateljevic told Radio B2-92 that a complaint had been lodged on illegalities pertaining to Filipovic's custody and the investigation. These, he said, had not been addressed and the proceedings had continued in the meantime. "We expect the Criminal Council of the Nis Military court to respond to the complaints within 48 hours in accordance with the law," said Ateljevic.

DANAS PHOTOGRAPHER ARRESTED

BELGRADE, May 25 2000 ­ A photographer from Belgrade daily Danas was detained for questioning yesterday as he photographed incidents at the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Milos Peric had entered the building, which is controlled by private security guards, using identification borrowed from a student. Peric was held in custody for six hours and his camera and film confiscated.

FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLD ARRESTED IN IVANJICA

IVANJICA, May 25, 2000 -- Police apprehended a fourteen-year-old child in the local office of Otpor in the central Serbian town of Ivanjica last night, an Otpor representative told Radio B2-92 today. Police burst into the offices after hearing Radio B2-92 satellite broadcast and demanded to see a rebroadcast permit. After learning that the program was not being rebroadcast, the police arrested the fourteen-year-old, identified only by the initials V.T.

COMMERCIAL COURT TURNS DOWN ANEM CASE

BELGRADE, May 25, 2000 -- The Belgrade Commercial Court today refused to grant a temporary order for Studio B to honour a 1999 contract for the production of the Radio B2-92 radio program. Judge Milojka Zekovic, turning down the application, scheduled the main hearing of the ANEM case for May 31. ANEM had sought the enforcement of the contract with Studio B for its associates to produce and rebroadcast a program under the title "Third program of Studio B - B2-92" and compensation for every day the rebroadcast has not been permitted.

SECURITY GUARDS TARGET CAMERAMEN

BELGRADE, May 26, 2000 -- Private security guards at the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering yesterday seized a camera from a cameraman working for the production house Mreza. The camera was returned without tape after an argument in the faculty building. The guards also chased a cameraman from Free Serbia, who managed to escape. A police patrol in a parked car observed the incident, which occurred after a protest by students at the faculty, without intervening.

NEWSPAPER OWNER ATTACKED

VRANJE, May 26, 2000 -- The owner of a daily newspaper in the southern Serbian town of Vranje was attacked in the town centre today. Vukasin Obradovic, who publishes the daily Novine Vranjskih, told Beta that the driver of a Mercedes had stopped in front of his own car, stepped out and assaulted him, tearing his shirt. He reported the incident to police who said they would investigate. Obradovic said that the attack was probably connected with the front page of today's Novine Vranjskih which carried a photograph of Otpor members.

TV PANCEVO SIGNAL JAMMED

PANCEVO, May 26, 2000 -- Disruption to the signal of RTV Pancevo, which began last week, had been stepped up, particularly in the past 48 hours, Glas javnosti writes today. TV Pancevo Director Ofelija Backovic told the daily that viewers from other towns had notified the station to say that they were unable to receive the program on Channel 37, and that there were signal interruptions, particularly during news programs, in certain parts of Pancevo itself. "RTV Pancevo wrote to the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications on May 17 demanding the disruption cease, but the Ministry had neither replied nor taken any action," said Backovic.

WE WILL DEFEAT NATO MEDIA: JUL OFFICIAL

BELGRADE, May 26, 2000 -- The Secretary of government coalition partner the Yugoslav Left, Ivan Markovic, today alleged that a number of independent media were charged with supporting terrorism. He also described the Otpor student movement as a terrorist organisation and made a number of allegations about the opposition, state media reported today.

Markovic alleged that, under a NATO plan, paramilitary and terrorist organisations, criminals in police costumes run by Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, gangs of kidnappers from Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik and terrorists organised in the phalanxes of Otpor were to apply pressure to Yugoslav authorities.

"The logistic support for this terrorism is intended to be the lies and manipulations of the so-called free media such as the dailies Blic, Danas and Glas javnosti and broadcasters such as Radio Pancevo, TV Kragujevac and TV Nis which are operated by local governments under US command," said Markovic, going on to say that such ideas were supported by all the NATO criminals and local punks who flattered themselves that they were the Serbian opposition.

Markovic described NATO as taking a two pronged attack of terrorism and lying media torture. "However," he said, "this country has defeated the NATO air force and will certainly defeat NATO terrorists and NATO media.

NEBOJSA RISTIC ARRESTED AGAIN

SOKO BANJA, May 26, 2000 -- The editor of TV Soko, Nebojsa Ristic, was arrested yesterday morning in the centre of Soko Banja with several other people, most of them Otpor activists, while distributing leaflets and membership applications for the student movement. Also arrested were journalists Strahinja Ciric and Predrag Stevanovic, Democratic Party and Otpor members Aleksandar Miljkovic, Ivica Naskovski and Dragan Avramovic, together with his wife Tanjue and mother Radica. All were released after several hours.

Ristic was convicted in April last of the criminal offence of disseminating false information, in contravention of Article 218 of the Serbian Criminal Code, for displaying a Radio B-92 poster "Free Press" and an Otpor poster in his office window. He was released from prison on March 27 this year after serving more than eleven months of a one-year prison sentence.

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Further information on the media in Yugoslavia is available at: www.freeb92.net

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