RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies Vol. 1, No. 5, 15 June 2000

"Freedom of information is ... the touchstone of all the freedoms." (UN Freedom of Information Conference, 1948)

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SERBIA

SERBIAN COURT ORDERS BROVINA RETRIAL...

The Supreme Court on 7 June ordered a retrial of Kosovar rights activist Flora Brovina. She had been sentenced by a lower court to 12 years in prison for allegedly helping "terrorists" during the conflict in Kosova. That sentence led to an international outcry from many human rights and writers' organizations ("RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June). The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) saluted on 7 June the decision by the Supreme Court of Serbia in overturning the conviction under which Brovina was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The Supreme Court annulled the decision of the Nis District Court which convicted Brovina of the criminal offenses of conspiring against the state and terrorism during a state of war and has returned the case to the lower court for a retrial. The Supreme Court has also recommended that Brovina be released on bail until the end of the proceedings. Defense lawyer Rajko Danilovic said today that the decision was expected because the Nis court had drastically violated procedures to the great detriment of the defendant. Danilovic said that today's decision laid the grounds for reaching a just verdict which, he said, would be an acquittal. (ANEM Press Release, 7 June)

...ESPIONAGE IS LATEST CHARGE AGAINST FILIPOVIC.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES NATO OF WAR CRIMES.

Amnesty International on 7 June accused NATO of committing serious violations of the rules of war, unlawful killings and "in the case of the bombing of Serbia's television headquarters," a war crime. The Amnesty report quotes for NATO supreme commander, General Wesley Clark, as saying, "We knew when we struck that there would be alternative ways of disabling Serbian television. There's no single switch to turn off everything but we thought it was a good move to strike it, and the political leadership agreed with us." Amnesty's comment: "In other words, NATO deliberately attacked a civilian object, killing 16 civilians, for the purpose of disrupting Serbian television broadcasts in the middle of the night for approximately three hours. It is hard to see how this can be consistent with the rule of proportionality." (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

CLARK CALLS ATTACK ON SERBIAN MEDIA CENTER 'NECESSARY.'

U.S. General Wesley Clark, NATO supreme commander in Europe during the Kosova conflict, rejected Amnesty's charge that the NATO attack on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's radio and television headquarters constituted an unwarranted strike against a civilian target. Speaking in Washington on 8 June, Clark said that "the attack on the Serb media [headquarters]...was a controversial target, but the Serb media engine was feeding the war. You're always making trade-offs in these decisions, but in this case it was a huge step to be able to take out this major instrument of provocation." The general added that state- run media are "a crucial instrument of Milosevic's control over the Serb population [and] exported fear, hatred and instability in the neighboring regions," Reuters reported. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 9 June 2000)

SOME POSITIVE MEDIA DEVELOPMENTS IN SERBIA.

A legal representative from the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) managed to enter ANEM's offices in Belgrade on 2 June. Proceedings against the Belgrade daily "Danas" were dropped in court on 3 June after the deputy public prosecutor withdrew the charges. And the case brought by Studio B and the Belgrade Municipal Assembly against the Republic of Serbia in regard to the police occupation of the broadcaster were adjourned for the second time on 9 June. Studio B Radio Director Milos Rajkovic said that the station's radio program would be broadcast on the Internet next week and television crews were preparing a program which would begin in the near future. He declined to give details. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

B2-92 FOUNDER SHARES JOURNALISM AWARD.

The founder of Radio B2-92 and the present chairman of ANEM, Veran Matic, is a co-winner of this year's Iliria Alpi Award for investigative journalism and freedom of speech. Matic will share the prize with BBC journalist Julie Flynn and Italian state television correspondent Enio Remondo, who reported from Belgrade on last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Accepting the award on 4 June, Matic called attention to the international community's lack of response to the wave of repression now afflicting independent media in Yugoslavia. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

AN INDEPENDENT MEDIA INSTITUTE ESTABLISHED IN MONTENEGRO.

The Montenegro Media Institute, a non-government organization, will soon be registered in Montenegro, Beta was informed by the Fund for an Open Society in Podgorica on 8 June. The institute will be part of a regional network with 17 similar organizations in Southeastern Europe, and will begin operations in the autumn, training journalists from Montenegro, Kosova and Serbia. Training for other media vocations will also be provided. The institute will engage teaching staff both locally and from abroad. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

...WHILE IN SERBIA, A PARTY PROPAGANDA COUNCIL IS SET UP.

The Central Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia established a Council for Information and Propaganda, charged with presenting "the truth about the situation in the country in the proper way in domestic and foreign media." The council's president, Nikola Sainovic, said that the party was determined that its members and all citizens should spread the truth and information which would defend the country, state media reported. Members of the new Council criticized the independent media and accused them of treason. The director of Radio Television Serbia, Dragoljub Milanovic, said the enemy had been particularly helped by "the servants of NATO" in concealing and justifying crimes. This, he said, was the reason it was necessary, as soon as possible, to properly expose and punish treason, both in the media and in day-to-day life. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

NEWSPAPER DIRECTOR GIVEN THREE-MONTH SENTENCE.

The director of "Borske Novine" newspaper, Dusica Radulovic, was sentenced to three months imprisonment on 3 June in Bor for publishing an article on Socialist Party of Serbia spokesman Nikola Sainovic and the Hague Tribunal. Her husband, the paper's editor, Slobodan Radulovic, is facing charges for publishing a photomontage of the Yugoslav president. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

JOURNALISTS THROWN OUT OF SERBIAN PARLIAMENT...

At the 3 June session of the Serbian Parliament, the president of the Administrative Committee, Dragan Ljubojevic, a member of the Serbian Radical Party, asked "representatives of traitor media" to leave the session, and went on to name the offending publications, "Blic," "Danas," and "Glas Javnosti," and the news agencies Beta and FoNet. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

... AND BARRED FROM LOCAL COUNCIL MEETING.

Security guards at the Krusevac Municipal Assembly denied access to journalist Miroljub Arsic, a correspondent for Belgrade daily "Danas," Podgorica daily "Vijesti" and Montenegrin Television. He was prevented from reporting on an Assembly meeting on 9 June. Arsic told Beta that this was the second time he had been barred from attending a session of the Assembly. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

THE PANCEVO TV DRAMA PLAYS ON...

The Municipal branch of the Socialist Party of Serbia, in a statement reported by state news agency Tanjug, has accused Radio Television Pancevo of having directly called for the overthrow of the legally elected authorities and political order. The statement alleged that the station's editor in chief, Ofelija Backovic, was under the direct influence of party leaders from Belgrade, ANEM and the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, as well a certain suggestions from outside the country . The president of the Pancevo Municipal Assembly, Srdjan Mikovic, said today that Pancevo citizens would present a petition to the police with questions as to how and why Radio Pancevo had disappeared from the airwaves. He said the assembly would demand an investigation to ascertain if the transmitter had disappeared, because it was the property of Pancevo citizens, who had paid 50,000 DM for it. The crisis headquarters of the Pancevo Municipality did not present police a petition demanding an explanation for the disappearance of Radio Pancevo's transmitter. The same petition had earlier been given to Pancevo police by Mayor Srdjan Mikovic on 5 June, but no response has been received. The transmitter ceased operating on 17 May, but Radio Pancevo staff had been unable to access the facility, which Is guarded by police. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

...AND THE SERBIAN NEWSPRINT SAGA CONTINUES.

The chief engineer of Yugoslavia's only domestic newsprint manufacturer said on 6 June that the company was without supplies of wood and gas, both of which are essential. The director of the paper manufacturer Matroz, in Sremska Mitrovica, denied that they had reduced the supply of newsprint to certain independent newspapers. Beta had earlier been told by "Glas Javnosti," "Blic," and "Danas" that they were experiencing difficulties in publishing because of reduced newsprint supplies from Matroz. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

ALBANIAN-LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER SUES KOUCHNER.

Prishtina's Albanian- language daily "Dita" announced on 5 June that it will sue UN mission head Bernard Kouchner over a temporary ban on publication because the proper procedure had been violated, Beta reports. (ANEM Weekly Report, 3-9 June)

(Compiled by Catherine Cosman) Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies is prepared by Catherine Cosman on the basis of reports by RFE/RL broadcast services and other sources. It is distributed every Thursday.

Technical queries should be emailed to: iteam@rferl.org

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