RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

RFE/RL (Un)Civil Societies

Vol. 1, No. 7, 29 June 2000

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

BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA

U.S. CONDEMNS INTIMIDATION OF BOSNIAN PRESS. The U.S. said that measures undertaken by Bosnian federation officials against the newspaper "Dnevni avaz" are attempts to intimidate the independent press, Reuters reported on 26 June. Tax authorities froze the daily's bank accounts for several days, and police have raided the newspaper's offices on several occasions. Bosnian Prime Minister Edhem Bicakcic denied the claims of repression and said the checks were routine and had been made on some 70 companies. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June)

SARAJEVO DAILY UNDER PRESSURE. The freezing of its bank accounts by Bosnian tax authorities has left Sarajevo's "Dnevni avaz" unable to pay for its newsprint and may force it to stop publishing. To stave that off, the newspaper's staff has agreed to work without pay for as long as is necessary. On 21 June, the editors of "Oslobodjenje," "Avaz," and of the weeklies "Slobodna Bosna" and "Danis" expressed solidarity with each other in the face of "every form of pressure against the freedom of the press." They demanded that the authorities act only in accordance with the law and called upon local representatives of the international community to "energetically" respond to any attempt to curtail the freedom of the press. ("RFE/RL Balkan Report," 23 June)

CROATIA

CROATIAN LIBERAL LEADER CRITICIZES COALITION PARTNER. Drazen Budisa, who heads the Social Liberals (HSLS), told "Jutarnji list" on 20 June that state-run television "flatters" his senior coalition partners, the Social Democrats. Budisa added that "this isn't the way to [set up] public television." He expressed the hope that there will soon be a law to establish public television according to European norms and with a new administration. ("RFE/RL South Slavic Report," 22 June).

CROATIAN RADIO AND TV RE-EVALUATING JOURNALISTS' QUALIFICATIONS. In an effort to improve the reputation of state-owned Croatian Radio and Television (HRTV), station management has required its journalists to take a 100-question written exam to test their knowledge of general culture. According to HRTV General Director Mirko Galic, "Over the last few years, some journalists gained their positions because of their personal and political connections." But there are some indications that cronyism is still alive and well at HRTV. Reportedly, some journalists were provided with copies of the exam questions before they took the actual test. Most journalists who took the exam complained that the questions were arcane and irrelevant. (Transitions Online, Week in Review, 19-25 June)

MACEDONIA

MACEDONIA BLAMES MEDIA FOR IMAGE PROBLEMS. Government spokesman Antonio Milosovski blamed the media for nonprofessionalism and undermining the government's image after two outlets, the daily "Dnevnik" and A1 Television carried a story saying that Macedonia has become a major cigarette smuggling center in Europe. (Transitions Online, Week in Review, 19-25 June)

SERBIA

YUGOSLAVIA GIVES DETAILS OF 'ANTI-TERRORISM' BILL... The Yugoslav government released details on 27 June of a draft law it says is aimed at punishing people who commit "acts that threaten constitutional order," Reuters reported. The bill, which is expected to be passed by the parliament on 30 June, would allow jail terms of at least five years for any behavior deemed to endanger "constitutional order" or threaten "the territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." The legislation would also allow suspects to be detained for 30 days without being charged with a crime; the current legal limit is three days, although the constitution states only one day. The opposition Christian Democratic Party said in a statement that the bill should be called "the anti-opposition law." Djordje Subotic of the League of Social Democrats said the passage of the bill will plunge the people of Yugoslavia into "darkness and fear." ("RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June)

SERBIAN JOURNALISTS CONDEMN CHARGES OF CIA LINKAGES. The Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia condemned a suggestion by Federal Minister of Information Goran Matic that their outlets were linked to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. (http://www.freeserbia.org/ 23 June)

RADIO KONTAKT EDITOR FIGHTING FOR LIFE AFTER SHOOTING. The Association of Independent Electronic Media expressed "shock and the strongest outrage" at the 20 June shooting of Valentina Cukic, editor of the Serbian-language program on Pristina's multiethnic Radio Kontakt. The OSCE mission in Kosova also condemned the attack. According to KFOR spokesman Scott Slaiten, a KFOR soldier and local OSCE activists gave her first aid and took her to a British field hospital. Slaiten told media that Cukic was in a stable condition after surgery and that UN civilian police were investigating the incident (ANEM, 21 June). Cukic and her assistant Ljubomir Topalovic remain in "stable condition. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 23 June)

MOB ATTACKS SERBIAN MONKS, RUSSIAN TV CREW. Ethnic Albanians stoned a group of Serbian Monks and a Russian television crew near the Kosovar town of Prizren on 27 June, AFP reported. UN peacekeepers said the crew was attacked while making a film on the monks at the Svete Bogorodice monastery in the village of Musutiste, some 15 kilometers northeast of Prizren. A KFOR spokesman said the Kosovar Albanians surrounded the group and demanded that one of the monks be handed over because, they said, he had committed war crimes. ("RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June)

JOURNALIST BEATEN (AND THREATENED WITH DEATH) IN SABAC. Three bodyguards of Cedomir Vasiljevic, a local leader of Vojislav Seselj's Radicals, beat RFE/RL correspondent Hanibal Kovac in Sabac on 23 June. Kovac said that his attackers had beaten him "very professionally." He said that they told him "next time you'll be dead." ("RFE/RL Newsline," 26 June)

CHARGES FILED AGAINST "POLITIKA" AND TANJUG. The leaders of the Alliance for Change, Zoran Djindjic and Vladan Batic, have filed charges with a city judge against the Tanjug news agency and the "Politika" newspaper for violating the Information Act by disseminating a report that Djindic and Batic were involved in the assassination of Bosko Perosevic, an official of the ruling Serbian Socialist Party. (www.freeserbia.org/ 26 June)

EDITOR INTERROGATED IN ARMY BARRACKS. "Kikindske novine" editor Zeljko Bodrozic was interrogated for more than three hours on 26 June at the local army barracks. ANEM's Kikinda correspondent reports that Banic asked whether Bodrozic hated the army as an institution. Bodrozic replied that the army was being abused and that his newspaper had no intention of insulting the army. Banic then assured the editor that the conversation should be considered a friendly chat rather than an interrogation. (FreeB92, 27 June)

PRESS CONCERNED BY KOUCHNER DECREES. The World Committee for Press Freedom on 23 June said that decrees by Kosova's UN mission chief, Bernard Kouchner, that regulate the behavior of the print media and the procedure for issuing licenses for broadcasters in Kosova set a potentially dangerous precedent. The media group stressed that "the authoritarian regimes in the Balkans and elsewhere could take advantage of this negative example to justify their own censorship." (www.freeserbia.org/ 23 June)

FREE STUDIO B TO BEGIN TRANSMISSIONS. Free Studio B will soon begin broadcasting radio and television programs via satellite, the company's director, Dragan Kojadinovic, told media on 26 June. Kojadinovic, who was dropped as director of Belgrade's Studio B in May, when the government seized control of the station, said that current affairs programs will take precedence on the new Free Studio B. (FreeB92, 26 June)

(Compiled by Catherine Cosman) (Editorial Assistant: Yulia Aleksandrovskaya) Copyright (c) 2000. RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

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