INTERNATIONAL PRESS INSTITUTE

EXCERPTS FROM THE ANNUAL REPORT ON PRESS FREEDOM

1999 World Press Freedom Review
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

Serbia (FRY)

• THE WAR PERIOD

  • Cases of repression

  • The murder of Slavko Curuvija

  • Prison sentences for journalists

• THE POST-WAR PERIOD

The independent media in Yugoslavia entered 1999 with the most restrictive media law in Europe -- the Public Information Act -- which allows any journalist or media to be punished for publishing or broadcasting any statement, fact, point of information or opinion expressed by anyone at any time. As a direct result of this new law several newspapers have closed down in a short period of time and some media have incurred such large fines that they are now struggling to survive. A considerable number of journalists have also lost their jobs.

In the past year almost everything bad which could have happened to Yugoslav media and journalists has happened. The media and journalists have been accused of being traitors, of not fulfilling the wishes of their sponsors during the bombardment, of supporting the bombing, of undermining the defence and reconstruction of the country, both during and after the bombing, and of working for NATO, and it has been suggested that they should be denounced.

The opposition has accused the independent media of not giving it enough coverage. They have in many cases insisted that sponsors provide aid to the independent media via opposition parties in order to increase the influence of the opposition. Part of the opposition uses the independent media in the same way as the regime.

During the bombing the media was completely eliminated through the destruction of editorial offices and the murder of staff in Kosovo. After the bombing, the media recommenced its work but encountered the problems which always occur when a territory becomes the protectorate of the international community (as was the case in Bosnia and Herzegovina), along with very little funding from sponsors for the development of a contemporary information system which would successfully promote professional journalism.

Recent events have been tragic. Slavko Curuvija was murdered. We still do not know what happened to RTV Pristina journalist Djura Slavuj and his driver, who were kidnapped in Kosovo in 1998. Sixteen employees were killed during the bombing of the state Radio Television Serbia (RTS) building. Nebojsa Ristic is still serving a prison sentence. The material damage caused by the bombing of RTS and Television Novi Sad, as well as the destruction of 13 radio and television transmitters, 9 radio transmitters and 42 radio and television repeaters is, according to the G17, estimated at around 98 million US Dollars. Equipment belonging to foreign media which was either seized or destroyed comes to an additional several million dollars.

In addition to such repression, which this report will substantiate, it is clear that the soul of the independent media and professional journalism, which had taken ten years to build up, has experienced the worst year for freedom of expression in Yugoslavia ever. We hope that next year will be better: it could scarcely be worse. Nevertheless, at the end of last year President Milosevic stated that "the implementation of the Public Information Act has in recent times been so inadequate that the situation is again approaching the level of media irresponsibility which existed ten years ago... ".

THE PRE-WAR PERIOD

Introduction

The period prior to the launch of the Nato attack on Yugoslavia was marked by an increase in the level of repression experienced in 1998. The repressive Public Information Act was applied more often and more strictly, and what particularly marked the pre-war period was the very strict application of this act to the Kosovo Albanian media. In addition to the application of this Information Act, repression was intensified by criminal charges brought against several independent journalists. During 1998 independent journalists were taken to court and threatened with criminal charges on several occasions, although no charges were actually brought. The beginning of 1999 saw the first journalists being tried and those trials initially led to suspended sentences but later resulted in actual imprisonment. The intensity of media repression was one of the most reliable indicators that Milosevic’s regime had chosen open conflict with the international community and Nato. The regime was preparing Serbia for the forthcoming war which, given Milosevic's policies, was unavoidable.

The Application of the Public Information Act

The Public Information Act serves only to damage Serbia. From the day it was passed on October 20, 1998, until March 24, 1999, the act was condemned by almost all international associations, including the UN Security Council, as contravening all freedom of expression regulations guaranteed by international conventions which regulate this area. The Serbian Public Information Act became a symbol of the isolation of the country and the lack of understanding between Yugoslavia and the international community and was seen as evidence that Serbia was a non-democratic country which had no place among the civilised nations of the twentieth century.

The total sum incurred in fines resulting from the use of this act against the independent media from October 20, 1998, until the launch of the NATO bombing campaign on March 24, 1999, was 13,561,500 dinars. The major victim was undoubtedly Slavko Curuvija, along with his weekly magazine Evropljanin, and daily Dnevni telegraf, which were fined a total of 4,050,000 dinars in 1998. Apart from these publications, the most drastic fine was incurred by the Montenegrin weekly Monitor, which was also fined 2,800,000 dinars in 1998, the largest single fine in the period from the introduction of the act until March 24, 1999. As far as we know, none of these fines have been paid, so they were obviously used to cover up attempts to prevent the distribution of the previously mentioned publications in Serbia. Belgrade daily Glas javnosti is also on the list of those fined: a total of 580,000 dinars during that period, with fines of 50,000 and 380,000 in 1998 and 150,000 dinars on March 13, 1999. According to statements made by Glas javnosti, those fines have been paid. Danas and Blic were also fined, as were lesser known publications such as Pancevac (61,500 dinars on two separate charges on February 3 and 5), Prava coveka from Leskovac (220,000 on January 21), Somborske novine (40,000 dinars on March 10) and also publications which do not have a news focus such as Svet from Novi Sad which was fined 150,000 dinars on January 5.

Among what are regarded as the regime media, Politika was fined the largest amounts, a total of 300,000 dinars in 1998, followed by Vecernje novosti with fines amounting to 260,000 at the end of February 1999. No announcements were made as to whether those fines were actually paid, but fines against these regime media account for 20 percent of all fines incurred, which shows that by fining them, the regime was attempting to legitimise the punishment of the independent media and bring their distribution to a halt. What happened to Evropljanin, Dnevni telegraf and Monitor proves that the regime was not interested in the revenue from these heavy fines, (if that were the case, they would have allowed them to trade and their product and then seiz the proceeds in payment of the fines, rather than confiscate whole issues and assessing their value as recycled paper) but solely in preventing the citizens of Serbia from being informed from those publications.

The application of this act against the Albanian media in Kosovo deserves special attention. Firstly, Kosova sot was fined 800,000 dinars on March 12, followed by Gazeta Siptare for the same amount on March 21. Just before the launch of the Nato bombing campaign, daily Koha Ditore was fined 520,000 dinars and weekly Kombi 1,600,000 dinars. These fines were, of course, never paid because the war prevented all payments.

Finally, just before the bombing, Studio B Television was fined 150,000 on March 23, 1999.

Cases of imprisonment

ANEM member, and owner and editor of City Radio in Nis, Nikola Djuric became the first independent journalist to be given a prison sentence, albeit suspended, on January 18. Djuric was found guilty of the illegal possession and use of a radio station according to article 219, paragraph 1 of the Serbian Criminal Code and was sentenced to a two month suspended sentence. All this happened despite the fact that City Radio provided the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications with documentation to prove that they had applied for the relevant license in response to public announcements regarding the distribution of frequencies which clearly stated that all radio and television stations would be permitted to continue broadcasting until a final decision was reached.

On March 8, the director and owner of Dnevni telegraf and Evropljanin, Slavko Curuvija, and two Dnevni telegraf journalists, Srdjan Jankovic and Zoran Lukovic, were sentenced by the First Belgrade Municipal Court to five months' imprisonment for libel under article 218 of the Serbian Criminal Code. The charges were brought by the Deputy Serbian Prime Minister and Yugoslav Left official, Milovan Bojic. Judge Bobot found them guilty of libel in their article "Murder victim had criticised Milovan Bojic", published in Dnevni telegraf on December 5, 1998. The article alleged that the Deputy Serbian Prime Minister was indirectly responsible for the murder of Dr Aleksandar Popovic, the managing director of the hospital of which Bojic was director. The controversial article stated that the murder was extremely professional and that the murdered man had belonged to a group of physicians who had criticised Bojic, accusing him of fraud (the sum mentioned was 20 million German marks). The high court rejected all appeals. Slavko Curuvija, however, never served his sentence because he was murdered on April 11. Srdjan Jankovic and Zoran Lukovic avoided imprisonment in the period after the Nato intervention by leaving Serbia.

THE WAR PERIOD

The launch of the armed conflict between Yugoslavia and the multinational NATO forces signalled the beginning of the most difficult period in the history of the independent media in Serbia. By going to war with NATO, Slobodan Milosevic’s regime was finally able to repress all areas of public life without the need to show any consideration for the international community or organisations devoted to defending freedom of expression. On the other side, all opposition voices were successfully silenced by the fact that the international community was bombing Yugoslavia, as well as by the successful propaganda which the regime initially used to focus all public attention exclusively on the war and later to identify itself with a certain degree of success with the state. Thanks to these circumstances, the independent media lost its main support, that of the international community, which would have been counterproductive in such conditions, as well as the support of the public at home whose only thought was for the bombing. Left to themselves, the independent media were in the unenviable position of being forced to choose different strategies in an attempt to survive. Apart from having a "free hand" which enabled the regime to act according to its own needs, under the Constitution the state of war also provided them with the opportunity to use executive authority and pass laws and regulations which are normally under parliamentary jurisdiction, including regulations which allow the restriction or temporary abolition of human rights guaranteed by the Constitution, among which is the freedom of the media.

The instructions published by the Serbian Ministry of Information on March 24, 1999, when the Nato attack on Yugoslavia was launched, consisted of, among others, severe restrictions on the work of journalists.

With respect to the possibility of journalists being in a position to carry out their work without obstruction and with any degree of freedom in such a state of war, it must be stressed that such activities were, not only literally but also in a legal sense, so dangerous that they could have cost a journalist or an editor his or her life. Above all, the disruption of communication lines by the Nato bombing, combined with the disruption of the electric power system, prevented all media-related work relying on electrical equipment and made it virtually impossible for any journalistic activities and the dissemination of news both in the country itself and abroad. Given the fact that foreign programmes were being monitored, it was not even advisable to send reports by phone to these foreign media since the journalist providing the information was situated in Serbia, i.e. within the reach of the local authorities. The increase in the legal risk was a direct result of the Decree on Criminal Proceedings during the State of War and the Decree on the Application of the Law on Internal Affairs during the State of War. These two decrees increased the authority of the police and public prosecutors to such an extent that there was no guarantee whatsoever of the legality of the procedure. Any privacy of correspondence, of apartments, of individuals, any form of communication in fact, was virtually suspended by these decrees. Any policeman on duty was authorised to arrest any journalist and hold them in custody for a period of up to thirty days without explanation on the slightest suspicion of their being "engaged in activities against the current interests of the country". Criminal procedure was stripped of all legal procedural guarantees to such an extent that the individual could be sentenced without actually exercising his right to defend himself. We should, of course, bear in mind that repression in Serbia also exists outside the legal system (this often took place during the war) which means that any reputable journalist, whose trial may draw too much public attention, could lose their life under suspicious circumstances, as was the case with Slavko Curuvija. What was temporarily lost during the Nato intervention was the independent media. However, apart from the tragic murder of Curuvija, independent journalists have managed to survive.

Cases of repression

Through the adoption in 1998 of the Serbian Public Information Act, which had destroyed several independent media and attempted to discipline those remaining, an atmosphere of fear was created six months prior to the launch of the Nato attack. It should be emphasised that even as early as October 1998, the most fanatical nationalistic- chauvinistic leaders (as well as key government officials) such as Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj and Yugoslav Left official Milovan Bojic, both deputy prime ministers in the Serbian government, issued threats not only to Kosovo Albanians, that they would be swept from Kosovo "in whatever way was needed" when the first bombs fell on Yugoslavia, but also to local non-governmental organisations and the independent media in particular, which they publicly referred to as the Nato Alliance in Yugoslavia. On one occasion in the Serbian Parliament, Seselj said that in the case of a Nato attack "we might not be able to shoot down any of their planes, but we will certainly be able to attack their domestic allies who are to be found in various opposition parties, so called non-governmental organisations and in the independent media in particular". In the same speech made by the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister, the editor-in-chief of B92, Veran Matic was referred to as "a Nato Lieutenant-General" and the local department of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights was declared to be "an organisation of traitors".

By insisting on the danger imposed on everyone by war and bombing, the regime succeeded in curbing public opinion to such an extent that the public no longer reacted to any other subject than that of war and bombing. Public opinion, which had at one time protected the position of the independent media on several occasions, had, in the days before the bombing, lost all interest in anything but the bombing. It was at this stage that the authorities closed down Radio B92, the most influential independent media outlet in Belgrade. Veran Matic, B92 head and ANEM chairman, was arrested only a few hours after Nato Secretary-General Javier Solana’s announcement that he had given the order to launch the Nato air attack during the night between March 23 and 24. This was used by the regime as a litmus test for public opinion. We believe that, by closing down B92 and arresting Veran Matic without any legal grounds, the regime wanted to send a clear message to the independent media and the electronic media in particular. By closing down the largest independent broadcaster and arresting "the Nato general", the regime wanted to let it be known that there was no hope of smaller independent media surviving unless they "cooperated". The only time the regime has been in a position to act in such a way was when Nato launched their attack on Yugoslavia.

The murder of Slavko Curuvija

The liquidation of "dangerous" independent journalists remains the most brutal method of repression used by the regime in their transition to open dictatorship.

The owner and editor of Dnevni telegraf and Evropljanin, Slavko Curuvija, was professionally murdered in front of the building where he lived on April 11 during the war. Two assassins dressed in black shot Curuvija in the back of the head as he was entering his home. His wife was knocked unconscious and the assassins made a quick getaway. A few days before his murder, Curuvija said that he had been warned by circles close to the ruling family to go somewhere "out of their reach" for a time because his life was in danger. Failing to take such threats seriously and believing this to be just another method of intimidation used by the regime, Curuvija decided to remain in Belgrade. He also failed to make use of the security at his disposal because, during the bombing, the possession of weapons was strictly forbidden and it was senseless to have unarmed security guards. The comments made in the regime-controlled daily Ekspres Politika, which were also broadcast on the main news on state television, falsely accusing Curuvija of inviting the Nato attack on Yugoslavia, were in fact an open invitation to lynch him. State television never broadcast any information regarding the murder of Curuvija.

Prison sentences for journalists

On March 24, by means of the War Decree, the regime began imprisoning journalists, some of whom are still in prison at the time of writing this report. The case of Nebojsa Ristic, the editor in chief of TV Soko from Sokobanja, a small town in eastern Serbia, clearly illustrates the regime’s new method of repression. The regime closed down TV Soko on March 27, their official explanation being non-possession of the relevant broadcasting license, but in reality this was done because of TV Soko’s criticism of Milosevic and his regime and the rebroadcasting of news programmes from Montenegro and foreign countries. Employees of TV Soko expressed their anger at being closed down by putting a poster with the slogan "Free Press – Made in Serbia" on the window of their premises (this poster was a B92 and ANEM production made during the public campaign against the Public Information Act in October 1998). Shortly after this, Nebojsa Ristic was charged with the criminal act of "spreading libel" according to article 218 of the Serbian Criminal Code and was consequently sentenced to a year's imprisonment. Nebojsa Ristic is still serving his prison sentence in Zajecar prison. There were several other instances of journalists being arrested or detained for periods throughout the year.

The next method of repression was the drafting of independent journalists into the army. Since Yugoslavia does not have a professional army, all males can be conscripted if required by the military authorities. We cannot confirm that all independent media journalists were drafted simply because they were journalists, but in some cases there is no doubt that this was the case. The best proof of this was the fact that regime journalists were rarely drafted because they were, "serving their country through their profession".

The most frequently used method to silence the independent electronic media was to close down stations on the orders of Federal Ministry of Telecommunications officers. This method originated in the period when the regime needed to present its repression as "purely technical", not in any way political, since it is not easy to prove that political motives are hidden behind technical ones.

Another method of repression used by the regime during the war was the enforced renting of frequencies and equipment for the broadcasting of RTS programmes and the rebroadcasting of RTS news programmes by every electronic media in Serbia. Both of these restrictive measures were consequences of the Nato bombing of the State television transmitters and the bombing of the RTS building in Aberdareva street in Belgrade when sixteen RTS members of staff lost their lives.

THE POST-WAR PERIOD

The Nato air campaign ended in the middle of June 1999 and a few weeks later the regime finally revoked the state of war along with many of its repressive war regulations (only those regulations which enabled the regime to keep a strict control on tax collection were transformed into "peace time regulations"). Psychological changes as well as a fall in the number of legal possibilities for repression brought significant changes to the position of the independent media.

We dare to conclude that strategies used by the independent media to survive during the war were not a sign of weakness, but rather an intelligent move to protect themselves. Stations which had decided to stop broadcasting, others which had compromised with the regime during the war, and even those stations which had been banned, all started rebroadcasting their usual programmes soon after. Even the ANEM radio network, crippled by the take-over of Radio B92, managed to find an alternative way to work. The B2-92 project was agreed with Studio B in Belgrade and the real Radio B92 team started broadcasting their programmes on August 2. Soon after on August 4, the ANEM radio network was re-established.

At least six journalists were beaten and two cameras destroyed on September 29 during the dramatic police intervention against the demonstrators in Belgrade at protests organised by the Alliance for Change.

Since the end of the war several media outlets have been charged with violating the Public Information Act. A further method of repression used by the regime against the independent media was the illegal disruption of electronic media signals. Interference with the Studio B signal began in September: Any time a political programme was broadcast at prime viewing time, the Studio B signal was disrupted from an unknown location. This interference was worse during the broadcast of ANEM political interviews and the Studio B news.

There have been several cases where journalists were dismissed or suspended due to their political opinions or statements. There were also numerous cases of harassment against foreign journalists. Most notably, on November 2, the living legend of Belgrade journalism, Desa Trevisan, currently working for the London Times, was sentenced to 10 days imprisonment for entering Yugoslavia "without a visa". Trevisan had entered Montenegro where a visa was not required by the Montenegrin authorities. She used this opportunity to visit Belgrade where she was subsequently arrested. Trevisin was expelled from Yugoslavia in 1994 because of her criticism of Milosevic’s regime, but nobody expected her to be arrested considering her age and poor state of health. Trevisan went on hunger strike and was released following pressure from both domestic and international organisations.

The non-issue of visas and credentials, or the issue of short-term visas, was also a common practice used by the regime against foreign journalists. On November 18, IPI sent a letter of protest to Serbian President Milan Milutinovic regarding the non-issue of visas to IPI employees. During the intended visit to Yugoslavia, IPI had planned to present the publication, "The Kosovo News and Propaganda War"; visit the imprisoned TV Soko editor Nebojsa Ristic; and conduct a study on the needs of the independent media. However, the Yugoslav Embassy in Vienna refused to issue IPI staff with visas and the visit was consequently cancelled.

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