Serbia

http://www.freemedia.at/wpfr/serbia.htm 

By the Association of Independent electronic Media (ANEM)

The "democratic revolution" on 5 October 2000, fundamentally changed the media scene in Serbia. The large state-run and state-connected media which were once the main propaganda tools for the Milosevic regime suddenly opened their programmes to the presentation of different political options. Opposition leaders and NGO activists, who had been denied access to those media before 5 October, began appearing daily on various programs. This gave rise to the hope that the overall media picture in Serbia would rapidly improve with the end of rigid political control. Furthermore, it was hoped that the media in Yugoslavia would soon reach the level seen in other countries in transition. Unfortunately, it seems that the vision of a rapid and successful media transition was too optimistic, and that the depth of the inherited problems in most broadcast state-run and state-connected media was such that rapid and substantial transformation was impossible.

The regulatory framework has not changed at all since 5 October. First of all, the Public Information Act is still in effect in Serbia. This law was adopted in 1998 and the Serbian Parliament has not repealed it, although this was on the agenda at the last session. Because this session was focused on the establishment of the transitional government and the calling of Serbian elections for 23 November 2000, this item was lost on the agenda, pushed out by more pressing political issues. There has, however, been no further implementation of this repressive legislation because the social climate in the country has changed substantially and magistrates have been able to find ways to avoid acting in accordance with this act. This is demonstrated by the case of the Vranjske Novine newspaper and one of its journalists, Sladjana Veljkovic, who were sued by the local Lumber Company in the town of Vranje. This was the only case of the act being invoked since 5 October. Magistrate Dragan Stojanovic, on 10 November, decided to dismiss the complaint. The Federal Constitutional Court, on 24 November, finally acted on the numerous demands it had received since 1998 and began a public appraisal of the legislation. After the elaboration by the reporting judge it may be expected that most of the repressive clauses of this act will be ruled unconstitutional and so declared legally invalid.

The situation regarding legal regulation of broadcast media, including the Radio Television Serbia Act and federal regulations for the allocation of broadcast frequencies, has also remained unchanged. Nor can any change be expected in the near future. Moreover, the existing situation of frequencies, allocated according to political criteria during Milosevic’s rule still survives. This means that state-connected media which established vast national coverage thanks to privileges granted during that period, still enjoy those privileges. The former regime did everything possible to pack the spectrum of frequencies with loyal stations and there are now no frequencies available for any new stations, independent or otherwise. This leads to the conclusion that there can be no change without the reallocation of frequencies. In other words there can be no development of those media which stood for professional, unbiased journalism in spite of threats and severe reprisals. There is further cause for concern: the new minister for telecommunications, Boris Tadic, has announced that there will be a moratorium on the redistribution of existing frequencies and the allocation of new ones until new regulations are adopted. It may be the end of next year before new regulations are promulgated. There is also major concern over the recent announcements of foreign investors buying into pro-Milosevic media. For example, a Liechtenstein-based foundation named Mitsui, whose owners are unknown, is reported to have bought into TV Pink, and there are also reports that Greek and German investors have expressed interest in BK Television. TV Pink is owned by a former senior official of the Yugoslav United Left, the party led by Slobodan Milosevic’s wife, Mira Markovic. BK Television is owned by the Karic family, who collaborated closely with Milosevic and whose leader, Bogoljub Karic, was once a minister in the Serbian government.

Despite the state media having completely opened up since 5 October, there are still very serious problems in their operation. On the one hand there are major problems with the financial and staff structure of these media, the unclear management structure of Radio Television Serbia and, on the other, equally serious problems with the work of journalists and the output of their present staff. The basic problem with the work of the state media is their non-critical attitude to state officials and organs. Although there is no doubt that this habit developed because of the internal repression of the former regime, it is now clear that the practice has taken root and exists even when there is no more political control. This, and a certain political influence on RTS, has been documented in several cases. In late October, the state media dropped the documentary series "Images and Words of Hate", which focused on the nature of reports carried by the state television during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The makers of the series, Isidora Sekulic and Lazar Lalic, claim that the programme was taken off the air because of intervention from the ranks of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia. Later, on 20 November, Radio Television Serbia’s Channel 3 cancelled a debate between a former senior official of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Borivoje Borovic, and Zoran Lilic, a former senior official of the Socialist Party of Serbia. Borovic and Lilic said that the programme had been dropped because of pressure from their former parties which are currently in the Serbian transitional government. The acting editor-in-chief of Channel 3 and the host of the cancelled program, Igor Miklja, announced that the programme had been cancelled by senior management within Radio Television Serbia, with the explanation that "Borovic and Lilic are the leaders of new political parties which have not signed certain agreements on the presentation of election campaigns on Radio Television Serbia".

The period before the 5 October will be remembered for murdered, jailed and harassed journalists, closed radio and television stations, fines imposed according to the Public Information Act, hi-jacked or stolen equipment, restrictions on newsprint supply and expelled foreign journalists.

Journalist from Kosovo, Sefki Popova, the Vucitrn correspondent of the Albanian language daily Rilindija, was murdered at about 11.00 p.m. on 10 September, in Vucitrn, UN police and KFOR reported. UN police spokesman, Ivan de St Foix told media that Popova was shot by two men who later fled. KFOR reported that the journalist had been shot near the Vucitrn Cultural Centre and then stabbed. According to information from RSF, the attackers succeeded in escaping in the presence of many witnesses. Popova, aged 50, died on the way to hospital according to KFOR spokesman Bernard Charlier. No arrests have yet been made in connection with the murder. Popova had worked for 26 years for Rilindija, the oldest Albanian language daily in Kosovo, founded in 1944. He had been the paper's Vucitrn correspondent for the past few years.

On 14 October 2000, UN police forces carried out a wave of arrests in Pristina including the arrest of suspects involved in the murder of Sefki Popova. Police officers aided by 290 KFOR soldiers carried out raids in thirteen different places arresting 25 persons including 16 women. "The majority of arrests were for misdemeanours but three of those arrested have been accused of serious crimes, including murder", said the statement from the UN police. The statement concluded by saying that an investigation was underway but that official indictments for Sefki Popova’s murderers had not yet been issued.

Valentina Cukic, the editor of the Serbian language program on Pristina's multi-ethnic Radio Kontakt was shot and seriously wounded in Mother Theresa Street in the central Pristina, on the night of 20 June. Her companion was also shot three times in the leg. KFOR spokesman Scott Slaiten said that a KFOR soldier and a local OSCE activists who were at the scene gave first aid and took them 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. Valentina Cukic is recovering her wounds. The gunman that shot her was never arrested.

Marijan Melonasi, a journalist with the Serbian language program on RTV Kosovo, disappeared in Pristina on Saturday, 9 September, at about 2.00 p.m., according to the Kontakt Regional Media Network. Melonasi had previously worked for the network's multiethnic Pristina station, Radio Kontakt. He is still missing.

Miroslav Filipovic, Kraljevo correspondent for the independent daily Danas and Agence France Presse, was arrested on 8 May, at his home in Kraljevo. According to Filipovic's wife Slavica, a search of their apartment was also carried out. The police confiscated Filipovic's passport, address book, texts and the hard disc of his computer. The police minutes said that these were collected as evidence for possible criminal proceedings. Investigation judge of the Kraljevo District Court ordered Filipovic's 30 days detention on suspicion of having committed an offence. At the same time Kraljevo District Court passed on the decision of its incompetence, and the journalist was sent to Nis Military Court on charges of espionage, which carries a sentence of three to 15 years’ imprisonment. On 14 June, Military prosecutor Radosavljevic indicted Filipovic on the criminal acts of espionage and disseminating false information. On the very next day the remand order was extended.

The Supreme Military Court in Belgrade dismissed a demand to release Filipovic on bail. The trial began on 25 July, and was closed to the public. Nis Military Court sentenced Filipovic to seven years' imprisonment. Filipovic's lawyer, Zoran Ateljevic, told media that an appeal would be lodged with the Supreme Military Court in Belgrade. On the other hand, the Nis Military Prosecutor sought to increase the seven-year prison sentence imposed on Filipovic.

Meanwhile, Filipovic suffering from serious heart problems in the Nis Military Prison. He was transferred to the Belgrade Military Hospital on 8 August. His wife, Slavica, told media that Filipovic had lost weight and was suffering from arrhythmia. Three days latter, Filipovic was discharged from hospital and returned to prison. Concerned for his health, Filipovic’s wife said she had asked the doctors whether her husband would be all right in a prison cell, but they refused to comment. On 15 August, Filipovic was transferred from Nis Military Prison to the city's military hospital, on the same diagnosis with which he was discharged from Belgrade’s Military Hospital: significant arrhythmia of unknown origin.

Numerous actions were initiated world- wide for the release of Miroslav Filipovic. New York-based CPJ announced that several international associations for the protection of the freedom of the press had founded the Friends of Filipovic Committee. The committee was founded by the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, RSF, Index of Censorship, the European Center of the Freedom Forum and the British National Journalists Union. Several Serbian associations also joined the committee, chaired by a former BBC war correspondent in Bosnia and independent MP in the British Parliament. A number of public figures in Belgrade also demanded the release of Miroslav Filipovic. Executive Director of the War and Peace Reporting Institute, Anthony Borden sent a letter to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic requesting that he release Miroslav Filipovic. United non-governmental organisations in Nis also organised a series of protests.

Finally, after the 5 October revolution, on 10 October, the Supreme Military Court overturned Miroslav Filipovic’s seven-year prison sentence. The Supreme Court returned the verdict for reconsideration to the first-degree court in Nis, on grounds of "procedural abuses during the investigation". Filipovic, released after serving several months of a seven-year prison sentence said that he would return to work immediately. He thanked the Serbian and international public who had made him a symbol of the democratic struggle for change. But, he also said that he was not optimistic that journalists would no longer need to fear for their freedom. A retrial of the case based on the original charges of espionage and disseminating false information is still pending, and a court date has not yet been set.

Journalist Zoran Lukovic was arrested on 15 August 2000, and given a five-month prison sentence. The sentence was imposed in March 1999, after Lukovic wrote an article linking Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Milovan Bojic with the murder of a surgeon at the Dedinje Cardiovascular Institute. Bojic, Serbia's health minister, was also the director of the institute. Lukovic was sentenced together with another journalist, Srdjan Jankovic, and the publisher of the now-defunct Dnevni telegraf, the late Slavko Curuvija.

Dusica Radulovic, the director of Borske novine, was convicted of insulting municipal officials in the town of Bor. The offending articles occurred in five issues of Borske novine between January 1997 and January 1998 and are mostly concerned with the senior Socialist Party of Serbia official Nikola Sainovic. The Zajecar District Court confirmed the sentence despite the fact that, in a situation when the authors of all the disputed articles are known, as well as the editor-in-chief, the procedure itself against Dusica Radulovic, director of Borske novine, is obviously contrary to the current criminal legislation in Yugoslavia.

The proceedings against Radulovic have been conducted in Zajecar, rather than Bor, for reasons which have never been divulged. A motion for the Zajecar Court to be excluded from the proceedings was dismissed. The District Court in Zajecar which did not uphold an appeal from Dusica Radulovic is the same court which in 1999 also dismissed an appeal from Nebojsa Ristic, the editor of TV Soko in Soko Banja, who was sentenced to a year in prison for displaying a Free Press poster in his own office. The same court, on 9 June, sentenced to humorist Boban Miletic of Knjazevac, for the criminal offence of ridiculing the state and the President Slobodan Milosevic. Dusica Radulovic's appeal was dismissed by the same Court Council which also dismissed an appeal by her husband, Miroslav Radulovic, the editor-in-chief of Borske novine who has also been sentenced to prison for publishing a photomontage of Slobodan Milosevic.

On 8 and 9 May, at least 29 journalists were arrested in Pozarevac and other towns in Serbia. Beta news agency's correspondent in Pozarevac Mile Veljkovic and Danas journalists Bojan Toncic and Natasa Bogovic were arrested in Veljkovic's flat in Pozarevac. The three journalists were released on the next day. Joel Finks, correspondent for daily NRC Handelsblad from Rotterdam, and David Godfro, correspondent for daily Het Parol, along with their interpreter Bosko Tubic were taken from their hotel to the police station in Pozarevac at around 11 p.m., 8 May. Despite having shown their credentials and reporting permits issued by the police, they were subsequently escorted out of Pozarevac. Later on 9 May, another Danas journalist, Veljko Popovic, was arrested, together with English journalist Gillian Sandford of the Guardian, then photographers for Danas and the French agency Gamma, Imre Szabo, Branko Belic and Dragoljub Zamurovic. Novi Sad police detained four journalists on the same day. Journalists arrested while reporting on the protest, were detained for several hours in the Novi Sad police headquarters without explanation. Those detained included Television Montenegro cameraman Bojan Erdeljanovic, two journalists from Novi Sad's Radio 021, Dragan Gmizic and Zarko Bogosavljevic, Radio In journalist Jovan Djeric and Radio Free Europe correspondent Marina Fratucan. In Smederevo, police arrested a cameraman from RTV Pancevo, Sergej Bibic and a whole television crew from the Mladenovac offices of Studio B, editor-in-chief Milos Maslaric, journalist Jelena Petrovic, cameraman Novica Dabic and driver Pavle Jesic.

Photographer Aleksandar Stankovic was seriously injured in 17 May nights clashes between protesters and police. His colleagues from the daily Novosti, Igor Marinkovic, and the daily Blic, Mikica Petrovic, were also injured according to Danas. The paper also reported that their journalist Jovica Krtinic was arrested on the same night at Slavija square along with Glas Javnosti journalists. They were released after 30 minutes.

A photographer from Belgrade daily Danas, Milos Peric was detained for questioning on 24 May, as he photographed incidents at the Belgrade University Faculty of Electrical Engineering. Peric was held in custody for six hours and his camera and film confiscated.

The owner of a daily newspaper in the southern Serbian town of Vranje Novine Vranjske Vukasin Obradovic was attacked in the town centre on 26 May. A driver of a Mercedes had stopped in front of his car, stepped out and assaulted him, tearing his shirt.

The editor of TV Soko, Nebojsa Ristic, and journalists, Strahinja Ciric and Predrag Stevanovic were arrested on 26 May in the centre of Soko Banja with several other people, most of them Otpor activists.

Reuters Belgrade correspondent Julijana Mojsilovic was detained on 27 May, when she attempted to visit Otpor activist Momcilo Veljkovic in prison. She was released from custody on the same evening.

Krusevac police, on 30 May, apprehended Miroljub Arsic, correspondent for the Montenegrin daily Vijesti and of Montenegrin Radio and Television. While Arsic was in custody, police searched his apartment. He was released after two hours' interrogation, telling Beta that police claimed they had solid evidence of him being the ideological founder of Otpor in Krusevac and that he had been planning and organising the student movement's activities. "I denied that because it simply wasn't true," said Arsic.

Serbian private and independent media were fined a total of 7,940,000 dinars in the year 2000 under the infamous Public Information Act. Belgrade’s Studio B was fined a total of 2,300,000 dinars on 6 occasions. independent daily Danas was fined a total of 1,480,000 dinars on 4 occasions. The weekly news magazine Vreme was fined two times this year: a total of 550,000 dinars.

ANEM co-founder Radio Boom 93 in the city of Pozarevac was closed on 8 March, by an inspector from the Federal Telecommunications Ministry. The official notice delivered by the inspectors contained the information that Radio Boom 93 had been refused the frequency licence for which it had applied in a public competition for frequencies. In addition to ordering the immediate closure of the station, the ministry also determined that the station had incurred a debt for the temporary use of the frequency which amounted to approximately 30,000 dinars. The ministry inspectors also confiscated transmission equipment, although there had been no mention of confiscation in the ministry’s notice.

On 9 March, Federal Telecommunications inspectors, backed by police, closed down Radio Tir and Nemanja TV in the central Serbian town of Cuprija. Two inspectors accompanied by nine policemen, entered the premises of each station and dismantled transmission equipment. Inspectors had presented documents showing that neither station held a valid operating licence and that they had not paid fees for frequency use.

Two days later, on 12 March, telecommunications ministry inspectors delivered a ministry ruling, ordering ANEM's member RTV Pozega to cease operating immediately. The ruling said that the station owed money for frequency fees and that it was operating without a licence. As the station had regularly paid licence fees, the management informed its viewers of the situation. Several hundred people gathered near the Pozega studios to defend the station. During the ensuing stand-off, the outraged protesters slightly damaged a car in which the inspectors had driven from Belgrade. As the inspectors attempted to effect the shutdown in spite of the protests, Milenko Vukovic, the father of an RTV Pozega employee, suffered a heart attack and died. The inspectors left the town after being prevented from seizing the equipment. The station's general manager, Predrag Spasojevic, was called in for police interrogation and later released. The protesters remained in front of the station's studio long into the night. However, after they had dispersed, at about 3.20 a.m., about 15 local police broke into the station's transmitter building and seized equipment while another group of police blocked the entrance to the location where RTV Pozega journalists where gathered. RTV Pozega resumed operation the very next day.

On the night of 18 March, a relay link and essential transmission equipment were removed from Radio Television Kraljevo’s transmission facility on Mount Goc. The seizure followed the pattern used in the case of TV Pirot two days earlier. With no prior notice to the station management, the inspectors broke into the Goc transmission facility to remove equipment used to broadcast to about 600,000 viewers. A document left at the facility informed TV Kraljevo that the equipment had been confiscated and said that a formal banning order would be served at a later date.

The raid on Studio B’s premises occurred on 17 May. A large number of police completely blocked the Beogradjanka building in central Belgrade where the broadcaster was located. A recorded message was broadcast on Studio B informing the public that the Serbian Government had resolved to take over the public broadcaster Studio B which was controlled by the Belgrade Municipality.

In taking over Studio B the Serbian Government also prevented the operation of Radio B2-92 which, after three bans and a regime take-over, had leased a radio frequency from Studio B and premises in the same building.

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