Media Repression in Yugoslavia Sat, 12 Feb 2000 02:24:33 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community REPORT - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA 9 February 2000 ANEM weekly report on media repression SOURCE: Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) (ANEM/IFEX) - The following is an ANEM report on media repression in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the week of 29 January to 4 February 2000: ANEM'S WEEKLY REPORT ON MEDIA REPRESSION JANUARY 29, - FEBRUARY 4, 2000. BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS AGAINST ABC GRAFIKA BELGRADE, JANUARY 31, 2000 -- The Belgrade Commercial Court began bankruptcy proceedings against printing firm ABC Grafika on January 27, despite an agreement three days earlier with the firm's creditors by which the company could trade out of debt. The Commercial Court justified the ruling with a claim that ABC Grafika's accounts had not been properly maintained. Company Director Slavoljub Kacarevic said today, however, that the company's books had not been examined in the bankruptcy investigation. ABC Grafika's total debts amount to 82,580,871.53 dinars (about 4,130,000 Deutschmarks) of which, according to the company's management, eighty per cent is owed to the parent company ABC Produkt for payment of fines imposed under the Public Information Act. ABC Grafika owes another 2,456,000 (about 122,800 DM) to Serbian Revenue Administration and a further sum of 3,533,358 dinars (about 177,000 DM) to financial inspectors. The company's premises were sealed on Friday, January 28, and staff expected the receiver appointed by the Commercial Court to begin work today. Armed security guards engaged by the Commercial Court have policed ABC Grafika's premises since Friday. According to Kacarevic, these guards are all carrying unlicensed weapons and have refused to produce identification, although it has been established that they are from a private security firm. The guards were summoned briefly by police but have since returned to the premises. Kacarevic, who is also acting editor-in-chief of the independent daily "Glas javnosti", said today that ABC Etigraf would take over the printing of the paper and the independent weeklies "NIN" and "Vreme", both of which were formerly printed by ABC Grafika. ABC Grafika has announced that it will appeal to the Higher Commercial Court against the bankruptcy decision. However, under bankruptcy legislation, the appeal does not stay the execution of the Commercial Court ruling. INDEPENDENT "BLIC" KRAGUJEVAC BUREAU RAIDED KRAGUJEVAC, January 31, 2000 -- The Kragujevac bureau of Belgrade daily "Blic" was broken into on the night of January 29 and a computer stolen. The computer, valued at 32,000 dinars (1,600 DM) contained the bureau's complete records. Police investigated immediately after the discovery of the burglary and examined the premises. The bureau, which was only recently opened, is in the main street of the central Serbian city. YUGOSLAV TELECOMMUNICATIONS MINISTER IN CHINA BELGRADE, January 31, 2000 -- Federal Telecommunications Minister Ivan Markovic has left on an official visit to the People's Republic of China. Markovic will meet senior officials of the Chinese Information Ministry in Beijing to discuss cooperation in communications and information technology. He is expected to sign an agreement on telecommunications and postal services between Yugoslavia and China. JOURNALISTS IN INFORMATION ACT PROTEST BELGRADE, January 31, 2000 -- Some thirty journalists and cameras, several citizens and three policemen gathered together at 12:05 for the protest of the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists (NUNS) in front of the Branislav Nusic monument at the Republic Square. At the first in a series of protests a list of magistrates, who had imposed around 50 fines amounting in total to 20 million dinars, was made public and exposed to public scorn. While referring to the symbolic aspect of this gathering, the NUNS president, Gordana Susa, said: "Today, after so many years, we're forced to fight for elementary rights which even Nusic could enjoy in his time. The magistrates who've enthusiastically accepted the Public Information Act, which is being applied selectively and arbitrarily in order to suppress different views and opinions, deserve to be remembered for what they've done." Afterwards the list with names of incriminated magistrates was placed in the pillory while the editors and directors of some of the media outlets held their speeches. A sort of street performance was staged during this protest. A journalist, Filip Mladenovic, was sitting in front of a typewriter with his hands tied and his mouth shut. At the end of the protest he cast off his shackles and quoted aloud paragraphs of the Constitution about the freedom of the press. NUNS protests will be held in the future on the last Monday of the month. VUCIC: PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT PREVENTED BROADCASTS BY HOSTILE FOREIGN MEDIA KRAGUJEVAC, February 1, 2000 -- The Serbian minister of information, Aleksandar Vucic, said in his interview given to the Kragujevac-based TV station Kanal 9 that the Public Information Act had succeeded in preventing, as far as possible, the broadcast of libels and lies as well as psychological propaganda from Serbia's enemies. UNS PROTEST AGAINST BANS IMPOSED ON JOURNALISTS BELGRADE, February 1, 2000 -- The executive board of the Serbian Association of Journalists (UNS) called on the Paris-based World Association of Journalists (WAN) to demand lifting of the ban imposed on some Serbian journalists according to which they were to be denied entry visas for the members of the European Union. "The most recent list of the European Union with the names of journalists represents an unprecedented act of discrimination, thus undermining journalistic profession and violating the right to work of the people who earn their living as journalists", stated UNS in its press release. This Association claimed that 25 journalists from both state and private media were on the EU list. ATTACK ON ABC GRAFIKA BELGRADE, February 1, 2000 --The Independent Association of Serbian Journalists has condemned what it describes as a brutal campaign waged by the authorities against the print firm ABC Grafika and the independent daily "Glas javnosti". The Association's statement said that the arsenal of repression used on the company, which ranged from bungled bankruptcy proceedings through a blockade and raid by quasi-police groups to shooting on the company premises, was terrifying. COPIES OF MAGAZINE SEIZED BELGRADE, February 1, 2000 -- Serbian police seized most of the copies of the magazine Reporter bound for the Serbian market early in the morning on January 31, according to Reporter staff. The magazine, which is published in Montenegro, was seized at the Serbian border. The magazine's publisher had planned to provide a copy of the previous issue of the magazine with each copy of the latest edition sold. The earlier issue was seized on January 23 at Belgrade railway station. According to the staff statement, in addition to confiscating the previous issue, police insisted on reviewing freight documentation and justified the seizure with an order from Yugoslav Federal Police banning the import and distribution of Reporter magazine published in Banja Luka. The copies seized on Monday were published by a Montenegrin firm, W Press Publishing. According to the statement registration documents for the company were supplied, along with proof of media registration in Montenegro. The Reporter statement emphasised that police had provided no written justification for the latest confiscation of the magazine. COUNCIL UPHOLDS SENTENCE ON LESKOVAC DAILY LESKOVAC, February 1, 2000 -- The Leskovac Misdemeanours Council has upheld sentences passed last month on Vranje newspaper "Novine Vranjske" and its editor Vukasin Obradovic. The newspaper was fined 600,000 dinars (about 30,000 DM) and Obradovic 200,000 dinars (about 10,000 DM) in the Vranje Municipal Misdemeanours Court on December 23 last year after being convicted under the Public Information Act. Obradovic and the paper were charged with disseminating untrue information about the visit of senior Yugoslav Army officer Nebojsa Pavkovic to Veliko Trnovce, after publishing a press release from the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Obradovic has paid the fine imposed on him personally, but said today that there are no funds available to pay the paper's fine. He warned that this financial imposition jeopardised the existence of the only independent weekly in southern Serbia. "KIKINDSKE NOVINE" TRIAL ABANDONED KIKINDA, February 1, 2000 -- The Kikinda Municipal Misdemeanours Court today dismissed charges against local daily "Kikindske novine" under the Public Information Act. The charges had been brought by Rajko Popovic, the editor-in-chief of local state media publication "Komuna". They related to a story under the title "Rajko summonsed to court". ALBANIAN JOURNALIST RELEASED BELGRADE, February 1, 2000 -- The international PEN organisation has announced that Albanian journalist Halil Matoshi was released from prison on the central Serbian town of Pozarevac on January 28, 2000. Matoshi, a journalist with the Albanian-language newspaper "Zeri", was arrested in June 1999 and held in prison without charges being laid. INVENTORY OF "ABC PRODUKT" PROPERTY POLICE IN PRINTING FIRM BELGRADE, February 2, 2000 -- Three employees of the Belgrade Commercial Court and the official receiver, Dusan Abramovic, accompanied by the police, came on Monday, January 31, 2000, around 18:30, to the premises of "ABC Produkt" at Vlajkoviceva Street 8, Belgrade, in order to note the equipment of the company "ABC Etigraf" on the orders of the Belgrade Commercial Court. The workers of "ABC Produkt" warned them that they were noting the equipment of another company. "ABC Produkt" presented to the police the documents which confirmed their claims, and the process of noting the equipment of "ABC Produkt" was temporarily halted. Later on, around 20:00, obviously after certain "consultations", several dozens of policemen and armed men from a private security firm "Protekt tim" returned to the "ABC Produkt" premises and continued to note the equipment of "ABC Produkt" despite the fact the order of the Belgrade Commercial Court referred to "ABC Etigraf". Numerous journalists who came to the scene were brutally prevented by the police from taking pictures on the spot. The editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper "Glas javnosti" and until recently the director of "ABC Grafika", Slavoljub Kacarevic, said that this written order of the Belgrade Commercial Court was intended to ban "Glas javnosti" and all those dailies and magazines which were being printed by "ABC Produkt". Despite everything, "Glas javnosti" appeared on newsstands today, on February 2, 2000. JOURNALIST ASSOCIATION DRAFTS ALTERNATIVE INFORMATION LAW KRAGUJEVAC, February 4, 2000 -- The Executive Board of the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists has held its first meeting in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac as part of a series of sessions to be held in the Serbian heartland. Association president Gordana Susa said today that the extension of the association's activities to the heartland, where the provision of public information is better than in the capital, is aimed at changing the Public Information Act. "We are preparing an alternative public information act," said Susa, adding that the law would provide for private and mixed-ownership media as well as public and state media such as national television. The association will also include opposition parties in the project and is negotiating a code of fair play with the parties. Also involved will be student associations, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, the Church and other social groups. For further information, contact Veran Matic, Chairperson, or Marija Milosavljevic at ANEM, Masarikova 5/XVII, 11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, tel: +381 361 9228, fax: +381 361 9428, e-mail: veran.matic@opennet.org, marija@opennet.org, alternate e-mail: juliab92@xs4all.nl, Internet: http://www.freeb92.net, http://www.anem.opennet.org The information contained in this report is the sole responsibility of ANEM. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit ANEM. _________________________________________________________________ DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE 489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879 alerts e-mail: alerts@ifex.org general e-mail: ifex@ifex.org Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/ _________________________________________________________________ ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nyteeu-02.12.00-02:24:44-19385