Syndicate: dark can become darker

[katarina@opennet.org]

Dear Syndicalists,
here is a report of what was happening in Belgrade last 2 days with the materials from  
http://b92eng.opennet.org/. if there is any need to comment - it is very dark and still getting darker.

katarina

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October 23, 1998

The first charges have been laid under the new Information Act which was rushed through the Serbian Parliament on Tuesday and proclaimed on Wednesday. The owner of Belgrade daily Dnevni Telegraf,
Slavako Curuvija has been summoned to appear before the Offences Court in Belgrade this afternoon
to answer charges pressed by the Patriotic Alliance in Belgrade.

The charges relate to an open letter to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic published in Curuvija's fortnightly Evropljanin. The letter, signed by Curuvija and celebrated Dnevni Telegraf columnist Aleksandar Tijanic, makes the assertion that there has been a coup d'etat in Serbia and that nationalist extremists have pushed the country back to the middle ages. The letter includes a call for ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj, who is Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia, to be ousted from the governing coalition, a call for the resignation of the Serbian Government and a demand for the repeal of the Universities Act and an end to the witch hunt of journalists and independent media. The letter also lists the failures of the Milosevic Government over the past ten years. The Patriotic Alliance of Belgrade alleges that the
article violates the patriotic sentiments of its members and that the magazine calls for the destruction of the constitutional order of Serbia. Three editors of Evropljanin have also been summoned to appear before the court. The complaint was laid at 7.45 this morning and the summonses delivered within two hours. 

Serbian Minister for Information, Aleksandar Vucic, said today that his Ministry had not needed so far to
press charges against the latest issue of the magazine. Vucic also said that he was satisfied so far with the public response to the new Act, saying that it had achieved the right balance between freedom and responsibility.

Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj yesterday discussed the new Information Act with  journalists. Seselj, who is the leader of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, once spent a period in prison for describing Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as the greatest criminal in Serbia. Under the new Information Act, according to Seselj, if he made the same statement today he would not be imprisoned
for it, but the newspaper editors who reported his statement would.  Seselj, who is editor of his party's magazine, Great Serbia, also said that the magazine would observe the new information law and would no longer refer to Milosevic's wife, Yugoslav Left leader Mira Markovic, as ``the Red Witch.''

October 24, 1998

The publishers and an editor of the fortnightly news magazine Evropljanin were this morning fined a total of 2,400,000 dinars or $240,000 after being convicted of a breach of Serbia's new Information Act with the right to appeal against the decision within eight days. However, under the new Act, such an appeal does not stay execution of the fine, which must be paid within 24 hours (expends on Monday, October 26, at 09:10 cause first day after the decision was Sunday).

Slavko Curuvija says he won't pay. He told Radio B92 that he didn't have the money, adding that even if he did, he wouldn't pay the fine. However, Curuvija said that Evropljanin would keep up its regular production schedule. He also said that Dnevni telegraf would return to on newsstands on Monday.

In a related story, the board of directors of Nasa Borba, another Belgrade daily that was recently banned, met yesterday to discuss the future of this publication. The board came to the conclusion that the  ``Draconian fines'' the new media law carries as well as the absence of a minimum of guarantees that would prevent the countries professional independent media from paying these fines posed a serious dilemma for the future existence of this paper. The board also said that the work of journalists and the presence of Nasa Borba were becoming beyond reason.

YESTERDAY EVENING Radio B92 held a protest against the new information law which will launch the Association of Independent Electronic Media's rally against the law entitled, ``Silence Doesn't Suit Serbia.'' The event was held at Cinema Rex at 8 o'clock and space was packed fool. Panel discussion was hosted by B92 reporter Bojana Lekic and included the editors and publishers of those papers and radio stations that have been banned. The discussion which will be broadcast live over the Internet on B92's site at http://www.b92.net/b92/live/rex.ram (on Serbian). NEXT GATHERING WILL TAKE PLACE IN REX ON October 27 at 20:00. real audio on the same place (there is a plan for real video as well but I am not 100% sure yet).

A s I am informed there is a possibility for a newspaper owners&publishers to register their firms in Montenegro cause new informative low doesn't count there!!