Independent Media in Serbia on Trial

The Beginning of the End of Journalism

AIM Podgorica, 24 October, 1998

(From AIM Podgorica correspondent in Belgrade)

Last Friday, the beginning of the end of professional journalism and freedom of information was publicised in Belgrade. The first victim of the Serbian Law on media was the 13th issue of the weekly Evropljanin owned by Slavko Curuvija who is also the owner of the recently banned Dnevni telegraf. Just two days after this regulation had come into force (21 October), the owner, the editor-in-chief and the manager of this journal were summoned to appear in front of the magistrate, indicted for having published critical articles, illustrations and photographs. After the trial which had lasted for eight hours, court decision arrived the following morning sentencing the heads of Evropljanin to pay the maximum fine according to the law of 2,400,000 dinars (400,000 German marks) within 24 hours, on the contrary their property will be confiscated.

The demand for instituting court proceedings was filed by the Patriotic League of Belgrade which is a collective member of the Yugoslav Left. In articles of this weekly, they found untruthful information which call for forcible overthrowing of the constitutional system, threatening territorial integrity and independence of Serbia and Yugoslavia, violation of guaranteed freedoms and rights of the citizens, information which provoke ethnic, racial and religious intolerance.

Slavko Curuvija debnied the allegations of the indictment in his defence at court. He said that, as the co-author of the article titled "The Letter to the President", along with Aleksandar Tijanic, he had adressed a warning to Slobodan Milosevic "that a coup d'etat has been staged in the country by extremist groups of the three ruling parties". Stressing that these were value statements, Curuvija tried to defend the incriminated parts of the article in which it was said that "reputation of all Serbian institutions was intentionally ruined": of the University which was brought down to a cooperative farm, the Academy of Sciences which was brought down to an old people's home, and the Church, the judiciary, media, the parliament and the government have been deprived of any value. For the statements in the article that about two million people are unemployed and that more than one hundred thousand highly educated people had left the country, although these were notorious facts, the owner of the journal offered evidence obtained by expert non-governmental and state institutions. Dragan Bujosevic, editor-in-chief of Evropljanin, and Ivan Tadic, manager of the weekly, whose job is only technical operation of the journal, also had to defend themselves in court.

These were the first court proceedings pursuant the Law which were unanimously assessed by jurists as contrary to the law and contrary to the constitution and against which all independent media and their associations have prepared demands for nullification and submitted them to the Constitutional Court of Serbia and Yugoslavia. Besides, these are proceedings which annulled the fundamental right of man which says that a man is not guilty until proved guilty in court. Only in proceedings pursuant this Law, complainant does not have to prove the indictment, but the defendant must present evidence of his/her innocence within 24 hours.

In the hearing conducted by judge Mirko Djordjevic, it was not taken into account that the weekly had appeared in public on 19 October, that is, two days before the law came into force, so the regulation was contrary to the Constitution, applied retroactively. It was also accepted that the proceedings were instituted by the demand of an organization such as the mentioned Patriotic League, although pursuant the Law, the Ministry of Information is the only one that is authorized for it, only after it issued a warning. The judge rejected all requests of the defence, even questioning of witnesses. In view of the fact that judges are appointed by the government of Serbia, lawyers demanded exemption of the judge, since being employees of the government, judges could not ensure independence of the judiciary.

Editors-in-chief of independent dailies and weeklies, and electronic media, gathered at a meeting after the trial, assessed that freedom of thought was on trial in Serbia again. The draconic fine levied in the case of Evropljanin shows that the Law was passed in order to completely eliminate free media. Apart from instituting proceedings for assessment of the compliance with the Constitution, lawyers of all independent media will lodge appeals for slander against Aleksandar Vucic, minister of information, who publicly declared that editors-in-chief were agents of foreign intelligence services. Although everybody is aware that nobody can rely on laws and courts in Serbia any more, it was decided to begin the struggle against the regulation on media in a legal manner. The council of Nasa borba decided that continuation of publishing of this daily under the new Law on information was nonsense. Danas and Dnevni telegraf, however, decided that they would appear in public on Monday, at the cost of the most drastic punishment - final shutting down.

After this trial almost all free-minded people clearly said that this was not a question of individual newspapers and freedom of the press any more, but an open hue and cry against free expression and a different opinion. According to the Law on information, the source of information is not at all responsible, but the only ones responsible for publication of an information are the author, the editor-in-chief, the publisher and the owner. This automatically means that all politicians in power are cleared of every responsibility for their statements, except if uttered from the assembly platform, as the law says. Practically censorship is introduced for every opinion that differs, especially political ones, because it is hardly possible to expect the owners and editors of media to be ready to guarantee freedom of expression when their property is at stake.

After the illegal government decree which banned three newspapers, it was estimated among the professionals that Milosevic wanted to narrow the space for the story on Kosovo. This certainly is not unfounded, since it is an undoubted fact that he will be called to account for the past ten years of his rule. The first question is how it could have happened that a decade ago the autonomy of Kosovo was abolished to be given back to it by introduction of a protectorate on a part of the territory of Serbia and Yugoslavia. But, after passing of the Law on information, political analysts seem to be unanimous that the problem has been opened for a long time to come. If this regulation is observed in the context of others, primarily the trestrictive Law on Univerity, and the equally restrictive Law on Non-Governmental Organizations, it becomes clear that the regime intends to eliminate all possible pressure that might arrive from the strongholds of free thought. With narrowing down of the space for informing the public, not only about the agreement on Kosovo, but also about the key economic and social issues which, in view of the bankruptcy of the state, will soon be opened in a dramatic manner, it is obvious that single-mindedness is being prepared for Serbia dictated from a single centre: state television and daily Politika. The space for critical information and articulation of any possible political alternative will be narrowed down to a maximum, if not completely abolished. Formal abolishment of political parties is not at all necessary, they are already forced to withdraw underground and resort to guerilla struggle.

Vesna Vujovic

(AIM)