Media on Trial

The Case in Nis

AIM Podgorica, 23 January, 1999

(By AIM correspondent from Belgrade)

After the Law on Information the legal power of which, expressed through enormous fines, was felt the most by editors-in-chief of printed media, state administration of Serbia seems to have decided to remind editors and owners of electronic media of some old but still valid laws. Nikola Djuric, owner and editor-in-chief of "City" Radio from Nis, found out for himself that the old is sometimes more efficient than the new, because he will have to be very careful for a year or he might spend two months in jail. His only guilt is that he was so naive to believe promises of representatives of the regime that those who had no permits for work but wished to broadcast their program, would not have any problems.

The only conclusion of the trial that took place in the beginning of this week in the municipal court of Nis when Djuric was convicted for the crime of unauthorised possession and use of radio station could be "others will follow". "This trial is a precedent and it can start a tide of similar sentences. The regime is intentionally threatening a whole series of editors-in-chief in Serbia, especially those in cities in which "Together" coalition is in power", said president of ANEM Veran Matic, who was present at the trial in Nis court along with his associates. According to his words, the goal of the trial was to intimidate people who wish to participate in production of true information.

The threat addressed at editors around Serbia that they may end up in the same situation as Djuric was greatly intensified during the trial and after pronouncing of the sentence when it had become clear that the court in Nis had not taken into account the most important arguments of the defence. "A man has been sentenced to jail and labelled as a criminal although he just tried to broadcast his program. I am overwhelmed that I am living in a state in which the citizens are its hostages and in which the judiciary did not even bother to take into consideration what defence had to say", says president of Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for Protection of Human Rights, Biljana Kovacevic Vuco.

In explanation of the sentence, judge Snezana Milosevic, did not even mention that state administration had for five years failed to announce a public competition for channels. She stressed that the defendant Djuric had not denied that he had purchased and used the radio station without a permit, but she forgot to say that he had been put in such a situation by state administration. According to judge Snezana Milosevic, Djuric's extenuating circumstances were that he had applied at the competition for radio channels, that he had never been convicted before and that he was a family man, but the decisive aggravating circumstance was that "his work was danger to the society".

"Technically the legal proceedings in Nis court were correctly carried out. We certainly are not satisfied by the decision because the court did not take into account statements of the defence connected to non-existence of executive power. In this case there is no crime, but still not for a moment did I think that a liberating sentence would be pronounced", claims the lawayer of the defence and legal representative of ANEM Nebojsa Samardzic. During the trial he reminded the judge that Djuric had participated at the first public competition for channels with an orderly appliaction, but that even after a whole year a decision had not been reached, although there were no legal or technical obstacles for allocating a channel to this radio station. Instead of information about the results of the public competition, inspectors of the Federal Ministry of Telecommunications arrived at Djuric's station, confiscated the broadcasting equipment, banned work and raised criminal charges against him. "A procedure for nullification the decision of federal inspectors has been instigated as well as the procedure because of silence of the administration with the demand that federal ministry be ordered to reach a decision on allocating a channel to "City" Radio", Samardzic stresses.

Along with all kinds of fear which have become the most prominent emotion in Serbia, instilling fear in editors of media which apart from weather forecast, advetisements and music dare speak about fear among the citizens could bring about a change in the media situation of Serbia which has for a moment become dappled with radio and TV stations different from the regime controlled ones. The assistance expected by the editors of radio and tv stations which tried to professionally inform the public after Djuric had been convicted seems to be diminishing.

"We are living in a state which is non-democratic and I am not surprised by the sentence pronounced to Djuric. It would have been a miracle if the court had liberated him, but it certainly would have been an expression of personal courage of the judge", says Zoran Zivkovic, mayor of Nis. He claims that it is not pure chance that Nis was chosen to be the site of the first criminal trial to an owner of a media which worked without a permit, because a brutal attack on all the cities where Together coalition is in power is under way.

Since local authorities have no possibility to help the media, increased attention of world media or associations which are concerned about freedom of information will not help them much. "This is just another in the row of attacks against independent media. My impression is that this was just a pretence of legality and I am sure that the procedure was contrary to the rule of law", said member of American Association of Lawyers for legal initiative in Central and Eastern Europe, Brian Philips, who attended the trial in Nis municipal court.

The obvious intention of the regime to persecute independent media, probably because of her professional distortion, was revealed by judge Milosevic herself. "Right this minute while you are putting me on trial, four radio stations are broadcasting their programs in Nis also without permits", said Djuric during the trial. With a smile, the judge who was presiding the criminal tribunal, declared: "That does not mean they will not be in your shoes".

Zoran Kosanovic

(AIM)