19/12/2005: GREECE – ASSAULT ON TWO JOURNALISTS IN GREECE

Vienna, 19/12/2005

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is alarmed about the recent assault on two journalists in Greece.

According to information before SEEMO, on Tuesday, 13 December, the reporter of Mega Channel TV, Christos Michalopoulos, and his cameraman, Alfonso Ponse, were attacked by unknown men wearing masks and helmets, while covering a demonstration in downtown Athens. The demonstration was organised by trade unions in protest of a new law introducing significant changes to working practices in the public sector. Two journalists were sent to cover the demonstration after some 30 masked men burnt down a police car. Later, the two were also attacked and beaten around the head and upper body by the same men. They were both taken to a hospital, where their injuries were treated. None of the perpetrators could be identified.

Speaking about this attack, Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General said, “It is important that during a demonstration all sides respect the right of journalists to report on important news events.”

Vujovic also referred to previous attacks on journalists in Greece, “In October 2004 sports journalist Philippos Syrigos was attacked in the car park near Super Sport FM radio station, while walking to his car after a radio show. On 7 May, Kostas Nikolakopoulos, a journalist for the sports daily Fos ton Sport and the radio station Super Sport FM, was attacked by four unknown men in front of his home in Athens. On 30 September 2005, Periklis Stellas, sports journalist and director of the Thessaloniki branch of the sports daily newspaper, Goal News, was attacked by an unknown person as he was leaving his office in the centre of Thessaloniki. In [these] cases, the perpetrators have not been identified yet.”

With the above in mind, SEEMO calls upon the authorities in Greece to find and bring to justice those responsible for these attacks. SEEMO would also like to remind the Greek authorities that freedom of expression and a safe working environment for journalists are the basic principles of any democratic society.

Vienna, 19/12/2005

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the recent attack on a journalist in Albania.

According to information before SEEMO, on 11 December, at around 2 a.m., Engjell Serjani, director of Dita Jug newspaper and correspondent for Gazeta Shqiptare, was attacked and beaten up by two unknown persons in the city of Gjirokastra. Serjani was leaving a bar next to his office in order to go home, when two persons stopped him and started hitting him until he lost consciousness. Later, Serjani recovered consciousness and was able to go to a hospital to have his injuries treated. The two perpetrators managed to escape.

Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General, condemned this attack on the journalist, “Physical attacks on journalists are both unacceptable and alarming. Journalists must be able to report without fear of harassment and intimidation. This case is very worrying because this is not the first time that a journalist in Albania was physically attacked. This and other acts of violence against journalists are obviously aimed at intimidating the work of journalists.” Vujovic added, “SEEMO takes every physical attack on a journalist in a country of transition very seriously. Particularly because in previous years in South East Europe, several journalists have been killed due to their professional work.”

SEEMO believes that a safe working environment for journalists is a fundamental principle of any democratic society. We urge the Albanian authorities to investigate this case immediately and to take all necessary action against the responsible persons.

Vienna, 14/12/2005

To:

Ivo Sanader

Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia

Ivica Kirin

Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Croatia

Zagreb, Croatia

Your Excellency,

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the recent death threat against the editor of the Croatian weekly, Feral Tribune.

According to information before SEEMO, on 6 December, Drago Hedl, the editor of the Croatian weekly, Feral Tribune, received a death threat in the form of a letter. Hedl said that the letter was directed at him and his source for the series of articles he published in Feral Tribune on the torture and killings of Serbian civilians in Osijek in 1991.This is not the first time that Hedl has received a death threat.

SEEMO asks your Excellency to do everything in your power to urgently investigate this threat and to take all necessary steps to protect the life of Drago Hedl. We would like to remind Your Excellencies that a safe working environment for journalists is a fundamental principle in every democratic society.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General

Vienna, 03/10/2005

At a meeting of over 60 editors-in-chief, leading journalists and media executives from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro, on 13 October 2005 in Opatija, Croatia, the International Press Institute (IPI) and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), expressed their support for the actions taken by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, regarding his demands for the reform of the procedures of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”).

In his letter to the president of the ICTY, dated 11 October 2005, Haraszti referred to the case of Croatian journalists who have been indicted by the ICTY for contempt of court and demanded the amendment of Rule 77 of the ICTY’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence dealing with contempt, so that it would only apply to those officials who have actually leaked confidential information.

According to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the judicial practices of many democracies, the imprisonment of a journalist for dissemination of classified information is always a disproportionate punishment, and its chilling effect hinders unconstrained debate of public issues.

In contrast to this, the Croatian journalists indicted by the ICTY under Rule 77 can be sentenced to a maximum of seven years imprisonment and fined up to 100,000 Euros.

IPI/SEEMO appeals to the ICTY to urgently change its rules dealing with contempt of court so that internationally acknowledged principles of press freedom are upheld.

“The right to access information of public concern should be recognised everywhere,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General, adding, “Journalists should not be held liable for the possession or publication of classified documents, particularly where such information may already be publicly available.”

The Director of IPI, Professor Johann Fritz said, “We highly appreciate Mr. Haraszti’s solid understanding of the functioning of a free press and fully support the need for a change to Rule 77 so that it reflects the fundamental importance of press freedom and the free flow of information.”

IPI, the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is dedicated to the furtherance and safeguarding of press freedom, the protection of freedom of opinion and expression, the promotion of the free flow of news and information, and the improvement of the practices of journalism.

Vienna, 03/10/2005

To:

Jorgos Voulgarakis
Minister of Public Order

Jorgos Orfanos
Deputy Minister of Culture (Responsible for Sports)

Athens, Greece

Your Excellencies,

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is alarmed about the recent assault on yet another sports journalist in Greece.

According to information before SEEMO, on late Friday evening, 30 September 2005, Periklis Stellas, sports journalist and director of the Thessaloniki branch of the sports daily newspaper, Goal News, was attacked by an unknown person as he was leaving his office in the centre of Thessaloniki. The unknown person hit him several times in the head and face, leaving him with concussion, a fractured jawbone and other minor injuries. The journalist was subsequently rushed to hospital. According to the police there were no eyewitnesses to the attack.

We would like to remind your Excellencies that this is the third attack on a sports journalist in Greece in the past year. In October 2004, sports journalist and head of the Sports Department of the Eleftherotypia daily newspaper, Philippos Syrigos, was attacked in the car park near the Super Sport FM radio station when walking to his car after a radio show. His attackers were two unidentified individuals wearing helmets, who hit him on the head with a metal bar and stabbed him several times in the back. The two perpetrators managed to escape. On 7 May 2005, Kostas Nikolakopoulos, a journalist for the sports daily Fos ton Sport and the radio station Super Sport FM, was attacked by four unknown men in front of his wife and two young daughters, only metres away from his home in Ilion, Athens. During the attack, Nikolakopoulos was repeatedly hit on the head and about the body with knuckledusters and iron bars. Once Nikolakopoulos had fallen to the ground, the men disappeared. Nikolakopoulos was later taken to a nearby hospital where he was treated for his injuries.

SEEMO regards these attacks as a very serious violation of press freedom and the rights of journalists. We ask Your Excellencies to start an investigation into this case and to take all necessary legal steps. We would like to remind Your Excellencies that a safe working environment for journalists is a fundamental principle in every democratic society.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General

Vienna, 15/09/2005

To:

Vojislav Kostunica
Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia

Dragan Jocic
Minister of Interior of the Republic of Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Your Excellency,

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is alarmed about the recent physical attack on a journalist in Serbia.

According to information before SEEMO, on 12 September, Vladimir Mitric, Loznica correspondent for the Belgrade daily Vecernje novosti, was beaten by an unknown assailant at the entrance of the building where he lives. The attacker hit Mitric with a hard object rolled in a cloth and escaped only after Mitric’s neighbour appeared. Mitric was taken to hospital for medical treatment.

SEEMO regards this physical attack as a flagrant violation of press freedom. We ask Your Excellencies to ensure an immediate investigation into this case and to take all necessary legal steps to find the perpetrators.

We would like to remind Your Excellencies that only four years ago another local correspondent of Vecernje novosti, Milan Pantic from Jagodina, was killed and his murderers have still not been found. Also, the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija has not yet been solved.

At present, the press freedom situation in Serbia is alarming. The number of attacks on journalists has increased in the past months, including threats

against the staff of the broadcaster RTV B92 and the daily newspaper Danas. SEEMO would also like to stress that a safe working environment for

journalists, without any pressure, is a fundamental principle in every democratic society.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General

Vienna, 28/07/2005

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is concerned about draft amendments to the Broadcast Act, which the Government of Serbia intends to put before Parliament.

SEEMO is informed that the Serbian Government would like to amend the three-year old Broadcasting Act and has sent the amendments to Parliament without consulting professional media organisations in Serbia.

According to our sources, one of the amendments would revoke the veto power of the Broadcast Council member nominated by the autonomous province of Vojvodina, who until now has had the power of veto in all decisions concerning Vojvodina. With this amendment, the Belgrade government has displayed a singular lack of understanding of the problems that are specific to Vojvodina as a multi-ethnic province.

In addition, SEEMO is informed that, instead of the ballot system that was used to randomly determine the term of appointment of individual members of the Broadcasting Council during its first working period, the new amendments propose a fixed length of term for each of the elected members that favours those members who have been elected by Parliament. Thus, those nominated by Parliament as party candidates would serve terms of six years, while those nominated by professional journalists organisations and NGOs would serve only for four years.

The amendments also extend the deadline for the privatisation of media operated by local government authorities until the end of 2008. According to the original Act, the deadline for privatisation was the summer of 2006.

“Instead of speeding up the process of political independence, the Serbian Government is leaving the electronic media at the mercy of local authorities until after the next local elections in Serbia in 2008,” said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

Under the new amendments, the deadline for the transition of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) from a state-controlled broadcaster to a public service broadcasting organisation has also been extended until 30 April 2006. “We are alarmed over this development,” said Vujovic. “Public service broadcasting is one of the most important mediums through which diversity and the public’s right to know can be fulfilled. It is therefore important for Serbia to finish this transition process as soon as possible, in particular since the original deadline was set for 31 January 2003.”

“SEEMO calls on the Serbian Government to withdraw the draft amendments to the Broadcast Act and to enter into a wide-ranging consultation with media and other civil society groups before any further amendments are put forward,” Vujovic added.

Vienna, 29 June 2005

The South East Europe Media Organisation feels sorry about the death of Bardhyl Ajeti, journalist working for Bota sot daily. On 28 June 2005 he died of gunshot wounds in a hospital in Milano, Italy

Ajeti was shot by unidentified assassins on 3 June 2005, while he was driving a car on the way to Pristina in Kosovo. He was a reporter and wrote daily editorials for the Kosovo Albanian-language daily newspaper Bota Sot. Several weeks before he was shot, Ajeti had written a complaint to the Temporary Media Commissioner in Kosovo and also informed in a letter the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), where he stated that his life in Kosovo had been threatened.

Vienna, 16/06/2005

To:

Vojislav Kostunica
Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia

Dragan Jocic
Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Your Excellency,

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about recent threats against the editor-in-chief of the Serbian daily newspaper, Danas.

According to information before SEEMO, on Saturday, 11 June, an unknown person called the office of Belgrade daily Danas and issued a death threat against the editor-in-chief, Grujica Spasovic. The person identified himself as “the security” of General Ratko Mladic, who is in hiding and being hunted because of his indictment by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

SEEMO asks your Excellency to do everything in your power to urgently investigate this threat and to take all necessary steps to protect the life of Grujica Spasovic. We would like to remind Your Excellencies that a safe working environment for journalists, without any pressure, is a fundamental principle in every democratic society.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General