26/03/2001: SERBIA – SERBIAN DEFAMATION PROVISIONS

March 26, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 26/03/2001

The South East European Media Organisation (SEEMO) today released a report entitled “Articles in Bad Faith: Criminal Defamation Laws in Serbia”. The report highlights the repressive nature of criminal laws in this area and urges the Serbian government to review and amend articles in the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia concerning freedom of expression.

IPI and SEEMO said that these articles should be repealed, noting that defamation should be dealt with under civil law and that so-called insult laws have been used by repressive regimes to silence journalists reporting critically on the management of government affairs. The two organisations pointed to the importance of repealing these articles since they were used by the previous administration to stifle dissident views. In their letter to Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, IPI and SEEMO stressed the need to establish a free and independent media which is “the foundation on which to build a democratic society”.

The Secretary General of SEEMO, Oliver Vujovic, said that “the first and most important step for the new administration is to create a climate in which a free and independent media can flourish.” He added, “the lack of freedom of the media during the Milosovic regime shows the importance of establishing such a climate since a repressive regime can only survive by limiting the free flow of information.”

The Director of IPI, Johann P. Fritz, said that “unfortunately, in many parts of the world defamation is still treated as a criminal offence forcing many journalists to resort to self-censorship”. The Director added that “as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia moves towards taking their rightful place among Europe’s democracies, the decision to repeal these laws would not only bring legislation into line with international standards but it would also send a strong message to other countries that there is no place for these repressive laws in a democracy, irrespective of the frequency of their application.”

21/03/2001: BULGARIA – PUBLIC RADIO

March 21, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 21 March 2001

The Vienna South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is alarmed about the information, that yesterday on 21 March 2001 the Bulgarian police entered the premises of Bulgarian National Radio, as also that the police barred the journalists from their studios and newsrooms.

The police action started after the journalists were protesting the appointment of a new executive director who they believed to be politically biased.

Today on 22 March 2001 seven radio journalists, including the protest leaders, were dismissed.

20/03/2001: KAZAKHSTAN – MEDIA LAW

March 20, 2001 • • disabled comments

The South East Europe Media Organisation welcomes the decision adopted by the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan at its plenary sitting on 14 March 2001 to return for further elaboration amendments to the draft law on mass media

25/01/2001: NORTH MACEDONIA – DRAFT LAW ON INFORMING THE PUBLIC – MACEDONIA – FYROM

February 21, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 25 January 2001

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives, and its affiliate, the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), are extremely alarmed at the Draft Law on Informing the Public which has reportedly been approved by the Macedonian Government with a view to replacing a number of repressive and outdated laws still in force from the period when Macedonia was still part of Yugoslavia.

In particular, IPI and SEEMO are concerned that the Draft Law on Informing the Public contains restrictions on freedom of expression, which are in breach of international standards in this area. Furthermore, if adopted by Parliament, the law would constitute an unacceptable government interference in media regulation and undermine the fundamental independence of the media.

According to the information received by IPI, a previous draft of this law (12 May 2000) has been analysed by European media law experts, who recommended changes in order to bring the law in line with European standards. However, the 12 January 2001 Draft Law on Informing the Public appears to be even more repressive than the previous one.

The concerns expressed in this statement highlight just a few of the fundamental flaws in the Macedonian Draft Law on Informing the Public.

A fundamental concern of IPI is about Article 3 of the draft law which provides for restrictions to freedom of expression. The European Convention on Human Rights does permit some restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and information in order to protect the private and public interests as listed in paragraph 2 of Article 10. However, Article 10 (2) makes it clear that any restriction must be “necessary in a democratic society”; Furthermore, the case law related to Article 10 (2) limits the scope of these restrictions and clearly shows that there should be a general presumption in favour of freedom of expression; restrictions can only be permitted if they do not undermine the public debate and free flow of information which is necessary for a democracy to function and for a government to be held accountable to the people it represents and serves.

Articles 17 and 18 of the draft law require that journalists hold identification cards issued by a government-appointed Council. Licensing of journalists by government authorities is contrary to international law and gives the authorities the opportunity to decide who is allowed to practice as a journalist. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression and any restrictions on this right, including via government-regulated identification cards, are unacceptable. IPI recognises that journalists’ ID may serve legitimate purposes but strongly recommends that the issuing of ID is left to independent professional journalists associations in a self-regulatory manner.

Articles 21 to 23 of the draft requires that all media to register with the Agency of Information and receive confirmation from this Agency. Compulsory registration or media outlets is not only un-necessary but can effectively hinder press freedom and provides government with an opportunity to interfere by preventing media outlets from publishing.

Most worrying is Article 40 of the draft law that states that the misuse of press freedom should be punished in accordance with the criminal law of Macedonia. Journalists should not be punished for carrying out their work and the threat of harsh criminal sanctions exerts a profound chilling effect on freedom of expression. Such sanctions clearly cannot be justified, particularly in light of the adequacy of non-criminal sanctions in redressing any harm to individuals’ reputations. Furthermore, the criminal liability established in Article 40 runs counter to the European trend that any breaches of restrictions on freedom of expression should be regulated by civil law.

IPI and SEEMO, therefore, urge the Macedonian government to amend the draft of the Law on Informing the Public after consultation with independent Macedonian and European legal experts and media professionals.

We thank you for your attention.

Oliver Vujovic

SEEMO Secretary General

02/02/2001: UKRAINE – GONGADZE CASE

February 2, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 2 February 2001

The Vienna South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is asking an independent investigation in the case of the disappearance of Ukranian journalist Georgiy Gongadze. The investigation till today by the officials in Ukraine has been extremely unprofessional,.

Gongadze was a political journalist and the editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda, an online newspaper. He was known for his criticism of those in power. He disappeared on 16 September 2000: On 14 July 2000 Gongadze wrote an open letter to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, where he reported about problems he has, inlcuding about the fact that an unkown person was following Gongadze from his home to his office as also from office to his home. Short after he disapeared, the district prosecutor’s office initiated an inquiry into a case of premeditated murder . On 2 November 2000 the decapitated body of an unknown person was discovered in in the Kyiv region and according to autopsy the time of death of the unknown person roughly corresponded to the time of the disappearance of Mr Gongadze. On 15 November 2000, on examining the body of the uknown person, relatives identified jewellery belonging to Gongadze. Additional they found marks of an old injury he had. However, on 15 December 2000 the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced that the body found in Tarashcha was not that of Mr Gongadze

“We are asking officials in Ukraine to invite international experts and to start an open and transparent investigation connected to the case of jounralist Georgiy Gongadze”, said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO secretary general.

01/02/2001: KAZAKHSTAN – MEDIA LAW

February 1, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 01/02/2001

As the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Kazakhstan, informed the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), the Parliament decided to postpone the debate in the Parliament of the amendments proposed by the Government of Kazakhstan to the “Law on the Mass Media. SEEMO welcomes the decision.

Mass media are a vital part of every democracy. For SEEMO is every form of limiting of the freedom of expression and access to information a limitation of basic human rights.

25/01/2001: SERBIA – SINISA VUCINIC AND RADIO TELEVISION SERBIA

January 30, 2001 • • disabled comments

Vienna, 25/01/2001

The Vienna based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) stongly condemns the threats made by leader of the “Nikola Pasic” Radical Party of the Left Sinisa Vucinic to Radio Television Serbia and its journalist, Aleksandar Crkvenjakov.

Vucinic sent an extremely rude threat to the state television channel and its journalist in protest at its reporting of his party’s demonstrations against Carla del Ponte on 24 January 2001.

He advised Crkvenjakov to watch out for “ice patches”, and warned RTS employees – whose colleagues were physically attacked at the demonstration – that “similar things would befall them every time they failed to display professionalism” according to his criteria.

SEEMO is asking for an urgent police investigation in conection with this case.