07/08/2012: SERBIA – SEEMO WELCOMES PRESIDENTIAL PARDON IN SERBIA FOR IMPRISONED AUTHOR OF READER’S COMMENT

Vienna, 07/08/2012

The Vienna-based South European Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), welcomes the presidential pardon for Laszlo Szasz, the author of a reader’s comment, who was imprisoned because he could not pay a fine for offending a political activist. Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic pardoned Laszlo Szasz, as requested by all major journalists’ associations in Serbia, and SEEMO, and said that he had signed the pardon because he believed in freedom of expression as a fundamental right and because nobody should serve a 150-day prison sentence for publishing their opinion.

On 24 April, 2007, Laszlo Szasz, an occasional contributor to Hungarian-language print media in Vojvodina (Serbia), published a commentary in the readers’ section of the Novi Sad-based daily Magyar Szo. Szasz criticised Laszlo Toroczkai, leader of the 64 Counties Youth Movement in Hungary, an advocate of revision of the 1920 Trianon Treaty, which defined the current borders of the Hungarian state. Toroczkai sued Szasz for insult. The court in Subotica, Vojvodina (Serbia) declared Szasz guilty of insult according to Article 170 of the Penal Code and fined him 150,000 Dinars (approximately 1,400 Euros). Unable to pay the fine, 69-old Szasz served a prison sentence from 20 July, 2012 to 3 August, 2012, the day he was released under the presidential pardon.

“I welcome the presidential pardon. It marks a good beginning for the new government in Serbia and its respect for press freedom,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

Vienna, 08/08/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), condemned a physical attack against Chisinau-based Jurnal TV channel journalist Victoria Ocara, in Moldova.

On 5 August, Ocara was reporting on clashes between two opposing groups of demonstrators in Balti, the second largest city in Moldova, when someone threw a stone that hit her in the head. She was treated on the spot for head injuries and taken to the hospital, but did not spend the night there.

More than 600 police officers were deployed to separate those who marched in favour of Moldova’s reunification with Romania from opponents of such reunification who came to break up the protest.

The perpetrator of the attack was recorded on a video, identified and detained.

”I hope that the Moldovan authorities bring the attacker to justice,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “Journalists have a right to work without fear of attack, even in conflict situations.”

Vienna, 08/08/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), condemned the detention and alleged hitting of Dimitri Popota, a journalist with the Athens–based weeklyProtothema.

On 7 August 2012, Popota was covering the transfer of a high-profile rape suspect from the police station to the court house on the island of Syros in the Aegean Sea. He attempted to take a photograph of the suspect as he was escorted from the police station to the court house when a police officer allegedly hit his hand. Showing his journalist credentials did not help: Popota was detained without any explanation, according to witnesses interviewed by SEEMO. An hour later he was released.

As a reporter who specialises in covering crime, Popota has special accreditation issued by the Ministry of the Interior.

“Journalists cannot be hit and detained arbitrarily,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “I hope that this incident will be investigated and the perpetrator brought to justice.”

Vienna, 14/08/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the Bulgarian authorities to investigate threatening messages received by Spas Spasov, a Varna-based correspondent of the national Bulgarian dailies Capital and Dnevnik.

On 31 July, 2012, Spas Spasov received a parcel by post containing a dedicated copy of an ancient Chinese book, The Art of War. The signed dedication read: “If you cannot make friends or win them, it is better to leave them alone”. In post scriptum, the note added: “The world is small and it cannot be governed from Singapore.”

The first part of the dedication referred, according to Spasov, to his investigation related to a construction project, while the second related to the newspapers’ publishers. The implication, he believes, is clear: Stop investigating.

Spasov told SEEMO that one day before the book arrived by post, his wife received a visitor: a representative from a local company connected to the construction projects investigated by Spasov came to her office and requested her home address. Indirectly and directly, the owners of several companies involved in the construction project threatened both Spasov and his family.

“I call on the Bulgarian authorities to take these threats seriously and investigate their origin. Journalists have to be protected and work in a secure environment,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “In a democracy, critical writing has to be accepted and journalists and their families cannot be threatened.”

Vienna, 22/08/2012

On 19 August 2012, Marin Mema, a reporter with Albanian Top Chanel TV was heading to Greece on a private visit when Greek border police denied him entry to the country, recalling a report of his on Greece a year earlier, Mema explained to SEEMO. He was handed a piece of paper on which he was allegedly described as a threat to national security and therefore persona non grata, he said.

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), calls on the Greek authorities to explain why they have impeded Mema’s entry to the country. “Reporters should be allowed to travel both as private citizens and as information professionals,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “The border police appear to have violated several international standards by impeding the journalist’s free movement. Press freedom cannot stop at countries’ borders.”

In an interview with the regional website Balkan Insight, Mema linked the ban to a TV report he did on the Cham population of ethnic Albanians who were expelled from northern Greece during World War Two.

A year earlier, as SEEMO reported, on 16 August 2011, the Skopje-based journalists, Goran Momirovski of Kanal 5 television and Milena Gjorgjievska, a journalist with the daily Vest, accompanied a group of senior citizens from the Republic of Macedonia/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, who were trying to obtain their birth certificates in Florina, northwestern Greece. These citizens, born in Greece, live in the Republic of Macedonia/Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Momirovski told SEEMO that he was filming the people who were trying to obtain their documents and did not film any public buildings. Gjorgjievska did not film anything. They were detained in the street and held for two hours while police reviewed the filmed material in order to make sure no public buildings were filmed.

On 11 November 2011, Momiroski reported to SEEMO that he was denied entrance to Greece, while on a private trip. The police allegedly argued that the reporter was a threat to national security.

“Greece is a European Union country,” Vujovic said. “These actions of the Greek border police have to be investigated and explained. International organisations like the Council of Europe or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should also look into these practices.”

Vienna, 23/09/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), observes with preoccupation the continuous threats against the journalist Vladimir Mitric, correspondent of the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti in Loznica, western Serbia.

Vladimir Mitric was threatened again in spite of having 24-hour police protection. The veteran journalist specialises in uncovering corruption in western Serbia and Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has been under police protection since October 2005, after being severely beaten by a former policemen. Six years after that incident, the aggressor was convicted by the Court of Appeals in Belgrade and sentenced to one year in prison. Loznica court sentenced the aggressor to one month.

The latest threat against Mitric occurred on 15 September 2012. While sitting in a café in the village of Trsic, near Loznica, Mitric was approached by an individual and warned that he should stop writing about certain political figures. He was insulted several times and allegedly told that he must be a bad man if he needed police protection. Mitric did not ask the policeman who was accompanying him to intervene and opted for leaving the premises. On the road to Loznica, Mitric and the accompanying policeman entered another café, when another policeman, previously in charge of protecting Mitric, made a call and asked where they were sitting. As soon as he learnt where the two men were having coffee, the policeman arrived accompanied by the aggressor from the previous café and they both accused Mitric over what he has written. The policemen said that Mitric was responsible for his career problems. The café owner tried to calm the situation down and was hit by the individual who initially threatened Mitric.

Threats against Mitric who has been working for Vecernje Novosti since 1996 started 10 years ago. Between 2003 and 2005, the reporter’s car was destroyed three times and the police did not find any perpetrators. In 2005, he was beaten with a baseball bat and suffered numerous fractures. Soon after the aggression, he was assigned police protection but only within the radius of approximately 50 kilometers of his hometown. In other words, if he travels to Belgrade, for work or medical treatment, he does not have any protection.

In June 2011, as SEEMO reported, two civilians approached Mitric in Bijeljina (Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and threatened to come to his hometown and kill him. In addition, Mitric claims to have received numerous verbal threats and letters but did not report them. Recently, SEEMO learnt, a senior police officer told Mitric that he was lucky to have police protection, considering the topics he writes about.

While SEEMO welcomes the decision to provide Vladimir Mitric with police protection, SEEMO believes that protection should cover the whole of Serbia, rather than only one county.

“I request Serbia’s police authorities to extend police protection for Vladimir Mitric and include the territory of the entire country,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “While I would prefer that no journalist need protection, I do welcome the protection when the police believe that reporters’ lives are in danger. In fact, there are several journalists in Serbia in this situation but only Mitric is protected only in one county. I think that his protection should be extended and that Mitric should feel safe to live and work in his country.”

Vujovic added: “I hope that police in Loznica investigate the latest threats against Mitric and bring the perpetrator to justice.”

Vienna, 26/09/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), expresses concern at the proposed decrease in licence fees for Slovenia’s public broadcaster, RTV Slovenija. SEEMO believes that this proposal could undermine the independence of the public broadcasting service and affect program quality.

In August 2012, the centre-right coalition government announced that television license fees would diminish by 10 percent, starting in 2013, while Radio Television Slovenia submitted a proposal for a 1, 50 Euro increase. This budget decrease would imply the dismissal of more than 200 professionals without permanent contracts, according to SEEMO sources.

Slovenian analysts believe that the government proposal may be politically motivated. Breaching the law on public broadcasting, passed during the previous mandate of the current Prime Minister Janez Jansa, it was announced that several members of the broadcaster’s Supervisory Board would be substituted. Legally, board members cannnot be changed before the end of their mandate.

The announced licence fee decrease would imply an annual loss of approximately 9.5 million Euros and severely affect RTV Slovenija’s programming. It is worth noting that Article 2 of the Law regulating the public broadcaster states: “It is the duty of the founder to assure institutional autonomy and editorial independence of RTV Slovenia and provide adequate funding for the fulfillment of public service.”

While RTV Slovenia faces budget cuts, the state-owned Telekom launched a new commercial TV channel: Planet TV. In June 2012, TSmedia, a subsidiary of the state-owned Telekom, presented its plans for the new TV station, with an investment of 15 million Euros, according to the English-language publication Slovenian Times. Although the new station is presented as commercial, a number of analysts as well as opposition politicians have said the station was established as a government mouthpiece, according to the same source.

Thus, the government will count on its own commercial broadcaster. Some analysts suspect that the privileged position of Planet TV may breach EU regulations on free competition.

“I call on the Slovenian government to reconsider its decision to lower licence fee and guarantee the independence of the public broadcaster’s independence. RTV Slovenia is a public rather than a government television, “said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic.

Vienna, 01/10/2012

The Vienna –based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), is concerned at reports that journalists from the Pristina –based daily Koha Ditore and privately owned Kohavision (KTV) television were prevented from covering a major cultural event, the PriFest film festival, which takes place in Pristina, Kosovo.

On 26 September 2012, Vjosa Bersiha, the director of the Kosovo Cinematographic Center, reportedly prevented the Koha Ditore journalist from attending the festival and covering the premiere of the film Tri Botet. Two days later, he reportedly prevented the Kohavision crew from filming another film screening.

PriFest’s mission is “ to welcome different cultures of the world through cinema, using it as a medium to promote“, as stated on the festival’s official website, and it is sponsored by, among others, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports; the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the European Union; and the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE).

“PriFest is a public event,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “The director should not be making personal decisions about which journalists are allowed to attend. I call on the Kosovo cultural authorities to guarantee free access for the media to all public events.”

Vienna, 03/10/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), urges Serbian police to investigate the latest attacks against journalists, find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

On 29 September 2012, Mladen Mijatovic, a reporter specialised in covering crime for the Belgrade-based TV broadcaster TV Pink found all four of his car tires slashed. Mijatovic had previously received verbal threats and had been physically assaulted. The latest assault occurred in August 2011.

On 22 September 2012, a wedding in Vranje, southern Serbia, degenerated into a massive fist fight. Tanja Jankovic, a journalist with the Belgrade-based broadcaster TV B92, and her family were among the guests. Jankovic was hit in the head while other members of her family suffered concussions and other injuries. It is not clear if the brawl – a police inspector was among the guests – was related to Jankovic’s work as an investigative journalist or was motivated by other reasons. According to Jankovic, only her phone call to Ivica Dacic, Serbia’s prime minister and minister of the interior, prevented a bloodbath.

“In the case of Mijatovic, I call on the police to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” said SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic. “In the case of Jankovic, it is important to establish the facts, analyse what happened and bring all those responsible to justice.”

Vienna, 05/10/2012

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), notes with concern that Montenegro’s politicians have stepped up pressure on journalists, ahead of parliamentary elections, scheduled for 14 October 2012. They appear to be lobbying international organisations to ban critical journalists from attending public events.

In August 2012, investigative journalist Miranda Patrucic, who works for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), was invited to speak at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly 81st Rose Roth Seminar, to take place in Sveti Stefan,Montenegro, from 15 to 17 October 2012. Patrucic, the author of the widely publicised article series on irregular banking practices in Montenegro, was invited to speak on the panel: “Strengthening the Rule of Law: Fighting Corruption, Building Integrity.” Seminar organisers even bought her the aeroplane ticket to fly from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Montenegro and she was included in the draft program of the seminar, organised in cooperation with the Parliament of Montenegro.

On 24 September 2012, Patrucic received a phone call from the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, the Brussels-based organization officially presented as“an essential link between NATO and the parliaments of the NATO nations.” She was told that she had been uninvited and her participation was cancelled. Patrucic was told that a high level Montenegrin politician had intervened in order to cancel her participation. She suggested that her supervisor could substitute for her but he was not welcome either.

SEEMO contacted the NATO Parliamentary Assembly for a comment and received an official statement that reads: “The NATO PA does not, as a matter of policy, comment on the specifics of the invitation process.”

In solidarity with Patrucic, another fellow speaker cancelled her participation. “It’s really silly to talk about integrity at a conference when somebody was disinvited just for being critical of the government,” said Dragana Zarkovic-Obradovic, manager of the Serbiachapter of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN).

“I am amazed that an international institution invites and then uninvites a journalist. I am also amazed that Montenegrin politicians go as far as to influence international seminars and ban speakers. Montenegro is about to join the EU and free speech does not seem to be guaranteed, “SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said.