**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 October, 18 October and 23 September 1999** (RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Vlajko Stojiljkovic, RSF has protested the seizure of the independent weekly “Reporter”, edited in Banja Luka, in the Bosnian Serb Republic. Recalling the numerous seizures of this publication by police, the organisation asked […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 October, 18 October and 23 September 1999**
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Vlajko Stojiljkovic, RSF has protested the seizure of the independent weekly “Reporter”, edited in Banja Luka, in the Bosnian Serb Republic. Recalling the numerous seizures of this publication by police, the organisation asked Serbian authorities to guarantee the free distribution of “Reporter” and the Bosnian Serb press in Serbia.
According to information obtained by RSF, on 2 February 2000, copies of the independent weekly “Reporter” were seized by police at the Montenegran border. The distribution of this weekly, which is very critical of Slobodan Milosevic’s regime, has been banned in Serbia since 16 October 1999. No official reason has ever been put forward to explain this ban. Copies of the newspaper were first seized by police on 21 September. According to one of the managers of “Reporter”, this measure was motivated by the publication of an article titled “They have pillaged Serbia”, which denounced the corruption of Belgrade authorities. On 19 December, a number of newsstand sellers were detained and questioned by police in Vranje (in the country’s south) because they sold “Reporter”. That edition of the newspaper, which included a series of articles about President Milosevic’s family, was also seized. Finally, on 23 January, the weekly was again seized by police at the Belgrade railway station. To avoid further censorship in Serbia, “Reporter” has launched a website (www.reporter.co.yu) and opened an office in Podgorica, the Montenegran capital.
