(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has documented several alarming new developments in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s assault on independent journalists. **Updates IFEX alerts of 2 April, 1 April, 31 March, 29 March, 25 March and 24 March 1999** On 2 April, at 9:00 a.m. (Belgrade time), police officers arrived at Radio B92’s office and ordered the staff […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has documented several alarming new developments in
Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s assault on independent journalists.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 2 April, 1 April, 31 March, 29 March, 25 March and
24 March 1999**
On 2 April, at 9:00 a.m. (Belgrade time), police officers arrived at Radio
B92’s office and ordered the staff to immediately cease work and leave the
premises. They then proceeded to seal the premises. The police were
accompanied by a court official who delivered a decision from the
government-controlled Youth Council, the radio station’s founder, that Sasa
Mirkovic, Radio B92’s station manager since 1993, was dismissed. According
to the decision, he was replaced by Aleksandar Nikacevic, a member of
Milosevic’s ruling Socialist Party of Serbia.
On 30 March, Serbian officials visited Radio B92’s office and wrote down the
names and addresses of the radio station’s staff.
Since 24 March, when police seized Radio B92’s transmitter, the radio
station had been limited to the Internet and satellite to disseminate its
broadcasts. However, this latest attempt to suffocate Radio B92 has
essentially forced them to cease all activity. The closure of Radio B92 will
have a devastating effect on the independent media in Yugoslavia, since it
will affect many of the more than thirty affiliates of the Association of
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) who formerly rebroadcast B92’s programs.
On 1 April at 4:00 p.m. (Belgrade time), Mark Milstein, a freelance
photographer working for the Knight Ridder Tribune Syndicate, was detained
by police in Novi Sad. Milstein had left Belgrade earlier that same day and
was driving to Budapest when he was stopped and taken into custody and
detained overnight. His belongings were searched. The authorities gave no
explanation for his detention.
While in Belgrade, Milstein had obtained the necessary visa credentials from
the Yugoslav military, which just days before had taken the responsibility
from the Ministry of the Interior for issuing visas. On 31 March, CPJ
reported on a case of three foreign journalists who were deported from the
country with the explanation that their visas had been issued by the
Ministry of the Interior rather than by the military. Nonetheless, Milstein
was not released after showing his military visa; rather he was told that he
was supposed to have left the visa behind with the authorities in Belgrade.
On 2 April at 2 p.m. (Belgrade time), he was released.
