(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a statement by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its entirety by AMARC: **Updates IFEX alerts of 20 October and 18 August 1998** ANEM press release Court Hearing against City Radio’s Owner May Introduce Dangerous Precedent Belgrade–January 12, 1999 The main hearing in the trial against Nikola […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a statement by the Association of
Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its entirety by AMARC:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 20 October and 18 August 1998**
ANEM press release
Court Hearing against City Radio’s Owner May Introduce Dangerous Precedent
Belgrade–January 12, 1999
The main hearing in the trial against Nikola Djuric, owner of the banned
City Radio in Nis, on charges of illegal possession and operation of a radio
station, is scheduled for January 18. According to Article 219 (1) of the
Criminal Law of the Republic of Serbia, if found guilty, Djuric faces a
sentence up to one year in prison.
ANEM recalls that although the government is legally obliged to hold
frequency allocation tenders at least once a year, there were no such
tenders in the 1993-1998 period. Furthermore, in the February 1998 frequency
tender, City Radio applied with full documentation as required but has
received no decision as to its application since.
Notwithstanding the repeated claims of the Yugoslav president and the
representatives of the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry that stations
would be allowed to carry on their operation until the February 1998
frequency tender was concluded, the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry
banned City Radio, seized its transmission equipment on August 18, 1998, and
motioned criminal charges against Djuric.
ANEM’s suit against this banning order initiated at the Yugoslav Federal
Court is still in procedure. Moreover, similar motions for criminal charges
against persons in charge of the banned media have never so far led to
criminal procedures. This case may introduce a dangerous precedent with the
aim of intimidating and obstructing the operation of independent media.
ANEM calls on all individuals and groups at home and abroad to join the
stern protest to the Yugoslav and Serbian agencies against this dangerous
development in the repression against the independent media and journalists.
