(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC-Europe has sent this letter to President Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Since sending the message, Veran Matic has been released from detention. Further information on http://www.b92.net/ **Updates previous IFEX alerts of 24 March 1999** March 23, 1999 By fax to: Slobodan Milosevic President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslovia + […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC-Europe has sent this letter to President Milosevic
of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Since sending the message, Veran
Matic
has been
released from detention. Further information on http://www.b92.net/
**Updates previous IFEX alerts of 24 March 1999**
March 23, 1999
By fax to: Slobodan Milosevic
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslovia
+ 381 11 636 775
President Milosevic,
I am writing on behalf of AMARC-Europe, the European Section of the
World
Association of Community Radio Broadcasters to express our great concern
over reports that on the morning of March 23, Radio B92 in Belgrade was
banned from further broadcasts and that equipment was seized by
technical
operatives from the Yugoslav Federal Telecommunications Ministry. It is
also
reported that the station’s editor-in-chief Veran Matic has been
detained by
police for questioning.
The telecommunications officials told the B92 staff that “the [Yugoslav]
federal inspector for telecommunications had according to Article 192
Paragraph 1 of the Law on the General Administrative Procedures and to
Article 1 Paragraph 1 Point 2 of the Law on the Systems of Connections
passed the decision ordering Radio B92 IMMEDIATE cessation of the
illegal
radio-broadcasts of its radio diffusion station operating on the 92.5
MHz
frequency.”
The official note presented to the staff said that the “term for the
enforcement of the order was IMMEDIATE, and that according to Article 86
of
the Law on Systems of Connections Veran Matic was responsible for the
order’s implementation”.
Radio B92, winner of the 1998 AMARC solidarity prize, is recognised and
respected world-wide as a professional and independent community radio
station, a defender of the freedom of expression, and a promoter of
democratisation of the media. The closure of Radio B92 illustrates the
continued harassment of the independent media in the region and another
desperate attempt to deprive the people of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia their right to receive impartial information about current
issues.
We therefore demand:
– that Radio B92 be allowed to resume broadcasting immediately and that
all
confiscated equipment be returned.
– The immediate release of the stations editor-in-chief, Veran Matic.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Carty
Co-ordinator
Appeals To
His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of Yugoslavia
Savezna Skupstina
11000 Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: +381 11 636 775
E-mail: slobodan.milosevic@gov.yu
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
