AMARC protests closure of Radio B92

(AMARC/IFEX) – Officials of the government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia have shut down Radio B92, silencing the last independent media voice in Serbia. In the early hours of Friday morning, 2 April 1999, police officers arrived to seal the station’s offices, and ordered all staff to cease work and leave the premises immediately. […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – Officials of the government of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia have shut down Radio B92, silencing the last independent media
voice in Serbia. In
the early hours of Friday morning, 2 April 1999, police officers arrived to
seal the station’s offices, and ordered all staff to cease work and leave
the premises immediately.

**Updates IFEX alerts of 2 April, 1 April, 29 March, 25 March and 24 March
1999**

A court official accompanied the police. He delivered a decision from the
government-controlled Council of Youth to the station’s manager of six
years – Sasa Mirkovic – that he had been dismissed. The council of youth
replaced Mirkovic with Aleksandar Nikacevic, a member of Milosevic’s ruling
Socialist Party of Serbia, thus bringing Radio B92 under government control.

Radio B92 has been the main source of alternative information in and from
Serbia since the start of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. Although a
ban on the station’s transmitter in the morning of the first day of air
strikes – Wednesday, 24 March – took the station off the air, Radio B92 has
continued to broadcast news and information via the Internet and satellite.
On the same day as Federal Telecommunications’ officials seized the
station’s transmitter, police officers also detained the station’s chief
editor – Veran Matic. He was released unharmed and without explanation eight
hours later. Since the transmission ban on Radio B92, the station has been
heavily policed and has been operating under severe restrictions.

The ban on Radio B92 is the latest in a series of crackdowns on free media
in the past week. The wave of media repression has resulted in the closure
of a large number of members of the Radio B92-led independent broadcasting
network, ANEM, and all independent press. The prominent independent
Albanian-language newspaper and radio station “Koha Ditore” was also closed
down last week, as were other independent media in Kosovo, including Radio
21.

Recommended Action

Slobodan Milosevic

President

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Fax: +381 11 367 25 48

e-mail: slobodan.milosevic@gov.yu

Mr. Zoran Knezevic

Minister of Justice

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Fax: +381 11 600 446

e-mail: zoran.knezevic@gov.yu
Mr. Milan Komnenic

Minister of Information

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Fax : +381 11 600 446

e-mail: milan.komnenic@gov.yu
Dojcilo Radojevic

Minister for Telecommunications

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

e-mail: dojcilo.radojevic@gov.yu
Appeals should also be sent to consulates and embassies of the Federal

Republic

of Yugoslavia in your own countries. In Canada, send appeals to:
His Excellency Pavle Todorovic

Ambassador

Embassy of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

17 Blackburn Avenue

Ottawa, Ontario

K1N 8A2 Canada

Fax: +1 613 233 7850