(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Yugoslav Minister of the Interior Vlajko Stoiljkovic, RSF demanded the immediate release of Desa Trevisan, a journalist with the British daily, “The Times”. “Nothing can justify the sentence Ms Trevisan received,” declared Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary-general. “She must be released immediately,” he added. On 1 November 1999, Trevisan (75 […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Yugoslav Minister of the Interior Vlajko
Stoiljkovic, RSF demanded the immediate release of Desa Trevisan, a
journalist with the British daily, “The Times”. “Nothing can justify the
sentence Ms Trevisan received,” declared Robert Ménard, RSF’s
secretary-general. “She must be released immediately,” he added.
On 1 November 1999, Trevisan (75 years old), was sentenced to ten days in
prison for “illegal entry” into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
Having entered via Montenegro, the journalist is in possession of a valid
and current visa. Upon her arrival in Belgrade, Trevisan presented herself
to a police station in order to inform the authorities about her arrival in
Serbia, in accordance with the laws about registering visitors to FRY. At
that point, the police officers discovered that her passport did not have
the required entry stamp for the area. According to the journalist’s lawyer,
“The customs officer, no doubt, forgot to stamp her passport when she
crossed the border.” Trevisan announced that she would start a hunger strike
if she is imprisoned.
