(WiPC/IFEX) – According to FreeB92, the independent Serbian news-agency, the Nis District Court will start new proceedings against poet, paediatrician, and women’s rights activist, Flora Brovina on 14 September 2000. In June, the Serbian Supreme Court over-turned Brovina’s conviction, who had been sentenced in December 1999 to twelve years in prison on charges of “terrorism”, […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – According to FreeB92, the independent Serbian news-agency, the Nis District Court will start new proceedings against poet, paediatrician, and women’s rights activist, Flora Brovina on 14 September 2000. In June, the Serbian Supreme Court over-turned Brovina’s conviction, who had been sentenced in December 1999 to twelve years in prison on charges of “terrorism”, and recommended that the case be returned to the Nis District Court.
International PEN considers Brovina to be held only because of her denunciation of abuses of human rights in Kosovo by Serb forces. Her conviction on charges of terrorism, the organisation believes, have been fabricated as a means of penalising her for her non-violent activities towards Kosovo independence. It welcomes the Supreme Court’s decision to have the case reviewed, and continues to urge that she be freed.
On 16 May, the Serbian Supreme Court heard an appeal against the twelve-year sentence against Brovina and on 7 June informed her lawyers that it had recommended that the Nis Municipal Court review the case. Brovina remains detained in Nis Prison pending the review despite requests from PEN and other international organisations that she be freed.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
– welcoming the review of Brovina’s case
– urging that the recommendation that she be freed on bail pending re-trial be met
– expressing hope that her case will be dismissed by the Nis District Court as being contrary to international standards safeguarding human rights
– urging that the clear violations of human rights standards be taken into consideration during the re-trial and that she not be required to spend additional time in prison
Appeals To
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of Yugoslavia
Savezna Skupstina
11000 Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: + 381 11 636 775
For those meeting difficulties with this contact number, try:
Zivadin Jovanovic
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fax: + 381 11 367 2954
PEN also recommends that letters of protest be sent to the Serb embassies in your own countries.
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
