(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Zivadin Jovanovic, RSF protested the refusal of Serbian authorities to renew the visa and accreditation of French journalist Jean-Claude Galli. “This is yet another hindrance to freedom of information in Serbia”, declared Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general. The organisation reminded the minister that in […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Zivadin Jovanovic, RSF protested the refusal of Serbian authorities to renew the visa and accreditation of French journalist Jean-Claude Galli. “This is yet another hindrance to freedom of information in Serbia”, declared Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general. The organisation reminded the minister that in 1999 more than eighty journalists were detained and the majority of them were expelled from the Yugoslav territory. RSF also wrote to the French minister of foreign affairs, emphasising the Serbian authorities’ lack of goodwill toward French journalists.
As of 23 March 2000, Galli has still not managed to get his visa and accreditation renewed. According to the journalist, he filed the application to renew his visa on 14 February and his accreditation on 28 January. Since January 1999, Galli is permanent Belgrade correspondent for French television station TF1 and radio stations Radio France Internationale (RFI) and Radio France. Most notably, he has covered the NATO intervention in Kosovo and conflicts in region, from Pristina and Belgrade. Before that, from 1994 to 1996, he was covering the region for French daily “Le Figaro”, and radio stations RFI and Radio France. When Galli left Belgrade on 22 February, he was the only accredited permanent French correspondent in Serbia.
