(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Dragoljub Jankovic, RSF protested the heavy fines inflicted on the independent daily “Danas” and two of its journalists. RSF rose up against this use of the Information Act, adopted in October 1998, to suppress independent press. RSF also expressed concern about the threats of imprisonment levelled against […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Justice Minister Dragoljub Jankovic, RSF protested the heavy fines inflicted on the independent daily “Danas” and two of its journalists. RSF rose up against this use of the Information Act, adopted in October 1998, to suppress independent press. RSF also expressed concern about the threats of imprisonment levelled against the two journalists. Lastly, the organisation condemned the financial harassment the newspaper has been subjected to for several months, and which could lead to its closure.
According to information gathered by RSF, on 21 January 2000, “Danas” was sentenced to pay a fine of 150,000 dinars (4,000 euros). Its director, Dusan Mitrovic, and one of its editors, Veseljko Koprivica, were each sentenced to pay fines of 60,000 dinars (1,500 euros). Dusan Djordjevic, director of the official press agency in Belgrade, Tanjung, filed the suit against “Danas” in December 1999. According to Djordjevic, the newspaper had “incited prejudice” against the agency and “violated the Information Act” by publishing a text, on 18 December, about Tanjung’s fifty-third anniversary. Based on testimonies by Tanjung’s journalists and employees, the text dealt with the agency’s financial and political situation, and the employees’ working conditions.
The daily and its two journalists have twenty-four hours to pay their fines, after which time, the newspaper’s material goods may be seized and the two journalists could be imprisoned for thirty days. Since October 1998, the newspaper has been fined five times, amounting to a total of 1,55 million dinars (41,000 euros) in fines. (See IFEX alerts of 10 December, 9 December, 8 December 1999, and others.)
