(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 22 April 2004 letter by the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an IPI affiliate: H.E. Vojislav Kostunica Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro Fax: +381 11 3617 609 H.E. Dragan Jocic Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Serbia Belgrade, Serbia and […]
(IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 22 April 2004 letter by the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an IPI affiliate:
H.E. Vojislav Kostunica
Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
Fax: +381 11 3617 609
H.E. Dragan Jocic
Minister of Interior Affairs of the Republic of Serbia
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
Fax: +381 11 3617 814
Vienna, 22 April 2004
Your Excellency,
The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), strongly condemns the physical attack on Radisav Rodic, owner of Belgrade dailies Glas javnosti and Kurier.
According to information before SEEMO, on Monday evening, 19 April 2004, Srdjan Adzemovic Adzem, the security chief of the Serbian Minister of Capital Investment, Velimir Ilic, physically attacked Rodic in a parking lot in Belgrade and made death threats against him.
We would like to remind Your Excellencies that Rodic has already been the target of a physical attack. On 6 July 2003, his car was blown up in a Belgrade street, while he was having lunch in a nearby restaurant, but the perpetrators have not yet been found.
Therefore, SEEMO condemns the attacks on Rodic as well as other methods used to intimidate and threaten journalists and their families in Serbia. SEEMO calls for the urgent police investigation and punishment of the perpetrators. We remind you that ensuring secure working conditions for journalists is one of the most fundamental principles of every democratic society.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Oliver Vujovic
SEEMO Secretary General
