(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a 20 October 1998 statement by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its entirety by AMARC: **Updates IFEX alert of 20 October 1998** The Serbian Parliament has adopted the new Law on Public Information of the Republic of Serbia The new law: introduces the supposition of guilt […]
(AMARC/IFEX) – The following is a 20 October 1998 statement by the
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) distributed in its
entirety by AMARC:
**Updates IFEX alert of 20 October 1998**
The Serbian Parliament has adopted the new Law on Public Information of the
Republic of Serbia
The new law:
deemed
guilty as soon as the state charges them for a misdemeanor, until they prove
the contrary. Such shameful legal regulation is unimagineable in any modern
legal system;
media misdemeanors. The aim is not only to stifle the media and rob them of
any means they have, but also to ruin chief editors and journalists both
financially and socially;
broadcast in
Serbian. A similar ban existed only during the fascist occupation of Serbia
during World War Two;
field in
Serbia that helped counterbalance the hate-speech and chauvinistic hysteria
generated by the state and para-state media; and,
will result in the inevitable decay of the state and the nation.
During the parliamentary reading of the law, representatives of the ruling
coalition made grave and vehement accusations and threats against the
independent media. Most notable was Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav
Seselj, who described independent editors as NATO officers and Javier
Solana, “the man who decided on the bombing and
destruction of Serbia and killings of its citizens,” as their chief editor.
“The new law is the most restrictive and scandalous law to ever regulate
public information in Serbia. ANEM will do everything in its power to enable
its affiliates to continue their professional reporting. ANEM will use all
legal remedies provided in the Serbian and Yugoslav legal systems to have
all unconstitutional and illegal regulations of the new law annulled,” said
Veran Matic, ANEM chairman.
For the full text of ANEM’s preliminary legal analysis of the first draft of
the Law on Public Information please visit the media watch section of Radio
B92’s home page at http://www.b92.net.
