(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned about the 7 August 1998 beating and detention by Bratislava (the capital city) police of Vladimir Bacisin, a widely respected investigative reporter at the private business daily “Narodna Obroda.” On the evening of 7 August, two police officers stopped Bacisin after he had crossed a downtown Bratislava street on […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ is deeply concerned about the 7 August 1998 beating and
detention by Bratislava (the capital city) police of Vladimir Bacisin, a
widely respected investigative reporter at the private business daily
“Narodna Obroda.” On the evening of 7 August, two police officers stopped
Bacisin after he had crossed a downtown Bratislava street on a red light.
The reporter had just finished meeting with a source from the National Bank
of Slovakia in the building housing Slovak Radio. The officers demanded he
show his identification card and ordered him to pay a fine on the spot for
the violation. Bacisin told
the officers he did not have sufficient cash to pay the fine at that moment,
but suggested the police keep his identification card as collateral because
he was in a hurry to get to another meeting.
Suddenly, one of the officers grabbed the reporter, twisting his arms behind
his back, while the other officer punched him in the face, knocking his
eyeglasses to the ground. Bacisin, who has very poor eyesight, tried to pick
up his glasses, but the officers pushed him to the ground, striking him
several times against the pavement. Two more police officers arrived and the
beating continued as two of them held Bacisin while the others hit him.
After the beating, Bacisin was taken to a police station, where he was
handcuffed to a bench for several hours before he was locked up in a holding
cell. The police denied him access to his lawyer and refused to return his
eyeglasses. The reporter refused to answer any questions in the absence of
his lawyer and without his glasses. He was freed the next day, but still
faces charges of verbally and physically attacking a public servant under
Articles 155 and 156 of the Slovak penal code.
Bacisin and his colleagues believe he was targeted in retaliation for his
investigative reports revealing illegal practices by two private firms with
close links to the ruling coalition, VUB Investment Holding and Slovenska
Poistovna. Bacisin said he pled guilty to the minor offense, but denied
refusing to pay the fine and resisting arrest. Bacisin believes he was
followed and spied on by an Interior Ministry employee he spotted and
recognized while he was in the Slovak Radio building just before the
incident. The reporter has also been pressured into leaving his paper,
“Narodna Obroda”, by the editor, Miroslav Tuleja, a well-known government
supporter. Colleagues describe Bacisin as
accurate, cautious, and professional, adding that his small size and gentle
disposition render his instigating any violent attack highly improbable.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
in apparent retribution for his work as a journalist
investigative reporting less than two months before parliamentary elections
in Slovakia violates all of
the Slovak Republic’s international commitments to respect press freedom and
ensure the universally recognized rights of journalists to freely and safely
practice their profession, urging them to thoroughly investigate this
incident and punish those found responsible
Appeals To
His Excellency
Vladimir Meciar
Prime Minister of Slovak Republic
Bratislava
Fax: +4217-397-595
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
