(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release: **Updates IFEX alerts of 12 April 1999** Paris, 13 April 1999 For immediate release World Press Group Slams Yugoslavian Murder The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the murder of a well-known independent newspaper publisher in Belgrade and called on Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic to ensure […]
(WAN/IFEX) – The following is a WAN press release:
**Updates IFEX alerts of 12 April 1999**
Paris, 13 April 1999
For immediate release
World Press Group Slams Yugoslavian Murder
The World Association of Newspapers has condemned the murder of a well-known
independent newspaper publisher in Belgrade and called on Yugoslavian
President Slobodan Milosevic to ensure an impartial investigation into the
death.
Slavko Curuvija, publisher of the Dnevni Telegraf and owner of the biweekly
Evropljanin, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen last Sunday outside
his apartment building in Belgrade. His wife, Branka Prpa, was beaten in the
attack, which occurred as they were on their way home from an Easter lunch.
“The murder of this respected publisher follows the recent restrictive
measures you have taken against the independent press in Serbia and Kosovo,
the ban you imposed on both Dnevni Telegraf and Evropljanin earlier this
year, and the sentencing of Mr Curuvija to five months in prison for
publishing an article critical of Deputy Prime Minister Milovan Bojic,” the
Paris-based WAN said in a letter to President Milosevic.
“With all due respect, we call on you to ensure that a thorough and
impartial investigation into the death of Mr. Curuvija is carried out and
that those responsible for his murder are tried and punished,” said the
letter, signed by WAN President Bengt Braun.
A week before his murder, state television read a statement accusing Mr
Curuvija of supporting the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
Mr Curuvija was the Director of the Board of APM TransPress, an independent
newspaper distribution system begun in July by the Association of Private
Media in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The system, which WAN and
UNESCO helped create, freed independent newspapers from reliance on
government distributors.
WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, defends and
promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 15,000 newspapers; its
membership includes 58 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper
executives in 90 countries, 17 news agencies and seven regional press
groups.
