<nettime> Magazine baned in Serbia!

["Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>]

Reporter has been listed on my list of independent media in post- Yugoslav
societies since its inception (http://balkansnet.org/indie.html). Now they
wanted to dedicate a special issue to Milosevic. Obviously, they would not
write flattering about him, he rightly assumed, so they got banned. The
problem with Milosevic is that he can do whatever he wants: he is already
accused of the most gruesome crimes against humanity - banning a newspaper
is nothing for him - it is like for a serial killer to be caught speeding
on a highway. 

ivo


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------

ALERT UPDATE - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA

18 October 1999

Bosnian Serb independent weekly banned

SOURCE: Reporters sans frontières (RSF), Paris

**Updates IFEX alert of 23 September 1999**

(RSF/IFEX) - In a letter to Interior Minister Vlajko Sojiljkovic, RSF has
protested the banning in Serbia of the "Reporter", an independent weekly
published in Banja Luka, the foremost city of the Bosnian Serb Republic
(Republika Srpska). Recalling two other instances of publications critical
of the Milosevic regime being seized, the organisation asked the
authorities to lift the ban and guarantee the free circulation of the
Bosnian Serb press in Serbia. 

On 16 October 1999, "Reporter"'s distributor in Serbia, Data Press,
received a notice from the Ministry of the Interior announcing that the
distribution of the weekly in Serbia was prohibited. The motive for this
ban was not explained. On 21 September, the Serbian edition of "Reporter"
was seized at the border by Serbian police. According to the publication's
editor, Perica Vucinic, this measure may have been motivated by the
publication of an article on the 200 wealthiest families in Serbia, titled
"They have looted Serbia", and denouncing embezzlement in the country. The
same issue also featured a report on press freedom abuses in Serbia. On 9
June, copies of "Nezavisne Novine", another Banja Luka publication
critical of the Belgrade regime, were also seized at the border (see IFEX
alert of 10 June 1999). 

For further information, contact Alexandre Lévy or Antoine Janbon at RSF,
5, rue Geoffroy Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax:
+33 1 45 23 11 51, e-mail: europe@rsf.fr, Internet: http://www.rsf.fr

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility
of RSF. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please
credit RSF. 
_________________________________________________________________
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e-mail: ifex@ifex.org Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/



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