New York, June 24, 2002—Dragoljub Milanovic, the former director of the state broadcaster Radio Television Serbia (RTS), was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday for failing to protect 16 RTS employees killed by a NATO missile in April 1999, said Serbian and international press reports. A Belgrade district court found Milanovic guilty of…
New York, June 11, 2002—The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the decision by a United Nations war crimes tribunal to compel the testimony of retired Washington Post reporter Jonathan C. Randal. In its June 7 decision, the tribunal ruled that Randal will be forced to testify regarding the accuracy of a 1993 article…
New York, April 17, 2002—In a letter sent today to Serbian National Assembly president Natasa Micic, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) expressed strong support for Parliament’s efforts to safeguard press freedom in Serbia. CPJ believes that by passing the draft Broadcasting Law, currently under consideration, Parliament can create an effective legal framework for the…
New York, April 11, 2002—On the third anniversary of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) remains deeply concerned that the government has made no progress investigating the case. On April 11, 1999, Curuvija, editor-in-chief of the Belgrade daily Dnevni Telegraf, was gunned down near his home in central Belgrade…
The exhilarating prospect of broad press freedoms that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union a decade ago has faded dramatically in much of the post-communist world. A considerable decline in press freedom conditions in Russia during the last year, along with the stranglehold authoritarian leaders have imposed on media in Central Asia, the Caucasus,…
POLITICAL REFORMS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH, along with the advent of democratic governments in Croatia and Serbia, brightened the security prospects for journalists in Central Europe and the Balkans. In contrast, Russian’s new government imposed press restrictions, and authoritarian regimes entrenched themselves in other countries of the former Soviet Union, particularly in Central Asia, further threatening…
October 5, 2000 — Since this briefing was filed two days ago, Slobodan Milosevic has almost entirely lost control of state media, a main pillar of his power. Today, the state news agency Tanjug declared its independence from Milosevic and referred to opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica as the president-elect of Yugoslavia. Employees of the state…
October 5, 2000 — Since this briefing was filed two days ago, Slobodan Milosevic has almost entirely lost control of state media, a main pillar of his power. Today, the state news agency Tanjug declared its independence from Milosevic and referred to opposition leader Vojislav Kostunica as the president-elect of Yugoslavia. Employees of the state…