16. 12. 2011

Has the Minister requested recording of Jarinje incident?

Belgrade, December 16, 2011. (Politika) - Politika daily published the response of the Ministry of Defence to the repeated request of the Journalists' Association of Serbia to inform the public on all the facts about the incidents in Jarinje and Jagnjenica, in which Serbian civilians were injured, including recordings owned by NATO. Politika reported that KFOR had not provided any of these shots to the Ministry of Defense, but there is still no information whether the Serbian authorities have requested recordings and any other evidence of alleged attacks of civilians on NATO soldiers on these crossings.

By claiming that these attacks had happened, KFOR officially justified the use of live ammunition against the citizens. The Journalists' Association of Serbia has repeatedly asked the Ministry to provide footage to the public, and to ensure their independent analysis, after which Sutanovac categorically stated that "there is no clip on Jarinje incident".

"Which data are the basis for the Defense Minister's claim that "the truth is somewhere in beetween," and that the Serbian media had not objectively informed the public about the events? And has he ever asked KFOR to submit the recordings?", said in the press release of UNS signed by Ljiljana Smajlovic.