18. 04. 2013

Concern over growing press freedom violations in SE Europe

Vienna, April 18, 2013 (SEEMO) - SEEMO has expressed concerned at the number of press freedom violations and the pressure directed at the media in South East Europe in recent weeks.

The South East Europe Media Organization is an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI).

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the organization noted that on April 7 in Albania, a cameraman for one of the country's leading TV channels, Top Channel, who covered a football match between Tirana and Skenderbeu, was allegedly beaten by police, stopped from filming and taken to a Tirana police station where he was allegedly beaten by high-ranking police officers.

This happened after an incident involving the football fans and police, when the Top Channel cameraman was waiting fans who had been detained to come out. According to the police, the cameraman was taken to the police office because he refused to identify himself, no violence was used, and after he was identified he was immediately released. Top Channel rejects these declarations as untrue.

SEEMO notes that this is not the first attack on Top Channel. In March this year the studios of the channel were surrounded by police as a result of a state decision, without prior notice, to terminate a rental contract with Top Channel. Top Channel received a letter from a minister with a one-sided termination of the rent contract - which had in theory been valid until 2025.

Meanwhile on April 14 in Trebinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a bishop from the Serbian Orthodox Church verbally attacked Nebojsa Vukanović, a correspondent for the BN TV channel, apparently because he was displeased by the journalist's reporting. ""If I were to judge you, it would be a knockout, so it is better that you be judged by Saint Vasilije,"" the bishop said, according to media reports. The bishop also suggested that journalists were maligning Trebinje, naming Vukanović as an example.

SEEMO is also concerned at the threats, including death threats, against the journalist Predrag Lučić made on various web portals in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is not the first time that web portals in Bosnia have been used for death threats against journalists.

In another development, SEEMO is surprised to hear that Bulgarian journalist Boris Mitov, who works for Mediapool, was summoned on April 5 to the prosecutor's office for questioning over one of his reports. This appears to be a clear-cut case of pressure directed at a journalist.

SEEMO is also surprised to hear that on April 11, without prior announcement, cable platform IPKO moved national licensed broadcaster Kohavision (KTV) from Priština from the position of channel three to that of channel 83 in the cable system, "in addition preventing viewers from rearranging and listing the channels as they wish. KTV, one of the only three national broadcasters, has thus been reclassified in the category of local broadcasters."

SEEMO calls on the Kosovo authorities to investigate an attack with automatic weapons on the building and studio of the radio station Kolašsin in Zubin Potok, which occurred on April 16.

SEEMO welcomes the police investigation into, and criminal charges brought against, the chief of the heating plant in Niš in Serbia, and two other persons, after death threats against Predrag Blagojević, a journalist and web editor of Južne Vesti.

SEEMO Secretary- General Oliver Vujović urges Serbian authorities to keep the promise they made to investigate the three unsolved killings of journalists in Serbia: Radislava Dada Vujasniović,; Slavko Ćuruvija, and Milan Pantić. The authorities in Belgrade must ensure that both the perpetrators and masterminds are prosecuted after so many years. Vujasniović was killed in 1994, Ćuruvija in1999 and Pantić in 2001.

Finally, SEEMO is concerned at the circumstances under which Denis Latin, Ružica Renić and Katja Kušec were relieved of their positions within the Croatian public broadcaster HRT in March this year. Vujović calls on the government and the HRT management to refrain from any action that could lead to censorship and threaten editorial independence.

Speaking of the regional surge in press freedom violations as a whole, Vujović said: "I urge the authorities to create a safe environment for journalists, to investigate all forms of attacks and threats against journalists, and to cease activities that could make the work of journalists harder. Different views, and investigative reporting, need to be accepted, promoted and supported by state authorities, including through transparent investigations into all forms of attacks on journalists".