25. 08. 2005

WAN PRESIDENT WRITES TO KOSTUNICA

BELGRADE, August 25, 2005 (B92) – Gavin O’Reilly, president of the World Association of Newspapers, wrote to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica regarding the recent attacks made on B92. O’Reilly writes that his organization is aware that the Serbian government has discussed the behavior of Minster Velimir Ilic, but is also aware that the government has refused to apologize for the insults and threats made by Ilic’s advisor Petar Lazovic which were directed at B92 journalists. “We are very concerned that one member of the government can make violent threats to journalists and not be sanctioned because of it. We are calling on you to make sure that Mr. Ilic is seriously sanctioned and to state publicly that such behavior by government ministers cannot be tolerated.” O’Reilly writes. WAN represents over 18,000 publications in 100 countries internationally.