H.E. Slobodan Milosevic
President of Yugoslavia
Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Vienna, 24 October 1998

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI); the global network of editors and media executives, strongly condemns the repressive action taken against Evropljanin (European) magazine in a Belgrade court on October 23. IPI has been informed that the court found that articles and illustrations in the most recent issue of Evropljanin violated Article 67 of the new Public Information Law.

As we indicated in previous correspondence, IPI views this law as a draconian measure intended to silence the critical voice of the independent media in Yugoslavia. It is imperative that in times of crisis the public are provided access to diverse published opinion to keep them fully informed, to stimulate the public debate and to enable them to adequately evaluate the actions of their representatives. This law is evidently designed to stifle debate, curb dissent and to present the public with only the authorities’ perspective.

According to our information, the court upheld charges filed against Evropljanin’s publishing company, its publisher Ivan Tadic, and editors Slavco Curuvija and Dragan Bujusevic. Exorbitant fines were handed out to these first victims of the new law in what we see as a calculated move to force the magazine to cease publishing. Slavko Curuvija was fined 800,000 Dinars ($US 80,000 approx.), Dragan Bujosevic and Ivan Tadic were fined 400,000 Dinars each, and DeTePress – the publishing company – was penalised to the sum of 800,000 Dinars. IPI firmly believes that there are absolutely no grounds for a conviction and that the court failed to recognize everyone’s right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas,” as guaranteed by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The law is also in clear violation of the European Convention of Human Rights, to which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a signatory, and violates Article 46 of the Serbian Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of the media and prohibits censorship.

We urge you to immediately revoke this repressive law , to overturn all convictions related to it, and to abandon your campaign to clamp down on the independent media.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director