His Excellency Mr. Slobodan Milosevic
President of the Republic of Serbia
Office of the President
Belgrade
Republic of Serbia

Vienna, 22 November 1994

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI) is deeply concerned about the threat to press freedom in Serbia posed by the Government’s war of attrition against the daily newspaper Borba.

We are informed that a high court has ruled that this independent paper, which was founded in 1922, lacks a legal license to publish. The court thereby upheld a government lawsuit which argued that the Borba Shareholding Co., a private firm which publishes Borba , was not legally listed on the state register of joint-stock companies. However, we understand that the same court made a decision on 5 September 1991 to enter the paper in the state register and that since then Borba has been operating as a shareholding company. The paper’s management has decided to continue to publish while it appeals against the decision.

IPI, representing publishers, editors-in-chief and leading journalists from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in 89 countries, believes the court’s decision to be a further attempt by your Government to stifle the critical voice of Borba and to strengthen its control over the country’s fledgling independent press. The maintenance and fostering of an independent, pluralistic and free media is essential to the development of democracy in Serbia. We therefore strongly urge you to allow Borba and the country’s independent press to operate without further economic or political interference.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director

CC: His Excellency Mr. Zoran Lilic
President of Yugoslavia
Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia