H. E. Slobodan Milosevic
President
Republic of Serbia

Vienna, 23 January 1997

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors and media executives from newspapers, magazines, broadcasting organisations and news agencies in over 90 countries, strongly condemns the forceful occupation by Serb authorities of RTK, the broadcasting station of Kragujevac.

IPI is informed that the Socialist Party (SPS) recently enacted legislation under which the RTK Kragujevac would be merged with the national, government-run Radio and Television Serbia (RTS). However, this measure was quashed on appeal by the Belgrade Commerce Tribunal on the grounds that the right of the new Zajedno-dominated city assembly to appoint new management at the Kragujevac station took precedence. We are further informed that Serb Minster of Culture, Nada Popovic-Perisic, agreed to formally vacate RTK Kragujevac at 8 a.m. on Wednesday. The authorities reneged on this agreement and instead ordered the police force to occupy the building.

A further cause for grave concern is the detention by the police of two Associated Press cameramen and the confiscation of their tapes. Members of the press, both domestic and international, must be permitted to carry out their profession without interference. These acts are a flagrant violation of the right to “seek, receive and impart information through any media and regardless of frontiers,” as proclaimed in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

IPI views these incidents as yet more examples of the SPS resistance to Democratic reforms. We strongly urge you to respect the decision made by the Belgrade Commerce Tribunal and relinquish control of the broadcasting station immediately, and to allow the media to operate without further interference.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director