Constitutional Court abolishes media fines

The Constitutional Court of Serbia ruled that draconian money fines in Serbia's media law were unconstitutional.

Izvor: Beta

Friday, 23.07.2010.

09:21

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The Constitutional Court of Serbia ruled that draconian money fines in Serbia's media law were unconstitutional. The court met on Thursday in Belgrade and said that decrees of the Law on Amendments and Additions to the Law on Public Information on monetary fines for the media were unconstitutional because they violated media freedom and freedom of expression. Constitutional Court abolishes media fines The court said that the obligation to enter into the register of public organs was not in violation of the Constitution or international law, but it considered the decree which connected entering the register and a ban of publishing as unconstitutional. According to the court, also unconstitutional are decrees which treat violations of the assumption of innocence and the protection of the rights of children as economic offenses because by their very nature they do not damage economic or financial business. It was also decided that law decrees which relate to the obligation of prosecutors and courts to begin proceedings and hand down fines to public bodies were also not in line with the Constitution and international law, as well as the decree according to which only domestic legal entities could found a public body. "The threat of heavy fines could bring into question the survival of the media, and even more dangerously, they could lead to self-censorship, because neither the founder nor those employed in the media will be free from wondering whether they will be threatened by a fine for something that ought to be said freely," said Judge Vesna Ilic-Prelic. She added that under the amendments and additions to the Public Information Law, the proscribed fines for economic offenses were significantly larger than the maximum defined by the Law on Economic Offenses, which defeated the principle of a united legal system.

Constitutional Court abolishes media fines

The court said that the obligation to enter into the register of public organs was not in violation of the Constitution or international law, but it considered the decree which connected entering the register and a ban of publishing as unconstitutional.

According to the court, also unconstitutional are decrees which treat violations of the assumption of innocence and the protection of the rights of children as economic offenses because by their very nature they do not damage economic or financial business.

It was also decided that law decrees which relate to the obligation of prosecutors and courts to begin proceedings and hand down fines to public bodies were also not in line with the Constitution and international law, as well as the decree according to which only domestic legal entities could found a public body.

"The threat of heavy fines could bring into question the survival of the media, and even more dangerously, they could lead to self-censorship, because neither the founder nor those employed in the media will be free from wondering whether they will be threatened by a fine for something that ought to be said freely," said Judge Vesna Ilić-Prelić.

She added that under the amendments and additions to the Public Information Law, the proscribed fines for economic offenses were significantly larger than the maximum defined by the Law on Economic Offenses, which defeated the principle of a united legal system.

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