FILIPOVIC (AND MEDIA FREEDOM) WITH NO DEFENDERS IN THE GREEK MEDIA       

AIM

ATHENS, July 28, 2000 - Miroslav Filipovic was convicted by a military court in Nis (Serbia), on 26 July 2000, to seven years in prison for spying and disseminating false information. An eyewitness trial report of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), based in New York mentioned that, according to the court decision, Filipovic was found guilty of “deliberately collecting, processing, and sending sensitive military material to foreign organisations---namely the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) in London and Agence France Presse (AFP) in Paris.” Presiding Judge Col.

Radenko Miladinovic added that Filipovic had written about alleged Yugoslav Army atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo during last year’s NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia, and that he had described Yugoslav military strategy as “the tactics of killing and burning.” Filipovic specifically alleged that army and Serbian police forces had looted deserted Albanian villages and killed Albanian women and children, Judge Miladinovic said.

Twenty-four hours later, the whole international freedom of expression community condemned the verdict and the persistent violation of freedom of expression in Yugoslavia.

All this may be by now well known in Yugoslavia proper, the other Balkan countries and the rest of Europe, where most sensible people will share in the indignation for this unprecedented conviction of a journalist for reporting the truth. But hardly any Greek would have noticed. Worse, if s/he did so, s/he would have gotten the impression that there was perhaps some truth to the charges as the rare references to the issue were ”neutral” and lacked any mention of the media community reactions.

Characteristic was the initial coverage in the English edition of ”Kathimerini,” inserted daily in the “International Herald Tribune”’s Athens edition (http://www.k-english.com/content.asp?id=41502&ekd=y). One of its “Balkan Briefs” on 27 July was “Yugoslav court jails Serb reporter for 7 years.” It read: “NIS - A Yugoslav military court sentenced a Serb journalist who reported allegations of army atrocities in Kosovo last year to seven years in prison yesterday for espionage and spreading false information. Miroslav Filipovic, who has been in military detention for more than two months, worked for the Belgrade-based independent daily Danas, the French news agency Agence France-Presse and the London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting. Judge Radenko Miladinovic read out the verdict after a two-day trial in the Serbian town of Nis. He said Filipovic, 49, received five years ‘because from mid-June 1999 to May 2000 he obtained secret military data with the intention of forwarding them to the foreign organizations IWPR and the AFP news agency.’ ‘This court has concluded beyond any doubt that you have obtained secret military data,’ he told the defendant.” The two dailies, usually sensitive to human rights issues, “Avghi” and ”Eleftherotypia” had no more than short references in their general articles on the announcement of the Yugoslav elections, in their 28 July editions. The latter wrote nothing on 27 July, while the former carried a short story similar to the “Kathimerini” one. With two exceptions, Greece’s other main dailies had no reference at all on 28 July, despite the considerable number of statements by the main freedom of the media inter- and non-governmental organizations, as well as by the EU. “To Vima,” ”Kathimerini” (in both its Greek and English editions), “Rizospastis,” ”Exousia,” “Apogevmatini,” “Eleftheros Typos,” “Ethnos” were silent. “Ta Nea,” in a column known to publish international stories that not seen elsewhere in the Greek press, ran the only Greek-language separate and somewhat comprehensive article, in which Filipovic’s Internet award and the Amnesty International statement before the trial (but none other NGO statement after it) were mentioned. The only correct coverage was that of the other English-language daily “Athens News” (http://athensnews.dolnet.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=12711&m=A04&a a=2&eidos=S) under the meaningful title “Verdict against Serbian journalist denounced” with the emphasis on the international reactions.

This attitude of the Greek press was in sharp contrast to the other recent ”journalists or spies?” case, that of the Turkish-Cypriot editor and photographer of “Avrupa,” arrested in early July 2000, charged with ”espionage” but released in mid-July. Their persecution by the Denktash regime, that uses similar methods with those of the Milosevic one, was also condemned by the usual international freedom of expression NGOs. Here, the whole Greek press played up the story and the condemnations were amply mentioned. Just as the regular condemnations of freedom of expression violations in Turkey are always covered by the Greek media, which, however, hardly ever make any reference to the even more abundant similar violations in Serbia.

Regrettably, once more, the Greek press confirms that its pretense of interest in the defense of the freedom of expression is dependent on the political identity of the violator and the medium of the victim of the violation. Critical journalists in countries with regimes that have many friends in the Greek media (like Russia and Yugoslavia) will not find many defenders of their journalistic freedom in the Greek press. If, on top of that, they are correspondents of Western media, usually accused in Greece of anti-Greek, anti-Serb, anti-Russian, etc. attitude, they stand no chance of having their problem even mentioned in Greek newspapers. After all, in recent years, some Western media correspondents in Greece have been the target of nasty attacks by Greek media and the government, and hardly anyone voiced their disagreement.

Panayote Dimitras

CHRIS PATTEN'S PRESS RELEASE

EU

BRUSSELS, July 27, 2000 - I deplore and am deeply shocked by the sentence handed down by a military court in Serbia, following a closed trial, on the respected European Internet Journalist of the Year, Miroslav Filipovic.  This was a show trial, with one purpose only: to intimidate the free press in Serbia and to hide from its people what is really happening to their country.  Only a cowardly regime behaves like this.  I join with others in calling upon the judges who consider Mr Filipovic’s appeal to behave with more integrity than the court which passed this sentence.  I reaffirm the commitment of the European Commission to stand by Serbia’s brave independent journalists in their hour of need.

Commissioner Chris PATTEN

CPJ PROTESTS "OUTRAGEOUS" COURT DECISION

NEW YORK, July 26, 2000 --- Miroslav Filipovic, a leading Serbian investigative journalist charged with espionage and spreading false information for his coverage of alleged atrocities committed by Yugoslav Army soldiers in Kosovo during the 1999 NATO bombardment, has been found guilty and sentenced to seven years in prison, according to CPJ's local sources and international news agencies. A military tribunal in the town of Nis announced the verdict on Wednesday after one day of court proceedings, mostly held behind closed doors. "We are outraged by the court's decision," said CPJ executive director Ann Cooper. "It once again proves that the Milosevic regime's campaign to stifle independent journalism in Yugoslavia is unconstrained by law, shame, or good sense."

JOURNALIST MIROSLAV FILIPOVIC SENTENCED TO SEVEN-YEAR PRISON TERM: RSF

Reporters sans frontières (RSF)

PARIS - 26 July 2000 - In a letter to the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, RSF expressed its indignation over the seven year jail sentence received by Serbian journalist Miroslav Filipovic for "espionage" and "spreading false information". This sentence, the heaviest yet imposed on a journalist by the Serbian authorities, is an additional step in the Yugoslavian authorities' policy of repression against press freedom and freelance journalists," explained RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. He added that "press freedom is totally flouted by Slobodan Milosevic's regime, which readily takes extensive measures to gag the independent press: fines, threats, licence withdrawals, restrictions on the delivery of newsprint, arrests and now imprisonment of journalists who express opinions contrary to those of the government." RSF demanded Filipovic's "immediate release, and the withdrawal of charges against him". The organisation recalled that in January 2000, the United Nations special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression stated that "imprisonment for the non-violent expression of an opinion is a serious violation of human rights." According to information gathered by RSF, on 26 July, Filipovic, a correspondent for the independent daily "Danas" and Agence France-Presse in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo, was sentenced to five years in jail for "espionage" and three years for "spreading false information" by the Nis military court. The presiding judge finally decided to sentence the journalist to a single seven-year term. Filipovic, first arrested on 8 May in his Kraljevo flat by members of the security police, was released on 12 May. He was again detained ten days later. On 13 June, he was charged with "espionage and spreading false information". The indictment was based on articles about the activities of the Yugoslavian army, published on the Internet site of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an independent London-based organisation for which the journalist is also a correspondent. Filipovic had notably gathered testimonies by members of the Yugoslavian army, condemning Serbian acts of violence in Kosovo. He has decided to appeal to the Military Supreme Court. RSF pointed out that since the beginning of the year, approximately fifteen independent media have been closed in Serbia. Over 200 electronic media have been unable to renew their licenses and are threatened with closure. About thirty media have been sentenced to pay heavy fines amounting to a total of 28 million dinars (US$2.4 million, 2.6 million euros) over the past 20 months. For further information, contact:

Anne Madelain or Lucie Morillon
Europe Desk
Reporters sans frontieres
5, rue Geoffroy Marie
75 009 Paris, France
tel. 33 (1) 44 83 84 84, fax 33 (1) 45 23 11 51
email : europe@rsf.fr

AWARD-WINNING SERBIAN JOURNALIST JAILED FOR SEVEN YEARS

NIS, 26.7.2000 -- Miroslav Filipovic, the Kraljevo correspondent for France Presse and Danas was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment this afternoon after being convicted of espionage and the dissemination of false information by the Nis Military Court. The court was closed yesterday for the hearing of the espionage charges against Filipovic, but reopened for the second part of the trial, the charge of disseminating false information. Filipovic was convicted over the same articles for which he won an international award for Internet journalism earlier this year. Filipovic's lawyer, Zoran Ateljevic, told media that the conviction was a first degree ruling and the court was obliged to provide a written judgement within the next fifteen days. An appeal would be lodged with the Supreme Military Court in Belgrade, said Ateljevic, adding that the appeal proceedings must be completed within ninety days. Ateljevic had told Radio B2-92 earlier today that the prosecutor himself had demonstrated that the charges were false by admitting that all Filipovic's activities had been related to his work as a journalist.

DANAS STAFF SHOCKED BY VERDICT: EDITOR

BELGRADE, 26.7.2000 -- The staff of Danas are shocked by the jailing of Miroslav Filipovic, the Belgrade daily's editor-in-chief, Grujica Spasovic, said this evening. Filipovic, who is the paper's Kraljevo correspondent, is not a spy, said Spasovic, adding that the company would assist in any possible to have the verdict overturned and prevent Filipovic from becoming the subject of even more alarming news. "This is a judgement against our profession and we must insist that the status of journalists in this country be normalised," said Spasovic.

JOURNALISTS ASSOCIATION ON FILIPOVIC CONVICTION

BELGRADE, 26.7.2000 -- The government convicted Miroslav Filipovic on espionage charges this afternoon in order to established a one-eyed view of information, the president of the Independent Association of Serbian Journalists, Gordana Susa, said this evening. "A man who writes under his own name cannot be a spy," said Susa, adding that if Filipovic had written anything illegal, court experts would have given evidence on that. However, she said, this government was afraid of experts so it used judges under its control to convict him.

CONVICTION INTENDED TO INTIMIDATE

BELGRADE, 26.7.2000 -- The aim of this trial was not just to punish one journalist and wrongfully accuse him of serious crimes, it was to intimidate all those who revealed truth to the public, according to Veran Matic, President of ANEM, speaking to B2-92 about Filipovic's conviction. "Behind this conviction there's an intention to reduce the number of those who are effectively resisting the regime," he concluded.

STAFF TOTALLY COMMITTED TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION: FRANCE PRESSE

BELGRADE, 26.7.2000 -- France Presse news agency (AFP) staff expressed deep regret over the conviction of their Kraljevo correspondent Miroslav Filipovic in the Military Court in Nis. "Our staff are totally committed to the freedom of information," AFP announced today.

PREVIOUS | NEXT | TOP