27. 05. 2004

Balkan editor detained

BELGRADE, May 27, 2004 – The editor-in-chief of daily Balkan, Momcilo Petrovic, was detained yesterday by the order of a magistrate in the Savski Venac police station. Petrovic was arrested in his apartment in the early morning by three police officers. After several hours in custody, it emerged that the arrest was the result of over-zealousness by a magistrate. The magistrate, on the demand of the First Municipal Prosecution, had tried a case against Petrovic over publication by Balkan of statements by Miladin Suvajdzic and Dusan Krsmanovic. Both had been arrested in the police crackdown on organised crime in the wake of the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic. The trial, which began in October 2003, is scheduled to resume on September 29 this year.