15. 06. 2004

ANEM to lay charges over media interference

BELGRADE, June 15, 2004 – The managing board of ANEM has resolved to press charges against those responsible for the disruption of electronic media in 2000. At a meeting in Belgrade on June 9, 2004, ANEM became acquainted with the contents of Vladan Vlajkovic’s book Top Secret, which is published by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. The book includes minutes from a meeting held on July 18, 2000. The meeting was attended by, among others, the chief of staff of the Yugoslav Army, the Yugoslav Minister for Information and the chief of Serbia’s Security Police. According to the minutes of this meeting of the state and military officials of the day, a strategy for disruption of the independent electronic media in the country was discussed. The minutes are the first documented evidence which could reveal who was responsible for media disruptions leading up to October 5, 2000 in which member stations of the Association of Independent Electronic Media suffered the most damage. Because of this, the management board of ANEM has decided to press charges in order to establish the responsibility of those who ordered this violation of the right to freedom of information, said ANEM in a statement.