24. 10. 2004

Paper claims journalist under surveillance

BELGRADE, October 24, 2004 – Belgrade daily Danas claims to have information proving that journalist Vuk Cvijic was under surveillance by secret police in 2001. The daily has demanded a full investigation of the case in order to reveal who was responsible for ordering Cvijic to be put under surveillance. Danas claims to have seen documents which clearly show that the journalist was under police observation in 2001. Two of his telephone calls, on June 8 and 22 of that year were monitored by police, claims the paper. The operations codes for these were Cer 1 and Cer M and the codename of the operation was Sumadija. The initials of the police operative are S.J., says Danas. At the time of the alleged surveillance, the head of Serbian State Security was Goran Petrovic and Milorad Bracanovic commanded the surveillance bureau. Bracanovic has since been charged with being an accessory to the murder of former Serbian president Ivan Stambolic. Cvijic said today that it is important to discover the truth behind the allegations to determine the extent to which police harass journalists. Asked how he had reacted when the allegations surfaced in the newsroom, Cvijic said that he was shocked. “I hadn’t expected anything like this. I didn’t think my work was of any interest to anybody. If this is true, then anyone could have been monitored, all my colleagues. These conservations were of no relevance to anything, completely unimportant,” he said. Danas editor-in-chief Grujica Spasovic said that the paper will continue to press the case to the end. He also discussed the reasons for releasing the information about the surveillance of Cvijic. “There are three reasons we have done this. The first is to warn the public that not much has changed within the secret police. The second reason is to protect our journalist who deals with crime issues very seriously and responsibly and the third reason is to finally hear directly from the police what has been done about this issue and how this kind of thing will be prevented in the future. “We shall give the gentlemen in the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Security Institute an opportunity to provide answers which are satisfactory from thus and then we shall decide on any further action after that,” said Spasovic.