18. 03. 2005

STUDY VISIT TO THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

BELGRADE, March 18, 2005 – Belgrade Prosecution for war crimes has organized a study tour to the Hague Tribunal for representatives of the Serbian media. During a four-day visit, around fifteen journalists from Serbia had a chance to get acquainted with the way of functioning of the International Crime Tribunal and meet high officials of the prosecution, court and secretariat of the Tribunal. At the meeting held with Deputy Prosecutor David Tolbert and adviser of the chief prosecutor Anton Nikiforov, journalists discussed the Tribunal’s work perception in Serbia. The journalists acknowledged that the bias reporting of the Serbian media on the work of the International Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague was, without doubt, the result of the influence that various formal and informal groups opposing the cooperation with the Tribunal were exerting on the media. The glorification of the indicted and obstruction of cooperation with The Hague resulted mainly from the journalists’ unawareness of the Tribunal’s work. The study visit included journalists from Radio Television Serbia, Studio B, BKTV, TV B92, TV 5 from Nis, dailies Vecernje Novosti, Politika, Glas Javnosti, Blic, Kurir, Balkan, weekly NIN, TANJUG and FoNet.