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[RRE]more on Veran Matic and Radio B92
``` [More details at http://www.opennet.org/]
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Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 4:07 PM From: Drazen Pantic [mailto:drazen@opennet.org] To: felipe@xs4all.nl Subject: Serb Crackdown Continues: Radio B92 closed (fwd) Importance: High
GLOBAL BEAT ALERT:
Radio B92, leading independent media source in Serbia, is shut down; Editor in Chief Veran Matic taken into custody.
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While Serbia prepares for the expected NATO bombing, police have shut down Serbia's leading independent media outlet, Radio B92 (http://www.opennet.org/index.html).
Drazen Pantic, founder and former director of OpenNet, Radio B92's Internet department, recounts tonite's events as of 2:50 am, local time in Belgrade:
"Tonight at 2:50a.m. two technicians from the Federal Ministry for Telecommunications accompanied by 10 policemen entered the premises of B-92 and ordered the immediate closing of the radio. Police ordered all journalists to step back from their computers and mobile phones. When Veran Matic, editor in chief, entered the radio, police took him into custody without any explanation. He has not returned since."
"The official explanation is that Radio B92 has overpowered its transmission."
Radio B92 in Belgrade has been the most important voice of independent media in Serbia throughout the wars in the former Yugoslavia, and also coordinates the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), an association of 33 radio and18 television stations in Yugoslavia. Since its founding in 1989 as Serbia#185#s first independent station, B92 has developed its own Internet center (OpenNet); a book and magazine publishing department; a cultural center, an award-winning film and video department; and a CD label which features the music of young Yugoslav artists.
Veran Matic founded Radio B92, Serbia's first independent station, in May 1989. The station was subsequently banned several times, but has managed to continue broadcasting throughout the nine years of its existence. Radio B92 broadcasts a mix of new, information programs, call-in shows, entertainment and music 24 hours a day. Its news programs form the core of the ANEM Radio Network's programming, which provides independent news to listeners in upwards of 70 per cent of Yugoslavia. In addition to serving as B92's editor-in-chief, Matic also chairs ANEM, and is executive director of the International Committee for the Protection of Independent Media in Yugoslavia, FREE 2000.
For more information on the recent crackdowns on independent media in Serbia, including in Kosovo:
Date: 3/24/99 03:05 AM From: Marija Milosavljevic
RADIO B92 BANNED
Belgrade -- March 24, 1999
Radio B92 was at 2:50 this morning banned from further broadcasts.
Two technical operatives of the Yugoslav Federal Telecommunications Ministry, backed by about ten policemen, entered the premises of Radio B92 and instructed its staff immediately to discontinue broadcasts.
At the moment of the execution of the ban, four police cars and two jeeps were waiting in front of the building seating the station.
The policemen who entered the radio's studios instructed all staff present at the moment instantly to stop working on computers, switch off and put away their mobile phones and refrain from answering the terrestial phones.
Giving no justification, the policemen took the station's editor-in- chief Veran Matic along with them as soon as he entered the studios.
The telecommunications officials told the B92 staff that "the [Yugoslav] federal inspector for telecommunications had according to Article 192 Paragraph 1 of the Law on the General Administrative Procedures and to Article 1 Paragraph 1 Point 2 of the Law on the Systems of Connections passed the decision ordering Radio B92 IMMEDIATE cessation of the illegal radio-broadcasts of its radio diffusion station operating on the 92.5 MHz frequency."
The official note presented to the staff said that the "term for the enforcement of the order was IMMEDIATE, and that according to Article 86 of the Law on Systems of Connections Veran Matic was responsible for the order's implementation".
"With the purpose of preventing further operation of the radio station, the [officials] will carry out temporary seizure of radio equipment until the decision of the competent agency. Appeal does not suspend the enforcement of the ruling", the note said.
The justification of the ruling said: "On the grounds of the report of the Measurements Control Centre in Belgrade as of March 23, 1999 on the breach of the regulations in the domain of radio connections and data obtained in the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry, as well as of the control [carried out] on the spot, it has been established that:
1 A radio diffusion station operating on the 92.5 MHz frequency with the identification mark of Radio B92 is set up and operated on the location of Makedonska 22 in Belgrade.
2 The maximum deviation and breadth of the transmission exceed the allowed levels defined in the Book of Rules on Technical and Exploitation Conditions of Radio Diffusion Station on Frequency Modulated Broadcasts.
3 The said power exceeds the allowed level of 300W. This constitutes misdemeanour defined in Article 141 Paragraph 1 Point 6. Appeal against this ruling can be filed to the Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister within 8 days of its reception."
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Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 13:59:55 +0000
From: Marija Milosavljevic
B92 press release
B92 Chief Editor Released after Eight Hours in Detention
BELGRADE, March 24 -- Radio B92 Editor-in-Chief Veran Matic was released shortly before noon today after being held in police custody for more than eight hours. Matic was arrested just after three a.m. today by police accompanying inspectors from the Yugoslav Telecommunications Ministry who delivered and enforced an order banning the station's transmission. Matic is also the chairmen of ANEM, Yugoslavia's Association of Independent Electronic Media.
Neither Matic nor Radio B92's lawyers have received any official information on the reasons for Matic's arrest. During his time in police custody he was not permitted contact with his family or lawyers. He was not questioned by police.
Radio B92 was taken off the air at 2.50 a.m. when station staff complied with a written order delivered by Ministry inspectors. The inspectors seized transmission equipment, preventing the resumption of transmissions.
The arrest of Veran Matic and the disruption to Radio B92's broadcasts are part of an increasingly radical government suppression of independent media, creating unrest and fear in the people of Yugoslavia. They are also a direct message to the international community that the Serbian regime is prepared resort to such measures against its citizens as part of its confrontation with the rest of the world. Radio B92 and ANEM have warned that this can only exacerbate division, fear and unrest in the society.
The struggle for the liberation of Radio B92 is a struggle for a normal, dignified and peaceful life for us all. Radio B92 and ANEM have pledged to do all in their power to provide professional information to the people of Yugoslavia on all events in this country. Radio B92's programs will continue to be available to a huge number of Yugoslav citizens through ANEM's affiliate stations throughout the country
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