used without permission, for "fair use" only

$240,000 Fine

by Aleksandra Hristov

Dnevni Telegraf, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, October 26, 1998

Belgrade: On October 24 1998, City Court judge Mirko Djordjevic fined Slavko Curuvija, as the founder of the magazine Evropljanin and the company De Te Press as the publisher of the magazine with $80,000 each, while Dragan Bujosevic, the editor-in-chief of Evropljanin, and Ivan Tadic, director of De Te Press were fined with $40,000 each. The total fine is $240,000 [for comparison, In October 1998, the average salary in FR Yugoslavia was approximately $1500 for 12 months].

The fine is the result of a suit by the Belgrade Patriotic League; the suit was initiated because the "human, ethnic, and civic rights" of the League members were violated by several articles published in Evropljanin, and it was based on the recently enacted Serbian Law on Public Information.
The judge dismissed the claim by the defense lawyers that the controversial articles had been written and the magazine had been printed and released for distribution before the enactment of the Law on Public Information.
"I want to call on Article 48 of the Serbian Constitution which states that every citizen has the right to publicly criticize the work of state and other institutions, organizations and officials... A citizen cannot be prosecuted, nor punished for the statements made in the public criticism, petition or suggestion, unless these statements constitute a crime. My colleague Aleksandar Tijanic and I, as two citizens, believed that the President and his team had endangered the state and nation; consequently we sent the letter to him and published it in the magazine. I am not guilty, do not consider myself accused of anything and do not understand why I am here," said Slavko Curuvija.
The judge also dismissed the defenses claim that the magazine Evropljanin hadn't been warned by the Serbian Ministry of Information before the suit, as the Law specifies.
Since Mirko Djordjevic, city court judge, refused to summon as witnesses, in order to establish the truthfulness of the published information, Vojin DImitrijevic, Kosta Cavoski, Dragor Hilber, all professors at Belgrade University Law School, as well as Vojislav Seselj and Milovan Bojic, vice-presidents in the Serbian Government, and Slobodan Milosevic, the president of FRY, the defense demanded that he be exempted from the case. However, after a 30 minute break, Mirko Djordjevic announced that the demand was rejected and continued the hearing.

You can send your comments directly to the responsible officials at the following addresses:

His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Fax: 381 11 656 862
381 11 636 775
e-mail: Slobodan.Milosevic@gov.yu

Mirko Marjanovic
Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic of Serbia
11000 Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Fax: 381 11 657 379

Mr. Goran Matic
Secretary for Information
Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
Fax: 381 11 600 446
e-mail: Goran.Matic@gov.yu

Mr. Aleksandar Vucic
Minister of Information in the Government of the Republic of Serbia
Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia
e-mail: mirs@srbija-info.yu

Translated on 10/29/98