used without permission, for "fair use" only

"Prime Minister Told Me..."

William Montgomery confirmed NIN's reports that Vladimir-Beba Popovic was behind the attack by TV Pink on Veran Matic, which led to his removal from the post in the Communications Bureau of the Government of Serbia

NIN, Belgrade, Serbia, Serbia-Montenegro, June 26, 2003

Chance would have it that the dispute between NIN and Vladimir Popovic has an American angle as well. Our journalist Marijana Milosavljevic mentioned in the article published in April of this year, under headline "Refreshed marathon runner", circumstances under which Vladimir Popovic was removed for a period of time from the Communications Bureau of the Government of Serbia last year. This article became an object of a lawsuit filed by Popovic against NIN. In the article Milosavljevic speculated that Popovic was removed due to American pressure motivated by the media campaign against B92 and Veran Matic, orchestrated by Popovic.

In a conversation with editors of NIN, ambassador Montgomery gave a statement that will help us prove that our reporting about Vladimir Popovic and his role on the media scene in Serbia was truthful and accurate.

"When attacks on B92 and Veran Matic started, we observed that with interest and concern. At one moment, after the start of a series of attacks in the newspaper Publika [pro-government daily published in Montenegro] and on TV Pink, posters with the portrait of Veran Matic appeared in Belgrade. Posters were supposed to resemble an arrest warrant. Given the effect this campaign could have on personal safety of Veran Matic, I was sufficiently concerned to ask Prime Minister Djindjic during our next meeting what he knew about the campaign.

"Prime Minister Djindjic responded without hesitation that Vladimir-Beba Popovic was behind these attacks. I was rather surprised. I asked for details. Djindjic explained that Beba Popovic had kept calling Zeljko Mitrovic [owner of TV Pink] and demanding more and new attacks on Veran Matic and B92, and that he had done that without Prime Minister's knowledge. Djindjic explained that he had discussed the campaign with Zeljko Mitrovic and that Zeljko had confirmed that calls had come from Beba and that Mitrovic assumed the Prime Minister was aware of the calls. Djindjic told Mitrovic that he did not know anything about that and that the attacks should be stopped. The Prime Minister said that Beba Popovic had left and was not working for the Bureau anymore. He did not say that he had resigned, only that he was not doing his job anymore," William Montgomery concluded.

Mitrovic Denies

NIN approached Zeljko Mitrovic with the request to comment on William Montgomery's assertions.

"Out of respect for the late Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, I cannot permit myself to comment on topics, especially those that you did not write about and those you decided to ignore, which have to do with undoubtedly illegal privatization of B92 in which Veran Matic, without a tender, turned a socially owned enterprise B92 into his private property.

"As far as Vladimir Popovic is concerned, at that time I did not discuss B92 with him," Zeljko Mitrovic concluded.

Translated on February 4, 2004