01. 04. 2011

ANEM: PROTEST OVER THE MILLION LAWSUIT THREAT AGAINST RADIO 021 FROM NOVI SAD

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strenuously protests over the enormous damage claims and legal threats against the ANEM-member station, the Novi Sad-based Radio 021.

Radio 021's press release says that the Director of the public utility company "Water Management and Sewerage" in Novi Sad, Branko Bjelajac, has claimed one million dinars of damages, threatening to file a lawsuit. In the memo signed by his attorney, Bjelajac is claiming the said amount over the comments posted by the visitors of the website of the radio station www.021.rs, to the news that the State Audit Institution has started an audit of the business of the public utility company "Water Management and Sewerage".

The memo particularly emphasized a comment saying that the citizens of Novi Sad drank the worst water in the region, "enriched" by worms and heavy metals. Bjelajac accuses Radio 021 of "disturbing the citizens" by posting such a comment. Paradoxically, it seems that Bjelajac believes that the citizens must be reassured by him getting one million dinars in damages.

In an era where exercising the right to freedom of expression transcends the mere duty of the state to refrain from restricting anyone's right to collect, receive and communicate information, involving rather the obligation to give an active contribution and incentive to quality information for the citizens, ANEM believes it is completely unacceptable that the state, through the representatives of government or persons appointed by the government on management position in state institutions or public companies, actually narrows down the space for a public debate in the media about matters of public interest, by allowing that the said representatives or persons threaten the media with ridiculous damage claims.

Issues related to the financial operations of public companies, and particularly those concerning the quality and suitability of drinking water in Serbia, are definitively such matters. That said, the presence of nematode worms in the controlled sample of drinking water from the tank of the water plant in Novi Sad's water system and sewerage was confirmed last summer by the Public Health Institute of Vojvodina. Moreover, the latest report on the fitness of drinking water in Novi Sad, available on the website of the Public Health Institute of Vojvodina, dates back from December last year. According to that report, 33.41% controlled samples from the tank of the water plant in Novi Sad's water and sewerage system of the public utility company "Water Management and Sewerage" were established to be physically and chemically unfit, with the most frequent cause of such unfitness being the increased concentration of manganese.

ANEM wishes to express its full solidarity with the journalists and editors of Radio 021 and calls upon the competent authorities in Novi Sad to review, condemn and sanction the unacceptable actions of persons appointed to the managing positions in public utility companies. In the interest of further democratization of society, ANEM believes that conditions need to be ensured for the citizens to be fully informed about matters of public interest, without journalists fearing legal prosecution, which ultimately leads to self-censorship.

ANEM President, Sasa Mirkovic