28. 11. 2011

MEDIA AND JOURNALISTS' ASSOCIATIONS DEMAND PROTECTION FOR ANEM MEMBER STATION RADIO EMA FROM BUJANOVAC

Joint statement by ANEM, UNS, NUNS, NDNV and Local Press

November 28, 2011 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS), Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) and Local Press demand protection for one of ANEM members, Radio Ema from Bujanovac, and its owner and director, Oliver Trajkovic. They received a letter of warning last week, ordering them to pay fines in the total amount of 250.000 RSD. Oliver Trajkovic has been informed of the possibility that the fine might be replaced by a prison sentence.

These penalties are a result of legal proceedings related to an economic misdemeanor and initiated by the prosecutor's office on the basis of a claim submitted by OFPS. The claim alleges that the station had failed to deliver proper musical files with a complete list of the music aired by the station. The Commercial Court in Leskovac fined Radio Ema with 200.000 RSD, while Oliver Trajkovic as a responsible person was fined with another 50.000 dinars.

In the meantime, appeals and requests for a retrial submitted by Oliver Trajkovic and Radio Ema have been rejected. The Court has failed to take into account the fact that at the time during which, according to charges, Radio Ema was not delivering the lists of aired music to OFPS, the Rulebook and the Tariff issued by OPFS itself had stipulated two completely different and mutually exclusive procedures for delivery of the lists. At the same time, the Rulebook was illegal and contrary to the Constitution, as was later established by the Intellectual Property Office.

In their request for a retrial, Oliver Trajkovic and Radio Ema pointed out that the verdict against them was passed in January 2011 and that therefore they were not able to submit a Notice issued by the Intellectual Property Office as evidence in their defense. The Intellectual Property Office has a monitoring authority and, in March this year, it issued the Notice ordering OFPS to change the provisions of its disputed Rulebook because it was contrary to law and the Constitution. Acting on the Office's demand, OFPS modified its Rulebook in April. However, the Commercial Court in Leskovac has not deemed this a ground for a retrial.

As a result of these absurd circumstances, a situation has been created in which a state body, the Intellectual Property Office, declares the OFPS Rulebook regulating the delivery of musical lists as illegal, while at the same time the Commercial Court in Leskovac punishes Radio Ema and Oliver Trajkovic for their failure to adhere to the very same - and illegal - Rulebook, and orders them to pay astronomical fines, which they cannot afford to pay. Trajkovic has also received a letter warning him that the fine might be replaced with a prison sentence.

Media and journalists' associations call on the authorities to find a solution to annul this obviously illegal verdict, save Radio Ema from closure and Oliver Trajkovic from being imprisoned.

ANEM President,

Sasa Mirkovic