30. 10. 2003

Popovic vs. B92 in court

BELGRADE, October 30, 2003 - A hearing was held yesterday in the case against B92 and the Humanitarian Law Centre, HLC, brought by the Serbian government's former communications chief Vladimir Popovic. Popovic is suing the HLC over a statement issued during the state of emergency after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, in which it accused him of exerting pressure on the media. B92 is being sued for reporting the accusation. The former spin doctor spoke for more than two hours during yesterday's hearing, accusing B92 of leading a campaign against him because he had been the first person to claim the company's privatisation had been illegal. Popovic complained that after B92's reports his neighbours had begun avoiding him. His lawyer, Vladimir Pavicevic, accused B92 of leading a "witch hunt" against his client. B92 and the HLC, he said, want to drag the process out "and turn it into a media spectacle". Dragoljub Todorovic, the lawyer for the HLC, said he would call journalist Gordana Susa as a witness. Susa, he said, "is one of the examples of how the government pressurised the media through its Communication Bureau". Susa has accused Popovic of phoning her and issuing threats over comments made in a television programme broadcast during the state of emergency. The next hearing has been scheduled for November 20.