13. 07. 2006

MUNICIPAL PROSECUTOR: INVESTIGATE CEKIĆ

BELGRADE, July 13, 2006 (Beta) - The First municipal court in Belgrade received a demand to investigate the Broadcasting Agency chairman Nenad Cekić. He is suspected of unconscientious work in public service. Ana Milošević, the court’s spokeswoman, told the Beta news agency that the process will be accelerated because the felony can lead to a fine or three years in prison. In a case brought by the BK Television, the municipal prosecutor’s office submitted a request to the court to start proceedings into an investigation and the judge will determine the date for the Broadcasting Agency’s chairman to be interviewed at a later date, the spokeswoman clarified. Aside from Cekić, witnesses will also be interviewed, and documents related to the matter reviewed. The prosecutor will base his decision whether to bring forward the charges on the results of these proceedings. According to the Blic daily report, the prosecution suggests that Cekić should be interviewed on the following: in what way and in accordance to which procedure was the decision to revoke TV BK’s broadcasting license made, and why the said television was never presented with evidence used to base that decision on. The Broadcasting Agency deputy chairman Aleksandar Vasić told the Beta news agency that it was ‘scandalous’ for the court to conduct its proceedings via the media and that the ‘leak’ of false information represents a form of pressuring and independent regulatory agency, which is forbidden by law. ‘It is absurd that there is an investigation against a member of a collective body that reaches all its decisions by vote. Cekić is the Broadcasting Agency’s chairman; there are ten members in all’, Vasić emphasized. According to him, the ‘public campaign’ looks like it might have those who lost the broadcasting license behind it. Vasić stated that court representatives prejudiced the proceedings by publicly announcing possible penalties.