22. 01. 2007

NGOS SEND PROTEST LETTER TO RIK

BELGRADE, January 22, 2007 (B92) - Three NGOs have sent a letter to the Republic Electoral Commission protesting the media’s understanding of electoral silence.

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Youth Initiative for Human Rights and Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights say the media and powerful individuals have abused what the NGOs call “fictitious electoral silence rule”.

The letter lists instances of such behavior, the first in connection to an explosive device allegedly being placed under LDP leader Čedomir Jovanović’s car.

“All the media, including the Public Broadcasting Service, were accomplices in hushing up the event in the name of the respect of the election silence. B92 TV even manipulated the news story and changed it several times during one newscaster only”, the letter reads, adding that B92 website “kept changing this breaking news and, for the first time, introduced self-censorship on commenting a piece of information”.

The NGOs also mention the Sunday issue of a Serbian tabloid paper, which ran front-page headline “Đinđić was not assassinated by the Zemun Clan only”. The contents of the article are described by the protest letter as “meant to accuse PM Đinđić’s closest associates of murder”, naming one of those associates – Čedomir Jovanović.

“Since the law provides no punishment for breaches of the election silence but lays down measures against those criticizing negative developments and events, we alert you at the obvious preparation of the terrain for an electoral manipulation”, the letter concludes.