[syndicate] Deat threats to Croatian minority magazine journalists in Serbia

[Ivo Skoric]

Come on, Andrej, I always forward IFEX alerts. It just happenes this 
time that they critique situation in Serbia. On the other hand, you 
are right about that the recent articles I came across did indeed 
criticize Serbia. But you can't blame the mirror for the image. It is 
either that all those international bodies are corrupt and anti-Serb, 
or that there is something stinking rotten in Serbia. 

I am in a weaker position than you (since you live in Serbia) to 
assess whether the reports are right, or not. Since you believe they 
are not, I would welcome to listen to your take on the situation in 
Serbia and reasons why there are so many negative reports from 
independent sources coming out. 

As for Serbs expelled from Croatia, and still living like refugees in 
Serbia, that's bad, but that is a separate issue. Recently, Sanader, 
Croatian prime minister announced that Croatia will repatriate them. 
The previous prime minister Racan promised the same, though, and did 
not deliver. Racan, unfortunately, hardly delivered on anything he 
said. I think we should give the new prime minister about a year to 
see whether he will honor his Christmass promise to Croatia's Serbs. 

Do you know for sure that those threats were issued by a Serb 
refugee, and not by a Serb from Serbia? Are you positive that he was 
drunk? Neither of those mitigate the seriousness of the threat, but 
would at least help explain it better. "Once in 10 years" - that is a 
stretch, given that some drunken Serbs were involved in far more 
serious ethnic crimes than verbal threats as late as 5 years ago....

ivo

On 17 Jan 2004 at 14:00, Andrej Tisma wrote:

Very interesting Ivo, your choice of articles from the press recently
is anti-Serb I can remark. And what is strange about those  "clearly
anti-Croatian threats" when you know well that Croatia has expelled
over 200,000 Serbs in the last Balkan war. They live mostly in Serbia
and are not aloud to come back to their own land and homes in 
Croatia.
So if once in 10 years some drunk Serb refugee tells some verbal
threats to Croatian magazine which is freely published in Serbia, is
that a cause for alarm? No, it is again stinking anti-Serb 
propaganda.
Andrej


______________________________________
Andrej Tisma -  artist, art critic and curator
WEBSITE: http://www.pcpages.com/justart/

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo at reporters.net>
To: "ed Agro" <edagro at verizon.net>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 6:09 PM
Subject: [syndicate] Deat threats to Croatian minority magazine
journalists in Serbia


> IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
> _________________________________________________________________
>
> PRESS RELEASE/ALERT - SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
>
> 15 January 2004
>
> Journalists receive death threats
>
> SOURCE: International Press Institute (IPI), Vienna
>
> (IPI/IFEX) - The following is a press release by the South East
> Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an IPI affiliate:
>
> VERBAL THREATS AGAINST JOURNALISTS IN SERBIA
>
> Vienna, 15 January 2004
>
> The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), a
> network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in
> South East Europe and an affiliate of the International Press
> Institute (IPI), is deeply concerned about the verbal threats
> directed against editors and journalists working at Hrvatske rijeci,
> a magazine for the Croatian minority, which is published in
> Subotica, Serbia.
>
> On 13 January 2004, Hrvatske rijeci received three threatening
> telephone calls. According to SEEMO's sources, the threats were
> clearly anti-Croatian in content. In the first call, the voice said
> that if the magazine continued to publish, he would kill the staff.
> In the second call, the same voice said, "You are all dead." In the
> third call, he used swearwords. On 14 January, the magazine received
> two further anonymous threatening phone calls.
>
> As SEEMO has been informed, these threats against Hrvatske rijeci
> are part of a campaign of intimidation carried out against the
> Croatian minority in Vojvodina, Serbia, over the past two weeks.
> Until now, no one has been arrested by police. SEEMO Secretary
> General Oliver Vujovic expressed alarm "that all of these cases
> happened in a multi- ethnic region, such as Vojvodina, and after the
> December elections in Serbia."
>
> SEEMO calls upon the authorities in Serbia, as well as the local
> authorities in Vojvodina, to carry out an immediate and thorough
> investigation and to bring to justice those responsible. We further
> urge the authorities to do everything possible to ensure that
> journalists and other media workers in Serbia are able to safely
> carry out their profession.
>
> For further information, contact IPI at Spiegelgasse 2/29, A-1010
> Vienna, Austria, tel: +43 1 512 90 11, fax: +43 1 512 90 14, e-mail:
> ipi at freemedia.at, Internet site: http://www.freemedia.at, or SEEMO,
> Spiegelgasse 2/29, 1010 Vienna, Austria, tel (SEEMO+HELP LINE): +43
> 1 513 39 40,  tel (SEEMO): +43 1 512 90 11 11,  fax: +43 1 512 90
> 15, e- mail: info at seemo.org, Internet site://www.seemo.org
>
>
>


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