SARAJEVO, 22.03.2018.-The ending conference of the project MEDIA CIRCLE –The citizens’ response to clientelism in the media in Southeast Europe was held today in Sarajevo. None of the countries of Southeastern Europe covered by the measurement of clientelism in the media has a positive index. In the overall order, Croatia has the most favorable index (-0.32), followed by Serbia (-0.50), Montenegro (-0.55) and Macedonia (-0.58). At the bottom of the order are Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina with an index of -0.67. 

The Media clientelism index based on empirical data is measured by the political influence on the media, the existing state of the legislative and institutional framework of the media, and the key econometric measurements of the reality in which media and journalists work in the countries of Southeast Europe.

“We conducted a horizontal and vertical survey through the collection of empirical data in the countries of South-East Europe. The data gives additional insight into the individual situation in these countries “, said the director of the Partnership for Social Development Munir Podumljak who presented the goals, methodology and the basic findings of the regional research.

The burning problems detected by the survey in the countries of the sample are non-transparency of media ownership and media policies, and the involvement of persons connected with organized crime in the ownership of the media. In addition, the non-transparent impact of advertising agencies is registered, especially in digital marketing, and digital media has been recognized as a completely unregulated new power in the market.

According to the results of the survey, the situation in BiH is the worst of all countries in the region. Alem Sinanovic from the Vesta organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointed out that the research in BiH in the first year was difficult and slow due to the closure of institutions. “In the third year, we received more than 80% of the answers to our inquiries by institutions, but the most important thing is that we all got a credible way of collecting quality and empirical data,” Sinanovic said.

Nebojša Ilijevski from the Macedonian organization Public, says that the measurements in Macedonia showed the penetration of organized crime into ownership of the media. “The worst thing is the existence of ‘unpublished contracts’. Nominal owners are listed as formal owners in the court register, however, contracts between nominal and actual owners are not included in the file, “Ilijevski said.

Ana Hećimović from the Prtnership for Social Developmemt pointed out that Croatia as well has the problem of media ownership that is in the hands of members of the criminal organization, and that during the research period there was a case of suspicious and non-transparent sale of the regional newspaper Novi list.

Full media ownership transparency has been highlighted as the first priority that must be addressed by all future policies for the regulation of media space. Among the other recommendations of the research, the need for changing the political culture and practice is highlighted in which the winner in the elections receives public media as part of the “election prey”, as well as the need for free access to comprehensive media ownership registers, financial and material giving to the media, subsidies, and existing and the hidden interests of those involved in decision making on media issues, in real time to all interested citizens.

Media clientelism index covered the key questionscovered all key issues addressed by the European Commission’s media freedom guidelines and other existing media freedom freedom indexes (Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, etc.), but in a somewhat different way.

Besides to measuring the reality of the media in Southeast Europe, the Index provides a detailed insight into all aspects of the functioning of the media for decision-makers as well as for those who want to participate in public debates on media policies.

Measurement of the Index was carried out in six countries of Southeast Europe within the project Citizens’ Response to Clientelism in Media, MEDIA CIRCLE, which has been running since 2013. The lead applicant is the Partnership for Social Development from Croatia, together with a consortium of 8 organizations: Expert Forum from Romania; BH Journalists and VESTA from Bosnia and Herzegovina; Institute for Public Policy from Montenegro; Public from Macedonia; Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina and Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights from Serbia. The project is financed by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) of the Civil Society Facility (CSF) and co-financed by the Office for NGOs of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.

BEOGRAD, 22.03.2018. – Nezavisno udruženje novinara Srbije – NUNS najoštrije osuđuje postupak Nebojše Bakareca, odbornika SNS u Skupštini grada Beograda, koji je u autorskom tekstu za portal Standard.rs pokušao da diskredituje novinarke televizije N1.

Nebojši Bakarecu, jednom od najpoznatijih političkih preletača očigledno je veoma zasmetala emisija televizije N1 “Oprostite mi moju prošlost” posvećena partijskim igračima koji, po rečima autorke, “kažu da su evoluirali i promenili uverenja, ali često menjaju samo stranku” i čija se politička selidba odvija samo u pravcu prema vlasti.

NUNS smatra i da je portal Standard.rs nagrublje prekršio profesionalne i etičke standarde objavljivanjem teksta u kojem se Bakarec obračunava sa autorkom pomenute emisije, monipulišući podacima iz porodične biografije njene koleginice i prijateljice Maje Sikimić.

Izvršni odbor NUNS-a

NIŠ, 21.03.2018. – Ni nakon godinu dana otkako je glavni urednik Južnih vesti Predrag Blagojević prijavio policiji da ga nepoznata osoba snima kamerom iz automobila parkiranog ispred Suda u centru Niša, kako kažu u Osnovnom javnom tužilaštvu, istraga ne napreduje. U Tužilaštvu dodaju da su im iz Policijske uprave Niš poslednji put poslali izveštaj pre 8 meseci.

U večernjim satima 21. marta 2017. godine, Blagojević je primetio da je u njega neko uperio objektiv kamere iz nepropisno parkiranog “golfa 5”, sa registracijom NI 094 ŽČ. Uprkos svim poznatim podacima, fotografiji automobila i prijavi policiji, istraga već godinu dana “tapka u mestu”.

U Tužilaštvu kažu da nije poznat vlasnik automobila, niti identitet osobe za kamerom, kao i da policija već 8 meseci ne šalje nikakve izvaštaje u vezi sa ovim slučajem.

Obaveštavamo vas da je poslednji izveštaj Policijske uprave u Nišu, po zahtevu Osnovnog javnog tužilaštva u Nišu, dostavljen dana 17. 7. 2017. godine, a u navedenom izveštaju se ne ukazuje na identitet lica koje je snimalo Predraga Blagojevića dana 21. 5.2017. godine – navode u Tužilaštvu.

Dodaju i da je “postupanje policije po zahtevu Tužilaštva i dalje u toku”.

Policija ćuti

Zbog čega tužilaštvu ne dostavljaju izveštaje, novinari nisu uspeli da saznaju ni u MUP-u, ni u niškoj Policijskoj upravi.

I jedni i drugi već mesecima odbijaju da odgovore na pitanja o tome šta su tačno preduzeli da bi otkrili ko je vlasnik automobila i ko je te večeri njime upravljao, ali i da prokomentarišu tvrdnje Osnovnog tužilaštva da su mesecima odbijali da odgovaraju i na njihove “urgencije”.

BELGRADE, 21.03.2018. – Investigating the kidnapping of Ljubomir Knezevic, a journalist from Pristina’s Jedinstvo, and a correspondent of Belgrade’s Politika, the Journalists Association of Serbia (UNS) found that in 2001, the lawyer Stoja Djuricic, suspected that he was kidnapped by a group led by Gani Ymeri, KLA in the Vucirn region.

She, as the representative of the injured parties, asked for the extension of the then ongoing investigation into the kidnapping of the six men and the attempted murder of a Serb civilian, which was led before the Mitrovica District Court against Gani Ymeri.

According to the UNS’ findings, a little after that, the investigation against Ymeri began to crumble due to open murder threats against the protected witness. When the international investigative judge Leonard Assira, due to threats against the protected witnesses, allowed the testimony of the investigator, he was excluded at the request of the defense, along with the international prosecutor Matti Hynynen. After the threat, and prosecutor’s and judge’s replacement, the investigation reached a dead end, and the suspect has been released from the custody after five months.

The family of Ljubomir Knezevic has not heard a word about this so far.

– Nobody informed us. This is what we are hearing from you now, said Ljubomir’s son Goran for the UNS Dossier.

The suspected KLA commander

Former Commander Gani Ymeri is the first member of the KLA suspected of serious crimes against Serb civilians. He was arrested on November 24, 2001, while traveling from Vucitrn to Pristina, under suspicion he kidnapped Nenad Mihajlovic, Aleksandar Mihajlovic, Branimir Mihajlovic, Vladimir Mihajlovic and Vladimir Mladenovic, an attempt murder of Nenad Mihajlovic, all of them from Gojbulje near Vucitrn. The crime occurred immediately after NATO forces arrived to Kosovo on June 25, 1999, and apart from the statements of eyewitnesses and two Serbs who managed to escape, the prosecutor also had a statement from a Serb Roksana Radosavljevic that Ymeri admitted abductions to her over telephone conversation. More about this in the following articles.

Investigation supplement

After Ymeri’s arrest, on December 18, 2001, the lawyer Stoja Djuricic sent a request for the extension of the investigation, listing the names of 23 victims from Vucitrn, adding Ljubomir Knezevic on the first place, and who was missing as of May 6, 1999.  As orderers, Djuricic mentioned Gani Deliu and Agim Berisha, and Seid Kalluda, Muharrem Salihu, Sali Selihua and Ismail Galica as direct perpetrators, “on grounds of reasonable suspicion that they committed the crime of genocide.” According to the UNS’s dispositions, none of them were detained.

The request states that “Gani Ymeri and Gani Gjela, in the capacity of the leaders of the paramilitary formations of the KLA, issued orders to their subordinates to carry out abductions of the non-Albanian population, which they executed, and brought the abductees to the cellars of the department store in Vucitrn where they physically tortured them for the purpose of destroying members of the Serbian community and other ethnic minorities living in the area. “

– In order to determine criminal responsibility of the suspects, and criminal offense they are charged with, as evidence we propose the hearing of the injured parties as witnesses who know the details for each particular event described above – said lawyer Djuricic, adding that the names of the witnesses will be subsequently delivered.

The data that the UNS found indicate these witnesses were questioned eight months later, only after Ymeri was released from the custody.

Murder threats

According to UNMIK, two months later, on February 19, 2002, the prosecutor requested that the status of the protected witness be assigned to a person who was supposed to testify about Ymeri’s involvement in the abduction of Serbs from Gojbulja. The hearing was scheduled for the next day, but when the investigators of the Central Criminal Investigation Unit came in the morning to escort him to the court, he refused this because of a phone call he received on his mobile phone the night before. The person who called him threatened to kill him and his family in case of any evidence against Ymeri in the court.

By protecting the witness’s safety, the prosecutor, instead of talking to him, asked the investigators to give a testimony regarding the statement given by the witness, to practically retell the story. The judge accepted that, but the defense filed an objection and sought an exemption of both the prosecutor and the judges for “unlawful acts and a biased approach to the case.” According to the UNS, there was no investigation into the threat to the witness.

Crushing the investigation

Regardless of this event and the fact that the victims immediately marked, and later additionally through photographs, confirmed the identity of the kidnapper, on  May 14, 2002, the new investigating prosecutor requested that they come to the courtroom in the Mitrovica District Court and to, again, “face to face, live” personally identify him.

In practice, the prosecutor decides on such a move when there is a likelihood that the witness could change the testimony. In the group of men who were brought before the victims on that day, only one victim recognized Ymeri.

Ten days later, on May 24, 2002, the new investigating judge concluded “it is justified to release the accused after five months of detention.” In judicial practice, however, the most common reasons for detention are: the danger of escape of the suspect, suspicion of the influence on witnesses, possible harassment of the public or repetition of the crime. The court was aware of the earlier threats to the witness, and the release of Ymeri from the custody clearly sent a message to the witnesses that they would not be protected, that the suspect was “stronger” than the court. Judicial practice shows that, in precisely these circumstances, most of the eyewitnesses gave up on testifying against the suspect.

After that, the investigating judge interviewed three additional witnesses, O. B, D. J. and M. M. on  July 2, 2002 regarding the request for the extension of the investigation requested by lawyer Stoja Djuricic. As noted in the UNMIK files, they did not provide any information to support the claims of the lawyer. The case was terminated on two different dates: October 17 and October 28, 2002, and the registrar of the District Court in Mitrovica stated that according to their data, the case was “suspended”.

The wall of silence

Lawyer Stoja Djuricic, the first who, after the withdrawal of the Serbian army and police, went to Kosovo to help and represent Serbs in the UNMIK courts died in 2002. The attempt to find out based on what information or testimony she requested the prosecutor to also include the disappearance of journalist Ljubomir Knezevic, did not yield any results. The lawyers from Belgrade, with whom we talked, who came to Kosovo afterwards, did not know the details of this case.

What the investigation looked like, whether there were any pressures, whether the allegations that Djuricic presented were investigated, we also wanted to ask the judge Assira from Cameroon and the prosecutor Hynynen from Finland. UNMIK has officially responded to us that they do not have their contact details.

Except through accessible address books, we also tried to reach Judge Assira through the embassy of Cameroon in Berlin and the diplomatic representative office of Serbia in Abuja (the embassy in Nigeria is also responsible for Cameroon). From the first we did not get an answer, and from the other we were told that “due to the circumstance currently in the diplomatic-consular representation due to the lack of staff, we are not able to provide you with the information requested.”

We tried to contact Assira also through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda for which he also worked. The Hague directed us to the UN International Criminal Tribunals in Arusha (Tanzania). At the end of this correspondence, Head of Human Resources Department Edith Ndirangu informed us that our request was sent to Mr. Assira. Since November 14, 2017, we have not received an answer.

We tried to find Finnish prosecutor Hynynen on the basis of publicly available data, and at the end of last year and early this year, we asked for help from the Finnish embassy in Belgrade and Pristina. However, even with their mediation, we were unable to establish contact with him.

UNMIK had more information

Nevertheless, according to the UNS, UNMIK investigators had an additional information linking Knezevic and Ymeri. In their investigation files, they recorded the information from the list of the Serbian Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija with the names of persons linked to the KLA who are suspected of having participated in crimes against civilians. It mentions S. S. a member of the KLA that was active in Vucitrn, and states that he “participated in the abduction and murder of Ljubomir Knezevic.” The same information states that Ymeri was a member of those units.

 Ymeri joined the KLA after returning from Germany, where he lived for 14 years. During the war, he became the commander of the Vucitrn region, and after arrival of international forces to Kosovo, he was deployed to the command of the 343th Brigade of the Kosovo Protection Corps, whose primary task is the protection of civilians. In the public, the KPC was perceived as the beginning of the army, and at the end of January 2009 it was transformed into the Kosovo Security Force.

He is not the only one whose name is connected with the disappearance or kidnapping of our colleague Ljubomir Knezevic. But none of the allegations were fully investigated, or perpetrators brought to justice. Data on this, starting with the opinion of the UNMIKs The Human Right Advisory Panel (HRAP), will be published in the following article.

The Ymeri family were the first neighbors of Knezevic. Since Ljubomir’s sons moved out of Kosovo in the 1980s, they almost did not have any information about them. And all the knowledge about the events before and after the kidnapping of their father, they heard from their mother Cveta who died in 2017.

ISTOČNO SARAJEVO, 21.03.2018.-At the Assembly of creditors of RTV Istočno Sarajevo on March 20, 2018, the offer of the Elta Media Group in the amount of 107,600 KM without VAT for the purchase of this media house in bankruptcy was accepted, the portal sarajevo-rs.com.

According to the rescript from March 12, license for radio broadcasting RTV Istočno Sarajevo has been revoked.

Iz “Elta medija grupe” kažu da za rješenja RAK-a postoji žalbeni rok i nadaju se da će agencija uvažiti argumente kupca, te poništiti doneseno rješenje o oduzimanju dozvole za radijsko emitovanje, prenosi sarajevo-rs.com.

Stečajni upravnik Radoslav Bratić je rekao da je pored “Elta medija grupe”, postojala i ponuda Grada Istočno Sarajevo koji je tražio da se poništi javni oglas i da se na osnovu uslova koji je dostavljen u pismu namjere, sa Gradom ide na direktnu pogodbu, što je skupština povjerilaca odbila.

On je dodao da je u rješenju RAK-a navedeno da se oduzima dozvola za radijsko emitovanje i zabranjuje dalje emitovanje programa, dok televizija nastavlja sa normalnim emitovanjem i ostavljen je rok od 15 dana za podnošenje žalbe na to rješenje.

RAK će postupiti po službenoj dužnosti

Prema saznanjima TV1, prodaja RTVIS podrazumijeva i prodaju radijske frekvncije. Obzirom da je u pitanju javni resurs, a zakon precizno nalaže da jedino Regulatorna agencija za komunikacije daje saglasnost i dozvole za korištenje frekvencija – riječ je o narušavanju jasno definisanih zakonskih propisa.

„RAK ne može dati saglasnost za prodaju tih frekvencija jer nam se niko nikad nije ni obratio sa takvim zahtjevom. Kada smo došli do saznanja da postoje neke indicije upozorili smo, kako stečajnog upravnika tako i sve organe u stečajnom postupku, da je stečajni upravnik raspisao konkurs koji nije u skladu sa pravilima RAK-a, i nije u skladu sa zakonom“, rekao je direktor RAK-a Predrag Kovač za dnevnik TV1 te dodao da će agencija po službenoj dužnosti zatražiti sve informacije i postupiti isključivo po zakonu.

SARAJEVO, 21.03.2018.-As said said at an international conference entitled “Free and fair media – honest elections ” that was held at Jahorina, in order to create a free, public and democratic space, in which citizens could freely express their political will, an impartial, objective and fair media approach to reporting on election campaigns of political subjects is important.

Providing a democratic environment for elections means the contribution of relevant institutions and actors of civil society, especially the media, in order to bring the electoral process closer to citizens and the public interest, “said Vladimir Pandurević, program manager from the EU Delegation to BiH.

The role of public services as well as other media is extremely important during the election campaign period. The media are tasked with informing citizens objectively and impartially about the election campaign of political entities, in order to allow them to freely express their electoral will, “said the Chairman of the Strategic Committee of the “Coalition for fair and free elections” Vehid Šehić, adding that unfortunately, election day is more like extraordinary state, and not as a day when citizens use their constitutional right to choose and be elected – a holiday of democracy and human rights.

Regulators and electoral process in BiH and the region

During the election campaign the regulators represent a significant independent mechanism for securing the professional work of the media, which shall include objective, impartial, balanced and fair reporting, both in BiH and other countries in our region.

„In order for something to be fair and free, precondition is that the spectator can form hir/her critcal opinion“, said the representer of the Electronical media regulator in Serbia Goran Petrović, and added that since the year 2000 a law envisaged body that would be in charge of issues such as equality and personal protection in Serbia was not formed.

Helena Mandić from the Regulatory Agency for Communication BiH pointed out that interventions of these instituions a re constant since 2006, as though the pre-election campaign lasts the whole time. „Those official months of pre-election campaign is the easiest part for us, because most of the voter-related activities take place over those months. Very rarely in this period there are excessive situations“, said Mandić.

„Regardless of who is the bearer of media surveillance and control at the time of the election process, it is important to provide professional reporting, fair allocation of media space to political subjects, transparency in the financing of political campaigns“, said Stanislav Bender, the leader of the Sector for surveillance and monitoring of program contents from the Agency for Electronic Media of the Republic of Croatia, and added that sometimes survey’s and researches are used for propaganda and manipulations.

Impact the abstainers through media 

The main features of the previous election cycles, according to research, are the constant and rapid reduction of election content in the total number of media content, the almost identical media program for general and local elections, and the lack of analytical and innovative approaches.

“Mainly coverage of candidates and parties and their pre-election activities is reported, and much less reporting on party programs and the public interest. In addition, it is noteworthy that the favors of political subjects are even by public utilities, “said the general secretary of the BH journalists Association Borka Rudić.

Benjamin Butković, editor of BHT-a, pointed out that the independency of the PBS’s is questionable because of the unsolved system of finacing, while simultaneously from the legislative level, voters are sent a message that they do not need to pay RTV fee.

Butković thinks that there is no such kind of program that can change the opinion of the permanent voters of the ruling parties, and that the media can try to reach the abstainers and thus influence the final election results. “The production of political debates is an adventure that is largely unsuccessful, as all key candidates for high positions are avoiding confrontation with counter-candidates,” he said.

Senad Omerašević, Director of the Information Program of the Hayat TV believes that there are media professionals working in the media community. “We need to be proud of those media professionals who work professionally and in the public interest, who do not follow a line of lesser resistance to money and positions that respect ethical standards and laws,” said Omerasević

Dragoljub Petrović from the daily newspaper “Danas” that is being published in Serbial says that the readiness of the press declined due to the expansion of online media, which diminished the importance of this media format. “Social networks are good for communication, but the problem of filtering news. What distinguishes traditional media is the editorial board. You can get information from social media if you have a certain media sensibility, which is not the case for most voters, “he said.

The Coalition for free and fair Elections „Pod lupom“ determined through monitoring and analyzing the election campaign the massive occurrence of the use of public funds for the purpose of participating in the election campaigns of their political parties, which should be avoided by law and by-laws.

Emilija Orestijević  from the Center for free elections and democracy in Serbia said that the electoral process in this country is fraught with major irregularities that undermine citizens’ confidence in the electoral process itself. She pointed out that a significant part of public funds and state resources are being misused for the needs of the election campaign. Montenegro overcame the problem of electoral theft at the polls itself.

“What is the problem in this country is buying votes through the allocation of public money for social benefits, but also keeping records and voter lists,” said Dragan Koprivica from the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) in Montenegro. Through monitoring this organization has determined that political parties in Montenegro spend much more on advertising than what they report as being invested in the campaign.

The intenational conference  “Free and fair media – honest elections” was held whithin BASE project Coalition for free and fair Elections„Pod lupom“, and organized by the Consortium of the BH Journalists Association and BORAM with the support of the Europian Union.