Freimut Duve accused by Belgrade government of being a "German agent"

VIENNA, 27 July 2000 - Freimut Duve, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, is dismayed by the sentencing of a Serbian journalist, Miroslav Filipovic, to seven years in prison on 26 July 2000 by the Nis military court.

Filipovic, a correspondent for the independent daily Danas and AFP, was found guilty of "espionage" and "spreading false information." The sentence given is the harshest yet imposed on a Serbian journalist by the Belgrade regime. Journalists who do not approve of the current government policies are branded "traitors" like Filipovic.

On 26 July 2000, Freimut Duve wrote the G8 Ambassadors in Vienna drawing their attention to a letter he received from Ivan Markovic, Belgrade's Minister of Telecommunications, accusing Duve of being a "German agent."

In his letter, Freimut Duve underlined that "raising the flag of 'treason' to indict morally, and often through criminal charges, critical journalists and internal political opponents was a favourite technique in many totalitarian states, especially in the Soviet Union decades ago. It is now being used by the government of Mr. Milosevic to attack independent media and others who oppose the current dangerous situation into which Belgrade rule has led the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

Freimut Duve demands the immediate release of Miroslav Filipovic, a courageous journalist, who is now in prison for telling the truth.

Copy of the letter received by Freimut Duve from Ivan Markovic, FRY Minister of Telecommunications (PDF format).

For more information contact the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Kärntner Ring 5-7, Top 14, 2.DG, A - 1010 Vienna, tel: +43-1-512 21 45 0, fax: +43-1-512 21 45 9, e-mail: pm-fom@osce.org