Belgrade independent TV Studio B, Radio B2-92 and Radio Index seized by the police – Belgrade free media in total darkness.
At 2:30 a.m. on 17 May 2000, police forces broke into the premises of the Belgrade independent TV and radio station Studio B, seized the equipment and prevented further broadcasting. This had an immediate effect over the transmission of Radio Index and Radio B2-92, two other remaining independent radio stations in Belgrade. No warrant for such a violent break-in was presented to the staff present at the time. At 5:30 a.m. the vice-presidents of the Serbian government, Milovan Bojic (Yugoslav Left) and Vojislav Seselj (Radical Party) signed a decree stating that Studio B was taken-over for it had been “transmitting calls upon the violent overthrow of the legally elected government and had been calling for participation in terrorist actions”. Although the city assembly of Belgrade manages the operation of those media, the ownership allegedly belongs primarily to the Republic of Serbia, whose government is, according to the two vice-presidents, allowed to interrupt their broadcasting.
The entire editorial board and all journalists were immediately dismissed and the editing of the Studio B TV programme was diverted to the hands of the RTS, the infamous state-run TV. Ever since, all three radio programmes have been broadcasting only music. The editor-in-chief of Studio B, Dragan Kojadinovic, declared the event to be the proof of the country entering the state of emergency, and described it as another proof of expansive state terror.
The only independent information is reaching Belgrade through the independent media of Pancevo (a town neighbouring Belgrade) and we have learned that the urgent city assembly of Belgrade is summoned for tomorrow and that the united opposition parties are at present in the City Hall with the representatives of the city government discussing their joint steps of reaction. The citizens have already gathered in front of the building housing the offices of Studio B, B2-92 and Radio Index. Numerous Belgrade based NGOs have been using the same media to express their protests, and NUNS (Independent Association of Journalist of Serbia) scheduled a protest for 5 p.m. The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights appeals to all its friends abroad to inform their publics of the raging repression in Serbia.
(Yesterday, the independent daily newspaper Blic was denied access to the state owned printing house in breach of their contract, whereas the journalists were banned today from entering their offices. OTPOR! activists are being detained on a daily basis, and two of their activists remain in prison on charges of attempted murder as a result of Pozarevac incident with employees of Marko Milosevic, son of the FRY president. The two judges from Pozarevac who opposed the extension of their detention were suspended yesterday.)
