monitor@cg.yu<\/a>
Podgorica, 14. apr. 08. <\/p>\nCALL FOR SOLIDARITY AND THE PROTECTION OF MEDIA FREEDOM IN MONTENEGRO<\/p>\n
Dear Madam\/Sir,<\/p>\n
In April 2008, a judgment was rendered by the Higher Court in Podgorica against the independent weekly magazine Monitor and one of its journalists, Andrej Nikolaidis. The case had been brought by Emir Kusturica, the world-renowned film director. The case relates to the article "The Headman's Apprentice", written by Mr Nikolaidis and published in Monitor in 2004, which took a critical look at Mr Kusturica's public stance on the Balkan wars in the 1990s, especially his public support for Slobodan Miloševi\u0107.<\/p>\n
Mr Kusturica is remembered for saying that "Miloševi\u0107's main mistakes were that he thought there were 250 million Serbs and that he didn't have two nuclear bombs in his pocket" and also that "Serbs targeted Sarajevo in order to give a little scare to Muslims in Sarajevo."<\/p>\n
According to the Higher Court's verdict, Monitor must pay 12000 (twelve thousand) euros to Mr Kusturica, as a compensation for inflicting him "emotional pain" and for causing harm to his "honor and reputation." Two years earlier, the Lower Court in Podgorica had rejected this same lawsuit, arguing in its decision "that the article is an example of public debate, that the codex of journalism was not violated and that, therefore, there is no civil liability." <\/p>\n
Monitor believes that the Higher Court's verdict is a legally unfounded and blatant attempt to stifle freedom of expression. The verdict appears to be the punishment for the magazine's constant efforts to investigate the background and horrors of the Balkan wars and to encourage the public to face the past. In Montenegro, where – according to a recent report of the European Commission – the judicial system is still not free from government influence, this verdict will serve to scare the few independent media into silence about the issues that the ruling party – once an ardent supporter of Mr Milosevic's policies – would rather erase from public memory.<\/p>\n
The Kusturica vs Monitor case is not the only one that threatens to suffocate the freedom of the media. Other lawsuits pending against Monitor could result in penalties totalling hundreds of thousands of euros. The Montenegrin daily Vijesti is also facing similar charges: Prime Minister Milo Djukanovi\u0107 has demanded one million euros from the director, \u017deljko Ivanovi\u0107, and the chief editor, Ljubiša Mitrovi\u0107, claiming that the amount would be a rightful compensation for alleged insults that caused him emotional suffering. Clearly, the verdict of the Higher Court in the Kusturica case has set a dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n
Both Monitor and Vijesti are leaders in investigative journalism in Montenegro, and, in many cases, those who bring lawsuits against them are members of the political and business elite. <\/p>\n
It is a sad irony that the few anti-war media and public figures in Montenegro were not as brutally attacked and discriminated against in the dark 1990s, as they are today, in Montenegro ruled by "new" Mr Djukanovi\u0107, once a war partner of Miloševi\u0107, now a respected ally of the EU and the USA.<\/p>\n
We call on all of you to voice your concern about this unfounded verdict and to speak out publicly in support of independence for Montenegro's media and judiciary.<\/p>\n
Esad Ko\u010dan, Editor-in-Chief
<\/em><\/strong>Milka Tadi\u0107-Mijovi\u0107, Editor<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nNezavisni nedjeljnik Monitor
Vuka Karadzica 11
81000 Podgorica, Crna Gora
Phone\/Fax +382 81 231 955
+382 81 231 944
Mail: monitor@cg.yu <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
POZIV NA SOLIDARNOST I ODBRANU SLOBODE MEDIJA U CRNOJ GORI<\/p>\n
Postovani,<\/p>\n
Visi sud u Podgorici osudio je crnogorski nezavisni nedjeljnik Monitor i naseg kolumnistu Andreja Nikolaidisa po tuzbi Emira Kusturice, rezisera svjetski poznatog po filmovima ali i po podrzavanju Slobodana Milosevica tokom balkanskih ratova i zlocina devedesetih.<\/p>\n
Monitor je osudjen zbog teksta „Dzelatov segrt", objavljenog 2004. U tekstu se podvrgavaju javnoj kritici stavovi Emira Kusturice o nasoj proslosti. Kusturica je, izmedju ostalog, zapamcen po tvrdnjama da je „Miloseviceva osnovna greska sto je mislio da ima 250 milona Srba i sto nije imao dvije atomske bombe u dzepu", kao i da su „Srbi gadjali Sarajevo da malo zaplase Muslimane". Treba li podsjecati da je zbog tog „gadjanja Sarajeva" stradalo stotine hiljada ljudi, da je razorena jedna zemlja, a da se ratnom srpskom vrhu sudi pred Tribunalom u Hagu.<\/p>\n
Prema presudi Viseg suda, Monitor je duzan da na ime „pretrpljenih <\/p>\n
dusevnih bolova" plati 12.000 eura zbog „povrede casti i ugleda" Emira Kusturice. Samo prije dvije godine nizi Sud u Podgorici odbio je istu ovu tuzbu Emira Kusturice argumentima „da se radi o javnoj debati, da je postovan novinarski kodeks, da ne postoji gradjanska odgovornost, jer su u tekstu iznijeti vrijednosni sudovi". <\/p>\n
Presuda Viseg suda je pravno neosnovana i udara u same temelje slobode izrazavanja. Presudom se zaustavlja i kaznjava suocavanje sa ratnom prosloscu, a i sa sadasnjoscu opterecenom brojnim problemima. U zemlji u kojoj, prema izvjestajima Evropske komisije, pravosudni sistem jos nije nezavistan, ovakvom se presudom nastoje zaplasiti i staviti pod kontrolu rijetki slobodni mediji. <\/p>\n
Presuda Viseg suda je zlokobna najava procesa koji tek slijede. Slucaj Kusturica nije jedini koji prijeti da obuzda medijske slobode. U ovom trenutku protiv nezavisnog nedjeljnika Monitor vodi se vise sudskih procesa i prijeti se kaznama od vise stotina hiljada eura. Istovremeno, protiv crnogorskog dnevnika Vijesti, tuzbeni zahtjevi na ime kelvete i dusevnih bolova iznose nekoliko miliona. <\/p>\n
Monitor i Vijesti prednjace u istrazivackom novinarstvu u Crnoj Gori, a u velikom broju slucajeva njihovi tuzioci su predstavnici politickog i poslovnog vrha. Dnevnik Vijesti tuzio je premijer Milo Djukanovic. On trazi odstetu od milion eura od direktora Vijesti Zeljka Ivanovica i glavnog i odgovornog urednika Ljubise Mitrovica, takodje zbog navodne uvrede i navodno pretrpljenih dusevnih bolova.<\/p>\n
Nepodnosljiva je ironija da rijetki slobodni antiratni mediji i pojednici u Crnoj Gori, nijesu bili toliko napadani, ugrozeni i „ubijani" cak ni u olovnim devedesetim, kao sto su danas u Crnoj Gori Mila Djukanovica, nekadasnjeg Milosevicevog ratnog partnera, a sadasnjeg saveznika EU i SAD.<\/p>\n
Esad Ko\u010dan, Glavni i odgovorni urednik
<\/em><\/strong>Milka Tadi\u0107-Mijovi\u0107, Urednica<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pismo koje su danas uputili Esad Ko\u010dan, glavni i odgovorni urednik nezavisnog nedjeljnika Monitor, i urednica u tom nedjeljniku Milka Tadi\u0107 – Mijovi\u0107 povodom presude Vi\u0161eg suda u Podgorici<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogovi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pcnen.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}