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Sokobanja, September 24, 1999 Case of Nebojsa Ristic
On March 27 1999, an inspector sent by Federal Ministry of Telecommunications broke on premises of TV SOKO (independent Sokobanja TV station) accompanied by ten policemen and attempted to seize transmission equipment. He was stopped by quick reaction of municipal head and by large number of citizens that gathered in front of TV SOKO building. Inspector managed only to seal the premises. Explanation for this action issued by Federal ministry of telecommunications says that "program of TV SOKO created panic and unrest among citizens, and it also disturbed constitutional order and defense of the country".
Several days later, editor and director of TV SOKO Nebojsa Ristic was arrested and sentenced on one year in prison by ruling of Municipal Court in Sokobanja. The court found that Ristic had committed the felony by displaying a "Free Press, Made in Serbia" poster in the station's studios. Poster symbolically presented repression over free media in Serbia. The District Court in Sokobanja declared that Mr Ristic had "provoked unrest among citizens and caused them to mistrust the decisions of state agencies, and he committed criminal act of disseminating untrue information". Ristic's attorney appealed in District Court, which in return only confirmed decision of Municipal Court in Sokobanja. "Reporter", Banjaluka, No. 77, October 13, 1999. How Dzera picked his corn"All independent media published the news that Nebojsa Ristic is the only incarcerated reporter", Ivica Naskovski, technician at Soko TV tells to the Reporter. It began like this: when the bombing of FRY commenced, the programming of all the radio and TV stations was redirected to retransmit the [state-run] RTS. There were a few exceptions who didn't comply to this rule. One of these was the local TV "Soko" ("Hawk") in Sokobanja. Just three days after the first bombs, on March 27th, the Federal Telecommunications Ministry inspector, accompanied by local police, came with intentions to take the link away from the staff. Within an hour, people gathered in front of the building, and Nebojsa Ristic, editor in chief, pasted posters to the office windows with "Free press - made in Serbia" and "Resistance as an answer". The first poster was the reason why Ristic got a year's prison verdict few days later. Naskovski tells how, after the arrest, students from the Resistance! kept posting the same posters on the central city square, expecting to be all arrested. Official charges against Ristic, signed by judge of Municipal Court in Sokobanja Dragan Marjanovic, mentions "spreading false news". The court in Zajecar confirmed the verdict and sentenced Ristic to a year in prison unconditionally, because of "subversion against the state and public disturbing of citizens". During the first attempt of shutting down the Soko TV, it was stated that "the Soko television programme was creating panic and caused disturbance among citizens, undermining the constitutional-legal system and the defense ability of the country". Ristic's colleague Ljubinko Milenkovic told Reporter that Soko TV works undisturbed since 25th of June: "Then the inspectors accompanied with the police came for the second time and closed the station again Only an hour later, federal MP Dragoje Lukovic of SPO decided to break the seal on the office door and we resumed work". In his own words, Lukovic is the editor-in-chief replacement and signing the programming because he (as a federal MP) has immunity, but he doesn't interfere with the actual editorial policy. "At the beginning of the bombing, we regularly retransmitted broadcasts from Sky News, BBC and CNN. That was the problem they wanted to close us for. The standard programming scheme of Soko TV consists of our regular programming, rebroadcasting the Montenegrin Journal and interviews, retransmitting [contents of] daily press, news from Internet and Radio B2-92", says Milenkovic. The family of 35-year old Ristic sees some hope for him leaving the prison this week, when Ristic should file a petition for release to the Prison committee at the state level. "If they estimate that they should, they'll release him", Nebojsa's mother Jelisaveta Ristic says for the Reporter. She witnesses how, on April 13th, at 2AM, police burst into Ristic house and searched it: "Don't know what they were looking for. Posters probably, but didn't find them. Nebojsa didn't return home that night, only later I learned they took im to the prison in Zajecar. We couldn't reach him at all next ten days. Not even his lawyers were allowed. We were confused. He didn't know why was he locked in." After the first meeting with his mother, Nebojsa confirmed he's getting good treatment in prison and no harrassment. "Still", she continues, "he's been thru various crises, psychic. He's annoyed and losing his nerves. It's hard for him and he tries to pull himself out working. Works in the laundry. Once a month they let him visit home. He is not afraid. One of his friends told him that's the reason he's called Nebojsa ["Nebojsa" means "one who is not afraid" - tran.rem.]. But I, as a mother, feel how hard it is for him." The Ristics filed a complaint to the First-degree and Supreme Court in Zajecar. When their requests were refused, they filed a petition to the president of Serbia Milan Milutinovic to abolish Nebojsa. "None of this went through. We'll see what happens next. As a family we're having hard times with all this. My husband had two cardiacs and he's in the hospital now. Unable to move", Jelisaveta Ristic told Reporter. The staff door on Soko TV is locked, there are bars on the windows, and the night guardians are there. "Knock hard on the door when you come here, and the transmitter is really hard to reach now as well", Ivica Naskovski explained, laughing. When the Ristic trial took place, the moment of reading the verdict made the strongest impression on Ivica: "There were just a few of us in the courtroom, about 25 people. Nebojsa entered the courtroom handcuffed. That was so unnecessary, that the judge ordered the cuffs to be taken off immediately. We were joking all the time there. The pretext for the lawsuit was the funniest - a poster! We expected he may get three or six months parole sentence. Dzera (Nebojsa's nickname) stated that the decision on a whole year of imprisonment was just rushed. All the local opposition politicians attended the court session, and Nebojsa is a member of Democratic Party for many years. One of the politicians told the judge, when it was all over: "When these (NATO) kick you done, you will be cleaning the streets, and Nebojsa will be our diplomatic representative in Paris". Reading the verdict created a state of shock. Tears in the courtroom. "We all cried. Nobody could believe that a man can get punished with a year in prison for pasting one poster", Naskovski tells. The colleagues' task was to inform the public. The news of the Ristic case leaked, but all the attempts for his release were fruitless. One of the actions taken was the request from the Committe for Protection of Reporters, addressed to the secretary of the Ministry of Information Goran Matic to make Ristic free. The same petition was sent to Ivan Markovic and Aleksandar Vucic. Matic answered that "he doesn't know anything, and he can't help because he has no materials on the matter". "We sent the materials, but Matic didn't respond", Naskovski confirmed. "It's a political decision, where the axle broke on Ristic's back", he said, and quotes the situation at the event of first close-down of Soko TV: "As the reason, they stated the rebroadcasting of Sky News, BBC and CNN. They closed us on Friday, and got the Decree on the ban only on Monday. When we asked why do they close us, they said it's because of the Decree on banning the rebroadcasting of these three TVs. At that time we didn't have the Decree in the office at all." He tells how the Soko TV colleagues pay regular visits to their editor-in-chief, and makes a cynical remark that he's not complaining: "He's alright. Once a month when they give him a leave, he drops by the office. He says they dug an picked all of the corn. He's imprisoned with murderes. He's sharing his cell with a man who killed and chopped his wife", Ivica adds. In search of the other side of the story, Reporter found the judge Dragan Marjanovic. But then, judge Marjanovic was not willing to talk on this matter. "I can not give you any statements or and personal opinions on the case", Marjanovic said. Insisting on getting a comment on the case, based on what he knew about it and disregarding the fact that he made the verdict, didn't work. One of Nebojsa's friends, who wants to remain anonymous, tried to illustrate, for Reporter, that "every Serbian citizen has his own cop": "The local official of DB [State security, tran.rem.], who probably initiated the arrest himself, was awarded a Medal for Bravery by Slobodan Milosevic after the trial. Does that mean that each DB-man has his own 'quota' of people he has to arrest?" Vanja Mekterovic, Announcement by ANEMANEM, the Association of Independent Electronic Media in Yugoslavia protests strongly at the one-year prison sentence handed down to Nebojsa Ristic, the editor of TV Soko in Sokobanja, eastern Serbia. Sentence was declared by District Court in Zajecar on June 6th, confirming previous decision of Municipal Court in Sokobanja. On April 23 the Sokobanja District Court found Mr Ristic guilty of disseminating false information under Article 218 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Serbia, after he publicly displayed a poster "Free Press Made in Serbia!" with a Radio B92 stamp. The District Court in Sokobanja declared that Mr Ristic had "provoked unrest among citizens and caused them to mistrust the decisions of state agencies". Mr Ristic is currently in detention pending proceedings. His lawyers filed an appeal against the sentence in the Zajecar District Court on April 26. It appears that the closure of TV Soko by the Yugoslav Federal Telecommunications Ministry on March 27 falls short of the aims of the authorities, who have now chosen to persecute the stations editor personally. ANEM protests at the misuse of misdemeanour regulations to justify a one-year prison sentence in a case involving a poster which did not display "enemy propaganda". ANEM has warned on a number of occasions that Article 218 of the Republic of Serbia Penal Code is poorly and broadly worded, allowing the arbitrary prosecution of journalists. The rulings of both courts cite criminal acts abolished by the Serbian Constitutional Court on December 17, 1991 and are therefore illegal as they are based on a regulation which is contrary to the constitution. This article's contradiction of international guarantees of freedom of expression has been emphasized in almost every report on the human rights situation in Yugoslavia and Serbia. ANEM demands that the District Court in Zajecar cancel the shameful and unreasonable sentence on Nebojsa Ristic. ANEM notes that it is exactly such sentences and other similar measures by state agencies which spread fear and unrest among the population. ANEM also demands that all forms of repression against journalists and media be stopped, regardless of who initiates them. Other appealsAmnesty request handed to Milan Milutinovic August 16th 1999 - Municipality of Sokobanja asked President of Serbia Milan Milutinovic for amnesty for Nebojsa Ristic, director of TV SOKO, who is already four months in jail. Ristic was sentenced to one year in prison for "provoking unrest among citizens and causing them to mistrust the decisions of state agencies, and he committing criminal act of disseminating untrue information". Sokobanja municipality official Vojislav Jankovic, handed amnesty request to chief of Milutinovic's office. Letter of Reporters Sans Frontiers August 17th 1999 -- In a letter to Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, RSF protested the continued detention of TV Soko Director Nebojsorganizationce 23 April 1999. The organisation considered that: "the journalist is incarcerated for having passively defended the right to inform and be informed, which is a fundamental right in all democratic countries, and asked for his immediate unconditional release." Appeal of President of Sokobanja Municipality addressed to Federal Information Ministry To Federal Information Ministry - Secretary Mr. Goran Matic, Belgrade Subject: Documentation for Nebojsa Ristic, currently serving prison sentence in Zajecar. On April 20th, 1999, Municipal Court in Sokobanja has found guilty Nebojsa Ristic from Sokobanja of disseminating false information under Article 218 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Serbia, and handed him down one-year prison sentence. By decision of District Court in Zajecar no. 253/99, issued on june 6, 1999, decision of Municipal Court in Sokobanja was confirmed. On July 12th local authorities of municipality of Sokobanja demanded from Municipal Court to revoke its verdict. On 22nd of July, parents of Nebojsa Ristic, Jelisaveta and Branislav, as well as Nebojsa ristic himself asked Court for amnesty. During Your conversation with Mr. Joel Simon (Deputy Director, Committee to Protect Journalists - New York), You asked for all necessary documentation about Mr. Ristic's case, so we are submitting all documents You requested on the occasion. To this day, there has been no decision on appeal for revoking Mr. Ristic's sentence, as well as decision about his amnesty. Therefore, we appeal to you to influence authorities to put these requests into procedure.
With all respect,
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