(01/13/99) -- Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists today sent a joint protest letter to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic condemning the politically-motivated charges against Nikola Duric, general manager and editor-in-chief of City Radio in Nis.
On January 18, 1999, Duric will go on trial in Nis for broadcasting a radio program without a license - a charge for which he could be sentenced with up to one year in prison. While Mr. Duric did broadcast without a license, he did so only after having been denied a license in a politically-based procedure that specifically denied licenses to private radio and television stations that provide objective news. The trial, concludes Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division, is "another illegal and unjustified attack on the independent media" in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
The letter is attached, and can also be found at: http://www.cpj.org
