YUGOSALVIA: YUGOSLAV MILITARY COURT SENTENCES JOURNALIST WHO REPORTED ALLEGATIONS OF ARMY ATROCITIES IN KOSOVO TO SEVEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT

Record ID: 646831

  • Title: YUGOSALVIA: YUGOSLAV MILITARY COURT SENTENCES JOURNALIST WHO REPORTED ALLEGATIONS OF ARMY ATROCITIES IN KOSOVO TO SEVEN YEARS IMPRISONMENT
  • Date: 26th July 2000
  • Summary: NIS, YUGOSLAVIA (JULY 26, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV: MEMBERS OF THE MILITARY JUDICIAL COUNCIL ENTERING THE COURT ROOM 0.06 2. MV/CU'S: MIROSLAV FILIPOVIC, SERB JOURNALIST STANDING IN THE COURT ROOM (3 SHOTS) 0.20 3. CU/SV: JUDGE RADENKO MILADINOVIC READING THE VERDICT (2 SHOTS) 0.46 4. VARIOUS OF THE TRIAL (5 SHOTS) 1.24 5. MV: MIROSLAV FILIPOVIC LEAVING THE COURT ROOM 1.30 6. SV/SCU: SOUNDBITE (Serbian) ZORAN ATELJEVIC, DEFENCE LAWYER, SPEAKING SAYING: "Before the verdict was read out, defence said that the verdict is brought without any real basis. Now I will repeat that I can not find elements for this verdict and that sentenced Miroslav Filipovic is not guilty." (2 SHOTS) 2.07 7. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Serbian) SLAVICA FILIPOVIC, FILIPOVIC'S WIFE, SAYING: "You can tell by the way this verdict was brought that it has nothing to do with justice in which I believe. This is a completely political decision." 2.30 8. WIDE OF THE SCENE 2.41 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NIS, YUGOSLAVIA
  • City:
  • Country: Yugoslavia
  • Reuters ID: LVAA468FA2UJOMKAG2G3TFIW34BK
  • Story Text: A Yugoslav military court sentenced a Serb journalist
    who reported allegations of army atrocities in Kosovo last
    year to seven years in prison for espionage and spreading
    false information.



    Presiding judge Radenko Miladinovic read out the
    verdict on Wednesday (July 16) in the military court in the
    southern Serbian town of Nis after a two-day trial.

    He said Filipovic, 49, received five years because from
    mid-June 1999 to May 2000 he obtained secret military data
    with the intention of forwarding them to the foreign
    organisations, IWPR and the AFP news agency.

    Miladinovic added that the five year sentence was at the
    lower end of the range, saying Filipovic's articles did not
    contain top secret data.

    Filipovic also was sentenced to three years for spreading
    false information, the maximum under that charge. The total
    sentence was seven years.

    Filipovic, who denied the charges, gave an ironic smile
    when the verdict was announced but otherwise showed little
    emotion.

    Filipovic worked as a correspondent for the Belgrade-based
    independent daily Danas. He was also a stringer for the French
    news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) and reported for the
    Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR).

    He wrote about the activities of Yugoslav security
    services, alleged police repression in southern Serbia, and
    Yugoslav army reservists protests in Kraljevo last year.

    Basing his reports on soldiers accounts, he wrote about
    atrocities alleged to have been committed by troops in Kosovo
    during the 1999 NATO air campaign.



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