22.10.1999

OHR RTRS News Summary, 22 October 1999

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News Headlines

  • Banja Luka Nezavisne Novine Director and Editor-in-Chief Zeljko Kopanja badly injured in car bombing
  • Kopanja in intensive care – Banja Luka Clinic
  • Assassination on Kopanja loathsome terrorist act – Dodik
  • Attack on Kopanja is attack on freedom of media – RS Information Minister Vasic
  • Petritsch and Peace Implementation Council shocked by assassination attempt on Kopanja
  • UN condemns attack on Kopanja – UN/IPTF spokesperson Roberts
  • International organizations condemn attack on Kopanja
  • Attack on Kopanja is attack on free information and free media – Farrand
  • RS Association of Journalists condemns attempt on life of Kopanja
  • Nezavisne Novine editorial office condemns attack on Kopanja
  • No freedom in RS – SRNA reaction to attack on Kopanja
  • SRS condemns attack on Kopanja
  • SNSD condemns attack on Kopanja
  • SPRS condemns attack on Kopanja
  • SDS condemns terrorism of which Kopanja fell victim
  • Yugoslav Democratic Party condemns assassination attempt on Kopanja
  • Kopanja’s health improves – Banja Luka Clinic
  • Only strengthening of peace can provide affirmation of RS, BiH and its three nations – Radisic and EU ambassadors
  • Radisic meets with Vatican ambassador
  • Radisic and Serb Sarajevo Mayor Lasica discuss current problems in municipality
  • Dodik meets with ICTY lawyers of General Talic
  • Process of Talic defense improves – Talic’s lawyers
  • European Council Commission for Legal Issues and Human Rights meets with RS and BiH Federation ministries of justice and education
  • BiH Border Commission defines acts for formation of united commission for BiH borders
  • Basic message of international business conference held in Bled is to turn towards better future – Mihajlovic
  • RS Government Vice-president Gligoric and World Bank delegation discuss problems of workers after privatization
  • BiH Union of Refugees and DPs holds press conference on return to Banja Luka region and BiH Federation
  • OHR representatives meet with Serb Gorazde authorities
  • 18 bodies exhumed from Sarajevo Lav Cemetery – RS Commission for Search for Missing Persons
  • IC wants election law adopted in BiH as soon as possible – OSCE Democratization Officer De Vries
  • RS professors and Ministry for Refugees and DPs receive August salaries – RS Finance Ministry
  • SRS holds press conference
  • Four children injured by fragmentation grenade near Urosevac – KFOR
  • Robertson and 19 NATO ambassadors arrive in Pristina
  • Clark warns NATO of Serb Army entry into northeastern Kosovo
  • Kouchner appoints OSCE official Davidson as temporary media director in Kosovo
  • Eurocontrol lifts ban of Yugoslav flights from Macedonia to Pristina
  • One UN police officer could be sent home for helping Serbs sell their houses – UN police
  • Belgrade Assembly adopts document on early elections
  • BiH Federation Banking Agency does not decide to support Sarajevo DDA Bank
  • Bosniak and Croat representatives in Central Bosnia Canton reject Klein’s proposal for cantonal police commissioner
  • Preparations for workers’ protest in Sarajevo on 25 October continue as planned
  • Imitation Zvecevo Brandy confiscated on Sarajevo marketplace
  • Over 140 Zenica-Doboj Canton doctors pack suitcases for Riad, Saudi Arabia
  • World news
  • Sports
  • Weather
  • Next Donors’ Conference for Balkans will be held of next year – Hombach
  • Two Serbs arrested in Orahovac on war crimes indictments
  • Solana to visit Kosovo next week

News Summary

International organizations condemn attack on Kopanja

OCSE Chairman Knut Vollebaek, Head of the OSCE Mission to BiH Robert Barry and IMC General Director Krister Thelin condemned the attempt at killing Nezavisne Novine Editor-in-Chief Zeljko Kopanja. They also condemned those responsible for discouraging freedom of expression in BiH. According to an OSCE and IMC press release, Kopanja published a report on crimes committed in Teslic during the war. The report is a novelty because it not only presents the role of Serb officials in war crimes for the first time, but also represents an important step forward in journalistic freedoms in the RS and BiH. According to the press release, Kopanja received death threats after publishing the report.

00:50

SRS holds press conference

The OHR deadline for SRS re-registration for the upcoming municipal elections expired on 22 October. The SRS would have to give up 11 of its members. SRS General Secretary Ognjen Tadic stated that they cannot accept this request, which he sees as an ultimatum annulling democratic principles, the RS Constitution and the Dayton Agreement. Tadic announced that the party would operate according to a new orientation, which would be an external parliamentary fight. “This means open protests against violations of civil rights” Tadic explained. Caucus Head Milan Lazic stated that all municipal boards of the SRS have also rejected the ultimatum and accepting it, according to him, would be political suicide. He announced that the SDS, SRS and Serb Coalition for the RS would soon meet and request that the first point of the RS National Assembly agenda be a new government. Lazic criticized the work of RT RS for not covering press conferences given by the SRS, which is the second largest party in the RS by the number of members.

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