Protests in Serbia Archive
Odraz B92 Daily News Service

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    Odraz B92 vesti (by 4 PM), December 14, 1996

    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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    All texts are Copyright 1996 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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    NEWS BY 4 PM
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    BILDT: CONDITIONS FOR OSCE MISSION TO BELGRADE UNDER CONSIDERATION

    ``The European Union is considering the conditions required for a
    mission of international monitors to be sent to investigate the
    regularity of the local elections in Yugoslavia, including the
    possibility of their re-run under international surveillance,''
    said today UN High Commissioner Karl Bildt. Speaking in Dublin
    last night, Bildt said that EU foreign ministers had agreed OSCE
    should accept the invitation by Serbian President Milosevic,
    provided he fulfills all the required conditions for such a
    mission to be sent, reported Reuters. Bildt also said that the
    Serbian President would have to show more inclination towards
    freedom of the press and start a dialogue with the opposition
    forces to establish democratic rules for the presidential and
    parliamentary elections slated to take place in 1997. Pointing to
    Milosevic's inability to reform the economy as a major cause of
    the present crisis in Serbia, he warned that Serbia is facing
    economic collapse.


    STEINER TALKS TO STUDENTS

    Deputy UN High Commissioner for Bosnia-Herzegovina Michael Steiner
    met today with the Steering Board of the Student Protest '96. He
    told them he had no intention of meeting President Milosevic, for
    he was on no negotiating mission, and that his visit to Belgrade
    was not connected with the announced OSCE mission. ``For us, who
    are engaged in the implementation of the peace process, it is
    necessary to get true information, and I also wanted to express my
    solidarity,'' said Steiner after the meeting. He said the students
    should make no concessions on their demands and that they have
    redeemed the dignity of the Serbian people by their confident
    stand on the issues.


    LETTER OF PROTEST TO PRODI

    Coalition Zajedno has sent a letter to Italian Prime Minister
    Romano Prodi expressing their dismay at the statement made by
    Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini while visiting Belgrade
    last week. Lamberto Dini had said on that occasion that the demand
    for the acknowledgment of the electoral results ``was not
    politically possible.''  ``We have been robbed of the electoral
    results... and we can neither understand nor accept the statement
    Mr. Dini has made,'' said the letter.


    KOSTUNICA: SPS PROPOSAL IS RIDICULOUS

    Leader of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Vojislav Kostunica
    assessed today the ruling party's plan to establish a
    parliamentary panel to discuss the issue of elections as both
    dubious and ridiculous. ``The Parliament itself is an institution
    which should discuss all issues of importance, but this has not
    been the case due to the self-will of the ruling Socialists,''
    said Kostunica's statement. A discussion between the authorities
    and the opposition would be feasible only if its topic was the
    nullification of electoral theft and a political agreement on the
    Parliamentary rules of procedure and on the laws covering
    elections, media, parties and their funding.


    STUDENTS FROM NOVI SAD ARRIVED IN BELGRADE

    130 students from Novi Sad who had set out on foot to come to the
    capital in support of their Belgrade counterparts were welcomed
    today around 10:30 a.m. by thousands of cheering Belgraders.
    Nebojsa Petrovic, one of the ``marathon marchers,'' told his
    Belgrade colleagues: ``Don't let them crush us. If we stop, they
    will dehumanize us completely, so hold on and remember us and the
    80 km we have walked.''


    STUDENTS FROM NIS SET OUT FOR BELGRADE TOMORROW

    Aleksandar Visnic, a student of UofN, told his colleagues gathered
    at today's protest meeting that 12 students would set out on a 200
    mile march from Nis to Belgrade to hold talks with the Patriarch
    of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian President.


    PRESSURE ON UNIVERSITY STAFF

    Independent Association of the Staff of the UofB said today that
    some of the deans are applying heavy pressure on both students and
    their lecturers to stop supporting the student protests. The
    association called for respect of the students' right to protest
    against breaches of law and the re-tailoring of electoral results
    by force.


    APPEAL TO MINISTERS OF JUSTICE AND INTERNAL AFFAIRS

    Council for Human Rights at Belgrade's Center of Anti-war Action
    has sent an appeal to the Serbian ministers of justice and
    internal affairs to stop ``the practice of torturing their
    political opponents.''

    The appeal urged that ``an investigation of the cases of Feriz
    Blakcori and Dejan Bulatovic be carried out immediately and that
    the public be promptly informed on the measures taken against the
    policemen-murderers.''


    DNEVNI TELEGRAF: SUIT AGAINST PRESIDENT OF ELECTORAL COMMISSION

    The First Municipal Court of Belgrade launched yesterday a
    criminal suit against the President of the Belgrade Electoral
    Commission, Radomir Lazarevic, for fraud and falsifying the
    electoral minutes, reports today's issue of the daily ``Dnevni
    Telegraf.'' The key evidence are two sets of minutes [of the same
    meeting] bearing different signatures.


    NIS: COURT RULING EXPECTED TODAY

    Municipal Court of Nis decided yesterday to examine the complaint
    by coalition Zajedno on the decisions by the Nis Electoral
    Commission. The court also ordered the commission to hand in its
    electoral minutes. The legal term within which the court is to
    make its ruling known expires later today. Representatives of
    Zajedno believe that if the court sustains the complaints as well
    as the evidence Zajedno has handed in, all the seats in the City
    Assembly of Nis will be returned to them.

    Prepared by: Aleksandra Scepanovic
    Edited by: Vaska Andjelkovic (Tumir)

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    ODRAZ B92, Belgrade                             Daily News Service
    e-mail: beograd@siicom.com      URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
            odrazb92@b92.opennet.org     http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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