UNS and DNKiM warn that this very sentence was a trigger for the outbreak of violence in which innocent people were killed, 39 churches and monasteries were burned down as well as villages and urban areas, over 900 Serbs were beaten and mistreated and about 4,000 of them expelled.

UNS and DNKiM remind that all the international organizations have condemned such reporting by RTK and at the time, the Public Service of Kosovo received 100,000 EUR to improve its editorial capacities.

The news that was yesterday broadcast on RTK is to a large degree a rewritten news from 20 years ago and it carries along not only the risk of tragic consequences for the entire area, but also an obvious attempt to revise the history of this event.

The yesterday’s information does not state whose houses and religious facilities were burned but emphasizes the untruth that “Serbs retaliated by doing the same with the Albanian houses”.

UNS and DNKiM point out that this information violates all the professional norms, and they demand an urgent reaction of the local regulatory bodies and international organizations because such reporting directly threatens the safety of the entire community and incites, encourages and absolves the perpetrators of one of the most tragic events in our modern history.

JAS calls on IFJ and EFJ to renew their requests to the European institutions and the Ukrainian authorities and judiciary to remove such a list on which both Ukrainian and world media journalists were found as undesirable back in 2016 when IFJ and EFJ reacted.

In February 2017, the government of Ukraine informed the EFJ that a police investigation had been launched against the non-governmental organization behind the “Myrotvorets”, website. However, this European journalistic organization has not received to date any feedback from the government of Ukraine.

The name of Ajosa Milenkovic, a long-time reporter for Chinese English-language television - CGTN, who reported for Al Jazeera in English in 2014 from the brutal protests in Kiev, was among the 40 journalists and cameramen of foreign media that the Russian side planned for a visit to Rostov-on-Don, Mariupol in May of this year…

Their names were put on the list by the Russian Ministry of Defense and probably published on its website, according to Milenkovic’s knowledge, but he did not attend the visit organized for journalists, nor did he register for it.

It was only when a friend informed him in the beginning of June that his name on the “Myrotvorets” website that he found out he was labeled as a “propagandist of Russian Nazism and fascism” because he was on the list of the “press tour”.  

Such a list of journalists scheduled for a tour of war-torn areas of Ukraine began to be shared on the Internet, and under the post on a Ukrainian blog that “Myrotvorets” referred to, a comment was published “that they hoped everyone would be posted in `Myrotvorets`”.

The list of “press tours” that can be found on the Internet includes the names, passport numbers and dates of birth of journalists from the Associated Press, France Press and other large and small media outlets, and along with Ajosa Milenkovic, the names of Daniel Simic, a reporter for Radio and Television of the Republic of Srpska and Igor Damjanovic, a journalist for the portal IN4S, are also listed there.

 There is also the name of Miodrag Zarkovic, who is said to be a journalist of the weekly “Pecat”  on the “Myrotvorets” website since September 2016.

UNS requests that the names and personal data of these Serbian journalists and all other journalists and media workers be removed from the “Myrotvorets” website, where there is a practice to write the word “liquidated” over the photos of people whose death has been confirmed. 

“At the time of the bombing, technicians and other production staff were working in the building. It is estimated that at least 120 civilians were working in the building at the time of the attack. At least 16 civilians were killed and 16 others were wounded”, the report of this organization stating that NATO hit the target it aimed at reads.

The same report also quoted former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as saying that RTS was bombed because it broadcast footage of civilian casualties that was also taken over by the Western media, which, according to him, weakened support for the war within the NATO alliance.

“We were aware that these images would backlash and that there would be instinctive sympathy for the victims of the campaign”, Blair told the BBC.

The Amnesty International report also indicates that there was no warning from NATO that “a concrete attack on the RTS headquarters was inevitable”.

“NATO officials in Brussels told Amnesty International that they did not issue a specific warning because it would put the pilots at risk”, the report reads.

UNS, the Trade Union of RTS and SINOS believe that it is high time that those in NATO who ordered and executed this attack should be held responsible for this war crime.

RTS workers killed by the NATO bombs: Jelica Munitlak (27), make-up artist, Ksenija Bankovic (27), video mixer, Darko Stoimenovski (25), exchange technician, Nebojša Stojanovic (26), master technician, Dragorad Dragojevic (27), security worker, Dragan Tasic (29), electrician, Aleksandar Deletic (30), cameraman, Slavisa Stevanovic (32), technician, Sinisa Medic (32), program designer, Ivan Stukalo (33), technician, Dejan Markovic (39), security worker, Milan Joksimovic (47), security worker, Branislav Jovanovic (50), technician in master, Milovan Jankovic (59), precision mechanic, Tomislav Mitrovic (61), program director, and Slobodan Jontic (54), installer.

UNS points out that the ban on the Serbian print media in Kosovo and Metohija grossly violates the right to free information guaranteed by the international documents, such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that their distribution must be free of all political restrictions. 

UNS emphasizes that such imposition of obstacles to distribution seriously endangers the right of the Serbian people to information in their mother tongue, especially bearing in mind the fact that no daily or weekly newspaper in the Serbian language is printed in Kosovo and Metohija. 

UNS reminds that due to the imposition of 100% tariff on the goods from central Serbia introduced by Pristina, Serbian newspapers were not on the newsstands in Kosovo and Metohija from November 2018 to April 2019.

UNS will inform the International and European Federation of Journalists, OSCE and the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic about this situation.

UNS is the largest journalistic association in Serbia and, formed in 1881, one of the oldest such associations in the world.

UNS reminds that a much needed dialogue in the Serbian society cannot be conducted in the atmosphere of violence and illegitimate occupation of the RTS building, in the presence of people with balaclavas and police.

UNS and DNKiM therefore urge Pristina to ensure, without any delays, free distribution of the Serbian print media.  

UNS and DNKiM point out that such an imposition of obstacles to distribution seriously jeopardize the right of Serbian people to information in their mother tongue, especially bearing in mind the fact that not a single daily or weekly newspaper in Serbian language is printed in Kosovo and Metohija.

As Zvezdan Mihajlovic from the company KiM Beokolp, which distributes the Serbian print media in Kosovo and Metohija, confirmed, they normally crossed this morning the Serbian side in Jarinje, but the Kosovo side asked them to pay the tax that was increased by 100 percent.

“We were not able to pay double tax and we took all the press back. We are doing our best in Beokolp so as to re-establish distribution, we are aware how the print media are important, even  if we suffer some minor losses”, Mihajlovic said.

UNS and DNKiM will inform the International and European Federation of Journalists about this situation. 

UNS supports the initiative of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that the United Nations should adopt the Convention for Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals. 

UNS supports the work of the Commission for Investigation of Murders of Journalists and considers it instrumental in bringing about the trial to the accused for the murder of Slavko Curuvija, collection of evidence in the case of the murder of Milan Pantic and work in shedding light to the circumstances of Dada Vujasinovic’s death.

UNS reminds that as many as 39 journalists and media workers who worked for the Serbian newsroom offices, including Slavko Curuvija, Milan Pantic, Dada Vujasinovic and victims of the bombing of RTS, were killed, kidnapped, disappeared or died under unknown circumstances in the period from 1991 to the end of 2001.

Altogether 14 journalists and media workers were killed and went missing only in Kosovo and Metohija from August 1998 to September 2005 and their murderers and kidnappers were not found in a single case.

UNS points out that not even after 11 years from the attempted murder of the “Vreme” journalist Dejan Anastasijevic were those responsible for it found and punished. Attackers on Ivan Ninic have not been found over three years either as well as the responsible for the beating of the editor of FoNet Davor Pasalic in 2014.

According to the statistics of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) over 600 journalists have been killed in the last six years.  Nine out of ten cases of attacks on journalists remain unpunished. Hundreds of journalists are in prison, and journalists have been attacked, beaten, detained, harassed and threatened on a daily basis. All this prompted the International Federation of Journalists to launch a campaign that the United Nations should pass the international convention that would be dedicated to protection of journalists and media professionals”, IFJ says.

Let us remind that the Committee for the Protection of Human Rights in the United Nations General Assembly adopted a proposal on 18 December 2013 that 2 November should be declared the International Day for the Protection of Journalists. On this day in 2013, journalists of the French Radio France International Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon were killed in Mali.

JAS asks the United Kingdom to provide guarantees that it will not extradite Assange to the United States of America, as well as that it will grant him free and safe passage to a country that agrees to take him in. 

JAS would like to remind the public that in 2011 it presented Assange with the "Zora" (in English, Dawn) award on the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day. Assange was the very first foreign national to whom one of the oldest journalists' associations in the world founded in 1881 - the Journalists' Association of Serbia, presented an award. 

In its rationale behind this award, JAS stated that Assange and his Wikileaks colleagues "have given a historic contribution to the right of citizens to know. Countries have a right to protect their secrets, but Julian Assange, by example, has shown why journalists cannot help them in exercising this right".

The only person that was held responsible thus far for the aforementioned war crime was the former RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic, who served a 10-year prison sentence to which he was convicted because he failed to take the necessary measures to protect and evacuate the RTS employees after the threats of bombing the building were made.

UNS and RTS’ Professional Union would like to emphasize the fact that all the relevant international human rights organizations have condemned the killing of civilians within the RTS premises, while Amnesty International considers this deliberate attack on the RTS building, as a civilian facility, and the murder of 16 media employees a war crime.

UNS and RTS’ Professional Union remind that, at its assembly held in 2011 in Belgrade, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) invited its members to join in commemorating the 23rd of April - the Day of Remembrance of 16 media workers killed during the NATO bombing of RTS.

UNS and RTS’ Professional Union support and appreciate the work of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists performed thus far and expect from it to play a key role in shedding light on all the circumstances related to the killing of 16 media workers.

UNS and RTS’ Professional Union supported the initiative of the aforementioned Commission calling upon the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) to include the 16 RTS journalists and media workers in its list.

President of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists Veran Matic said that the Commission never got the answer from CPJ.

UNS RTS’ Professional Union will continue to insist on inclusion of the names of our colleagues in the list of killed media workers.

The only person that was held responsible thus far for the aforementioned war crime was the former RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic, who served a 10-year prison sentence to which he was convicted because he failed to take the necessary measures to protect and evacuate the RTS employees after the threats of bombing the building were made.

UNS would like to emphasize the fact that all the relevant global human rights organizations have condemned the killing of civilians within the RTS premises, while Amnesty International considers this deliberate attack on the RTS building, as a civilian facility, and the murder of 16 media employees a war crime.

UNS reminds that, at its assembly held in 2011 in Belgrade, the European Federation of Journalists [EFJ] invited its members to join UNS and the Union of Journalists of Serbia in commemorating the 23rd of April - the Day of Remembrance of 16 media workers killed during the NATO bombing of RTS.

UNS supports and appreciates the work of the Serbian Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists performed thus far and expects from it to play a key role in shedding light on all the circumstances related to the killing of 16 media workers.

UNS supported the initiative of the aforementioned Commission calling upon the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists to include the 16 RTS journalists and media workers in its list, but CPJ has not done it yet. UNS will continue insisting on inclusion of the names of our colleagues in the list of killed media workers.

UNS and DNKiM request from that the Kosovo media community, professional associations, The Press Council to urgently react to such writings of the public broadcasting service, whose text was taken over by other Albanian media in Kosovo, too.

UNS and DNKiM expect from the OSCE Mission in Kosovo and other international representatives to issue public statements on such RTK writings, especially bearing in mind that the fake news broadcast by the public broadcaster RTK was a trigger for violence against the Serbs in March 2004, when it was reported that the Serbs were to blame for the drowning of two Albanian boys in the Ibar River in the north of Kosovo.

UNS and DNKiM stress that this type of writing is life threatening not only for the “well-known Serbian journalist B.N., but also for a group of people who were labeled, by photographs and names and surnames, as Russian spies without evidence.

UNS and DNKiM would like to remind that seven Serbian journalists and media workers disappeared and were killed in Kosovo and Metohija in the period from 1998 and 2000, and not a single perpetrator has been found to date and that EULEX and the Kosovo competent bodies have done nothing in investigating the cases. 

UNS and DNKiM believe that the public broadcaster of Kosovo has violated the professional standards by broadcasting the unsigned text in which a group of people was accused of espionage for Russia without evidence and thus their lives have been brought in danger.

UNS and DNKiM request that the text should be taken off the RTK internet sites and withdrawn from other media that reported it and that the professional organizations, courts of honor and the Press Council should declare their opinion about the editors’ responsibility for publishing such contents.