To the European Commission, European Parliament, European Council, Governments of EU Member States, NATO, IPC Brussels, IFJ

Petition of Albanian journalists accredited in Brussels

The killing of our colleague Afrim Maliqi in Prishtina shows once again in which condition journalists are working in that area.

Dear European officials, we hope that you are aware that this represents a continuation of events that we have seen in Croatia and Bosnia, where during the war and in the time of relative peace several journalists were killed in unclear circumstances. We were hoping before, that the new Bosnia will not be repeated in Kosova, but there is Bosnia repeating also in the aspect of killing journalists. As you know, the Serbian regime does not respect the freedom of media even in their own country, closing and persecuting the independent Serbian media.

We want to remind you how the situation of freedom of speech and freedom of information is in Kosova. The electronic media in Albanian language are having the big problems with distribution and their journalists are under the permanent threat from the Serbian police. We hope that you didn't forget that in the beginning of this conflict in the spring of this year the Serbian security forces did attack the office of Albanian daily Koha Ditore in Prishtina beating and mistreating the journalists and the editors. Also the journalists of Rilindja and Kosova Information Centre were continuously threatened being invited several times in so-called informative talks in the police. The killing of journalist Afrim Maliqi is a culmination of policy of violation of the rights of journalists aiming to make them "obey". We are concerned that this happened in the time when we were waiting for some positive signals which would show that the situation will improve in positive way creating the possibility for peace in Kosova.

We do not know how you will understand this act but we think without intending to make any prejudice in advance that this is not an adequate answer after the human act of the Kosova Liberation Army who released two our Serbian colleagues, journalists from Tanjug. We hope that you will condemn this murder and that being aware of the role of the media in the process of finding a solution for the crisis in Kosova, you will raise the voice and get engaged more seriously to create better condition for free information in Kosova.

Augustin Palokaj, Koha Ditore

Afrim Gjonbalaj, TVSH (Albanian television)

Viron Gjymshana, Deutsche Welle

Ekrem Krasniqi, Zeri