30 May 2000

The opposition Studio B broadcasting organization and its founder, the Belgrade city Assembly, has instituted a possessor action against the Serbian government, which recently took over the Studio B radio and television stations. The proceedings started on 29 May and were soon postponed when the Serbian Solicitor General requested a continuance in order to obtain the opinion of the Serbian government. Although the law obliges the court to rule on interlocutory appeals as soon as possible, Judge Gordana Milosevic of the Third Municipal Court in Belgrade refused to consider the plaintiffs' plea for unhindered use of the premises and resumption of broadcasting. Reacting to this violation, the Belgrade Solicitor General, representing the plaintiffs, asked for the recusal of Judge Milosevic. The Municipal Court President dismissed the motion.

The Belgrade Solicitor General also asked the Court to order the Serbian government to produce the document authorizing the appropriation of the Studio B premises and to call as witnesses Serbian Deputy Premiers Vojislav Seselj and Milovan Bojic, who signed the government's decision to take over the founder's rights of Studio B. On the basis of this decision, police on 17 May entered the Studio B premises, interrupted the broadcasting, ordered the journalists and technical staff to leave and barred them from the premises. No document citing the legal grounds for appropriating the premises and taking over the founder's rights was presented to the Studio B management.

ed broadcasting, while Radio Index was off the air from 17 to 19 May because police did not allow its staff into the building, in which Studio B is also located. Journalists of the Belgrade daily Blic, whose offices are in the same building, were not allowed to enter them on 17 and 18 May.

The court is scheduled to reconvene at noon on 8 June.