News arhive for September, 2000

September 30, 2000

• SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC REFUSED THE MEDIATION OF IGOR IVANOV, chief of the Russian diplomacy, stated Jiri Dienstbier, Special Rapporteur of the UN for human rights in the former Yugoslavia.
  In Podgorica, Dienstbier said that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) accepted Ivanov mediating the dispute with the ruling parties regarding the election results.
  As announced, Dienstbier was supposed to travel to Belgrade where he would meet with the DOS presidential candidate, Vojislav Kostunica.
  The conversation between Dienstbier and Yugoslav Minister of Foreign Affairs, Zivadin Jovanovic, was scheduled for Monday. As announced, they will talk about the disappearance of the former President of Serbia, Ivan Stambolic.
  
• ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT ELECTRONIC MEDIA (ANEM) has appealed to all the radio and TV stations in the country and region to actively contribute to the truthful and timely reporting about everything that happens in Yugoslavia during these breaking moments.
  ”The need for professional work of all media and journalists in Serbia is greater now than ever. Greater part of Serbia, primarily Belgrade and its vicinity, are still in the complete media darkness in regard to the radio and TV programs”, states the ANEM.
  In the appeal to ANEM, it is emphasized that the programs of a small number of independent electronic media have been constantly disrupted, so that the citizens can hardly receive the news.
  Considering that the media may contribute to the emergence and spread of conflicts, as well as to aid in stabilizing peace and democracy, the ANEM invited all the electronic media to immediately participate in the campaign against the blockade of information.

September 29, 2000

• THE FEDERAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (SIK) HAS COUNTED 142,000 VOTES FOR SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC FROM THE NON-EXISTENT POLLING STATIONS IN KOSOVO says Nebojsa Bakarec, a member of the extended SIK staff. He said that it was confirmed that these were the votes of «the non-existent people from the non-existent polling places in Kosovo». «All of a sudden», SIK received the records from some polling places in Kosovo «where only Albanians live».
  It has also been confirmed that the records from the polling places in Kosovo arrived. According to them, 146,000 voters voted; out of this number, 142,000 voted for Milosevic, while 4,000 votes were either invalid, or the votes went to other presidential candidates.
  Bakarec stated that in some of these records, allegedly arriving from Prizren or Gora, it was written that Milosevic received votes from all the voters, and in some cases he “’won’ more votes than was the number of voters”. (Beta)
  
• LEADERS OF THE DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION OF SERBIA (DOS) invited the citizens of Serbia to demonstrate their «civil disobediance and general strike» in order to defend the election results.
  At 2 P.M., at the plateau in front of the Federal Assembly, a big rally will be held. The leaders of DOS will invite the population to participate in a general strike, as announced by Cedomir Jovanovic, chief of the Election Headquarters of DOS. (Beta)

September 28, 2000

• 8 PM - results of the elections:

September 27, 2000

• SPECIAL POLICE FORCES CIRCLED THE STAGE that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia started to assemble in front of the Federal Parliament. At this place, the celebration of the election victory of the opposition was scheduled for 8 P.M.
  The chief of the Election Headquarters of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, Cedomir Jovanovic, warned the police not to mix with politics and stated that the police chief in the Belgrade municipality Stari Grad received the order to remove the stage from the “highest place”. The Democratic Opposition of Serbia has declared that it will not give up from the celebration of the election victory and that it will assemble an alternative public address system if prevented to hold the rally in front of the Federal Parliament. (www.dos.org.yu)
  
• FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION (SIK) has not allowed the team of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) to review the election material.
  DOS will object to SIK, and if that objection has been rejected, the complaint to the Federal Constitutional Court will follow. (Beta)
  
• AN URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE RESULTS from all polling places in Yugoslavia was requested by the Office for the Democratic Institutions and Human Rights within the Organization for the Security and Cooperation in Europe.
  ”If SIK wants to persuade the voters in the FRY that its published results are not fabricated, it has to publish a detailed report of the results from all the electoral units”, read the statement. It is also added that the “population may only judge, comparing the reports of SIK and independent sources, indicating that Kostunica won in the first round”. (Beta)
  
• INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS IN SERBIA (NUNS) protested against the removal of journalists from some independent media from the press conference of the Socialist Party of Serbia and accused the authorities for hiding the real election results from citizens.
  NUNS stated that strong disruptions of the Radio Index, the only independent electronic media in Belgrade, Radio 021 from Novi Sad have the same function. This also applies to damaging of the transmitter of the private TV Belami in Nis and disruption of the Nis TV and other non-governmental stations.
  In its statement, NUNS quotes that the attacks on the freedom of information may cause even greater tensions in the society.
  
• SEVERAL BULGARIAN CITIZENS announced that they would press charges against the members of the Serbian police because they injured them during the rally in Nis.
  These criminal charges will be filed by Emil Koslukov, a political scientist, two activists of the “Bulgarian Association for Fair Elections and Civil Rights” (BUCIGP) and several other Bulgarian citizens. “We were arrested and beaten. Our injuries may be seen on the X rays”, said Koslukov.
  The authorities in Belgrade refused to grant an accreditation to BUCIGP, so that their monitors decided to privately travel to Nis.
  ”They requested from us to acknowledge that we were the agents of the National Security or some foreign secret service”, said the activists. The police also requested “their confession that BUCIGP is a branch of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID)”. (Beta)
  
• DUE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE POST-ELECTION SITUATION in the country, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia has expressed its deep concern and invited the authorities to acknowledge its defeat at the elections.

September 26, 2000

• THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U.S. CONGRESS HAS APPROVED, by two-thirds majority, 500 million dollars as financial aid to the democratic forces in Serbia and Montenegro. This includes 50 million dollars for financing the activities of pro-democratic and dissident groups. (Beta)
  
• OPENING THE 55^th SESSION of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) in Prague, president of the Czech Republic Havel congratulated the presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), Vojislav Kostunica, the victory at the Sunday elections.
  After half an hour of the introductory speech about poverty in the world and the need for the renewal of the spiritual values, Havel asked for a minute of attention to “congratulate Mr. Kostunica from Yugoslavia”.
  ”Democracy won in yet another part of the world”, explained Havel his need to congratulate and support the Yugoslav democratic forces. (Beta)
  
• MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL MOVEMENT OTPOR HAVE NOT BEEN ARRESTED in the days after the election. During the last several months, the activists of Otpor were taken, on the daily basis, to the police for informative conversations. Until the elections, Otpor ran the campaign "He is finished", with the goal of animating citizens to participate in elections.

September 23, 2000

THE SITES RELATED TO THE ELECTIONS IN FRY:

• THE INIATIVE HAS BEEN LAUNCHED for establishing the Committee for releasing Ivan Stambolic, former president of the Presidency of FR Serbia, who disappeared on 25 August. The main goals of the Committee, whose founding session will be held on 24 September, will be »to find out where Stambolic is imprisoned« and »what steps did the public security and prosecutor's office take to discover where Ivan Stambolic was and who imprisoned him«, as well as »to find out the motives and reasons« for his imprisonment. The initiative for the establishment of the committee came from: Vesna Pesic, Nebojsa Popov, Veran Matic, Gradimir Nalic, Slobodan Soskic, Biljana Kovacevic Vuco, Biljana Kajganic, Gordana Susa, Latinka Perovic, Mirko Tepavac, Aleksandar Nenadovic, Zivorad Kovacevic, Radomir Konstantinovic and Nikola Barovic. The Initiative Committee also announced that Association of Independent Electronic Media, Yugoslav Lawyers Committee for Human Rights and the Committee for Releasing Ivan Stambolic launched this action under the name “Where is Ivan Stambolic – Inform 92 and B2-92”. (Beta Agency)
  

• NGOs FROM BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA announced that about 5,400 citizens would monitor the parliamentary elections in B&H, scheduled for November 11, as domestic monitors. The Sarajevo Onasa Agency reports that the Center of Civil Initiatives (CCI) and NGO network “Eye” prepared the recruiting and training of the monitors. He said that more than 200 NGOs from all over B&H joined the network “Eye”, and added that this number would go beyond 300 at the end of the election campaign. “Do not close your eyes – secure regularity of the elections”, is one of the propaganda messages that CCI and Network “Eye” directed to the citizens on the posters, leaflets and in the brochures. (Beta)

September 22, 2000

• INTERNATIONAL ROUND TABLE »INTER-RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE AS A WAY OF RECONCILIATION IN SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE« will be held in Belgrade (Hotel Metropol) on 22-24 September. The organizer of this conference is the Center for Religious Studies (CIREL) of the Belgrade Open School (BOS).
  About 40 participants of this round table include the representatives of religious communities and theologians (from the Serbian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church, Protestant churches, Islamic Religious Community and Jewish Community), scholars and other experts for inter-religious dialogue and reconciliation from the FRY, formerly Yugoslav republics, Western Europe and the United States.
  This round table will also be attended by students of the BOS and Alternative Academic Educational Network.
  The main goal of this three-day event is a detailed consideration of the possibility of inter-religious dialogue as one of the most important ways of reconciliation of ethnic and religious communities in South Eastern Europe.

September 21, 2000

• DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION OF SERBIA (DOS) formally announced with the police the gathering on Belgrade square, on evening of 24 September. DOS plans to inform citizens and their voters on the election results on city squares. DOS will organize the same gatherings in other cities as well, particularly those where opposition is on power. Beside experts that will present the results, individuals from public and cultural life will also be present. (Beta Agency)
  
• ON 23 SEPTEMBER, Democratic Opposition of Serbia Youth and Student Federation will organize free of charge transportation of students to voting units.
  
• CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID) provided Federal Electoral Commission (SIK) with one filled voting ballot with the request to examine its authenticity. SIK announced that will examine this tomorrow.
  
• ABOUT 200,000 PEOPLE got together at the plateau in front of the Yugoslav Parliament in Belgrade, saluting the presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), Vojislav Kostunica, who spoke at the DOS rally.
  The supporters of DOS carried the party flags of this block. A large Otpor flag, as well as the banners of G-17 Plus, were also noted.
  Many citizens carried badges and stickers with the words «He is Finished» and «Otpor».
  The citizens were also greeted by the coordinator of G-17 Plus, Mladjan Dinkic and the Otpor activist, Jelena Zivanovic, who entered the stage with a highly raised fist. (Beta)
  
• THE COORDINATION COMMITTEE of the NGO campaign for the democratic and fair elections “Exit 2000” informs the public that, with the forthcoming election silence, it ceases all its pre-election activities whose goal is to animate the citizens to participate in the elections.
  The Coordination Committee made this decision having in mind that the rule about the lection silence contributes to the realization of the principles of free and democratic elections supported by non-governmental organizations.
  The Coordination Committee forwarded the direction concerning the necessity of respecting the principles of the election silence to the NGOs that participated in the pre-election activities. The Committee is convinced that all the participants of the NGO campaign will respect the election silence. In the case that some pre-election actions be conducted during the election silence, they should be ascribed to the participants of the campaign alone.
  
• AN INCREASED “REPRESSION” OF THE POLICE IN SOUTH SERBIA, mainly directed against young people, has been condemned by Dobrosav Nesic, president of the Human Rights Committee in Leskovac.
  As an example of repression, he mentioned the police beating of the Otpor members in Vladicin Han and “an unlawful behavior” towards the CeSID’s coordinators from Leskovac and Nis, Igor Stajic and Milan Stefanovic.
  
• THE WHITE BOOK OF KRAGUJEVAC, presenting all the indicators of the economic movements in the city, was promoted by the Kragujevac office of G17 Plus.
  The White Book quotes that the last year’s production in “Zastava” was 48 times smaller than in 1989, when 223,564 vehicles were produced.
  During the last ten years, the number of unemployed people in Kragujevac increased from 10,703 to 16,802 last year, including the majority of young people who search their jobs for the first time. (Beta)
  
• THE RESEARCH TEAM OF THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID) claims that the parties and presidential candidate of the left were “uncontestable” during the pre-election campaign in their representation by the state media (compared to other parties, coalitions and presidential candidates).
  Dr. Stjepan Gredelj, from the CeSID’s research team, claims that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and its presidential candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, were “more prominent” in independent press than the candidate of the Socialist Party of Serbia and Yugoslav Left, Slobodan Milosevic. (Beta)

September 20, 2000

• FIVE ACTIVISTS OF OTPOR WERE RELEASED after an hour and a half spent at the police station in Indjija. They were arrested after the public discussion organized by the Humanitarian Law Center in Indjija. The police arrested Nemanja Crnic, Branislav Marincic and Srdjan Tesic, as well as Jelena Kleut and Vladimir Jesic.
  Hearing about the arrest of their friends, fifteen activists of Otpor, in a gesture of solidarity, entered the police station and stayed there until the five arrested Otpor members were released. (Beta)
  
• THE DEMOCRATIC “REVOLUTION” that replaced the hard nationalist government of the former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, may hardly be repeated at the Yugoslav elections on Sunday, stated Suzana Jasic, executive director of the Croatian NGO GONG. “There are many differences. One may not just apply a model, which proved to be successful in one country, to another. This simply does not work like that”, said Jasic in her interview to Reuters.
  ”We have had contacts since the period before the Croatian elections, but our cooperation has intensified during the last months”, said Jasic about the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CESID).
  The CESID activists were mostly interested in the table system of parallel voting that GONG used in Croatia in order to decrease the possibility of election fraud, explains Jasic. GONG will not have its monitors at the elections in Serbia. “It seems that this is impossible for the time being”, said Suzana Jasic. (Beta)
  
• THE MESSAGE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION APPELAING to the Serbian people to vote against the Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was joined by another fourteen countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Rumania, Slovakia, Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).
  Slovenia is the only country that negotiates its access to the EU, but has not signed the message. (Beta)
  
• THE ROCK CONCERT WITHIN THE CAMPAIGN “IT IS TIME”, called “Rock 'n’ Roll for the Elections – Step on the Line”, was held in Novi Sad at the Square of Freedom before 10,000 citizens.
  
• ALONG WITH THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS, “THE REPRESSION AND THE NUMBER OF ARRESTED CITIZENS INCREASE”, claim the representatives of the Humanitarian Law Center Fonda (FHP) and Otpor. Executive director of FHP, Natasa Kandic, states that since the beginning of May until today, 2,500 citizens have been arrested, including about 2,000 activists of Otpor, 400 members of the opposition parties and 100 activists of NGOs.
  Kandic claims that the police arrests the Otpor activists against the law, interrogating them, opening their files, searching their apartments, and seizing their propaganda material. She reminded that, according to the Criminal Law, the police have the right to invite citizens for an informative conversation only if there is a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. According to Kandic, in July and August the police searched about 500 Otpor activists’ and their parents’ apartments, not respecting the propositions of the Criminal Law, which stipulates that the search may be conducted only after the beginning of an investigation, with the approval of the investigative judge. Only exceptionally this is done before that, if there is a danger related to postponing such actions. (Beta) 

September 19, 2000

• ALEKSANDAR BRATKOVIC, regional coordinator of CeSID, who was taken from his apartment right to the police this morning, has been released from the police. Earlier this morning, the police arrested the bookkeeper of this organization, Gordana Mijatovic. During the last ten days, the arrests of the CeSID’s activists became more frequent, along with an intensified interest of the criminal and financial police in the work of the only domestic NGO registered for monitoring the elections.
  At the press conference held at the Media Center, Marko Blagojevic, member of the CeSID’s Board, announced that this organization will submit another application to the Federal Electoral Commission for monitoring the forthcoming elections and that it will expect their decision, not a private response of the Commission secretary.
  
• AFTER A 24-HOUR DETAINMENT, THE POLICE IN LESKOVAC HAS RELEASED the CeSID’s coordinator for the Jablanica County, Igor Stajic, as well as the coordinator of this NGO for Southeastern Serbia, Milan Stefanovic from Nis, detained at the Yugoslav-Bulgarian border.
  At their joint press conference, Stajic and Stefanovic said that the police was interested in the work and financing of this organization.
  After the last evening’s rally, when the presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia spoke before ten thousand people, about a thousand citizens protested before the Leskovac police building, demanding Stajic’s release.
  The demonstrators dispersed when they were told that Stajic was transferred to Belgrade.
  ”All the time I was at the Leskovac police and heard people shouting, and I liked it”, said Stajic.
  
• THE ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT ECONOMISTS AND ENTREPRENEURS OF BELGRADE announced their manifestation “The Exposition of Life” and invited its membership and citizens to massively participate in the September 24 elections. Dejan Suvakov, president of this association, said that the message for 35,000 members of this association and citizens would be placed at four spots in the capital city. The posters will read: “…well, why wouldn’t you take things into your own hands and vote?”
  According to him, this Association does not wish to side with any presidential candidate or party participating in the federal parliamentary and local elections. (Beta)
  
• THE CHIEFS OF DIPLOMACY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION sent “A Message to the Serbian People” in Brussels, emphasizing that they would immediately lift the sanctions, help Serbia and include the FR Yugoslavia in the European structures and international community, if the September 24 elections “mean the orientation to the democratic changes”.
  
• ON THE OCCASION OF SENTENCING THREE OTPOR ACTIVISTS ten days in prison, respectively, Biljana Kajganic, their attorney claimed that there were many improprieties in the judiciary, and that “there are “obstructions and misuse of justice”
  She claimed that “if the legal system (in Serbia) would start functioning, the state would have basis for the removal and ousting of many judges”. She also said that she was “astonished, because the judges are disturbed by the graffiti, but not by fights and physical injuries”.
  
• MIROLJUB MILENKOVIC, AN ACTIVIST OF OTPOR, WAS BEATED AT THE POLICE IN KRUSEVAC. He is also the member of the Serbian Renewal Movement, as stated by another Otpor activist, Srđan Milivojevic.
  Milenkovic, who wore the Otpor shirt, was approached by two policemen in civilian dress after the public debate of the Committee for Human Rights, and taken to the police, said Milivojevic.
  He said that the policemen did not identify themselves.
  Milenkovic himself said to the Beta News Agency that the policemen beat him in an office for about 20 minutes, with both hands and legs. (Beta)

September 18, 2000

• THE RALLY ORGANIZED BY G17 PLUS WAS HELD IN NIS, at the central city square – Square of Freedom, before 10,000 citizens.
  Executive director of G17 Plus, Mladjan Dinkic, said to the citizens that «there is no reason to worry», because the presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, «is leading by one million votes».
  Dinkic ironically thanked to the Head of the Generals Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Nebojsa Pavkovic, for his message that the election day, September 24, is the D Day and that the Army would not allow a violent takeover of power. “Who is the one to wish a violent takeover of power? It is well known who changed the electoral will in 1996/97”, said Dinkic. The participants of the rally whistled at mentioning Pavkovic’s name.
  Dinkic warned the directors of the state and public companies not to make any attempts to give their workers the filled out voting ballots, or threaten to fire them if they would not return the empty ballots.
  ”If this happens, show your personal courage and tear these papers before them”, said Dinkic.
  Tonight’s rally in Nis started with a walk of a group of drummers, led by Dragoljub Djuricic, through the central city streets. Afterwards they held a concert at the square. (Beta)
  
• THE ACTION “JUST A LITTLE MORE”, which symbolically closed the economic-tourist manifestation “Picking Grapes 2000”, organized by the Otpor activists in Aleksandrovac. Within this action, the grapes were delivered in plates with the slogan “Resistance, because I am Hungry”, while a great number of guests received glasses with stickers "Otpor".
  At the end of this action, the activists of Otpor let the balloons into the air. Attached to the balloons were the symbols of this organization - fists.
  The main message of this action was that this is the last “red” picking of grapes. A little bit later, the police arrested four young men, including two members of Otpor.

September 17, 2000

• THE CONCERT «A SMILE FOR DEMOCRACY» was held at the Belgrade Republic Square before 10,000 people. It was organized by G17 Plus and the campaign «It is Time».
  The concert concluded with the joint performance of all participants who sang the song «It is Time», inviting the youth to participate in the September 24 elections. Before the beginning of the concert, the activists of Otpor, G17 Plus and CeSID delivered leaflets and the propaganda material. (Beta)
  
• IN THESSALONIKA, after two hours of live performance at the square in front of the Aristotel University, the concert of the Greek and Yugoslav rock, rap and ethno groups was finished. At this concert - organized by the Greek NGOs Paremvasi (Intervention), Evropaiki Ekfrasi (European Expression) in support of Otpor - the Yugoslav bands Eva Braun and Love Hunters played in front of a thousand people. (Beta)
  
• CESID HAS NOT RECEIVED THE DECISION OF THE FEDERAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (SIK) concerning the application for monitoring the forthcoming elections in the FR Yugoslavia.
  On September 14, CeSID submitted its application to SIK, and according to the law, the response should have been provided within 48 hours. (Beta)
  
• A GROUP OF 15 PARTICIPANTS OF THE CESID SEMINAR - training the monitors from Knic for the elections - were arrested by the police and released after the informative conversation. The police files were opened for some of them.
  The police was interested in the organization of this training, the criteria of the participants’ selection and the ways of financing the seminar.
  
• THE HEAD OF THE GENERALS’ STAFF OF THE YUGOSLAV ARMY, Colonel Gebneral Nebojsa Pavkovic, stated that September 24, the day of the presidential and federal parliamentary elections, is the “D Day”, and that the Army will prevent any attempts at “forceful takeover of power in the streets”.
  
• “THE ARMY SHOULD STAND BY ITS OWN PEOPLE and protect the winners at the elections. We have experiences as to who changed the electoral will of the citizens at the previous elections”, states the Executive Director of G17 Plus, Mladjan Dinkic, at the press conference. He commented on the statement of the head of the Generals’ Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Nebojsa Pavkovic, that the Army would prevent any attempts at “forceful takeover of power in the streets” on September 24.
  
• SEVEN POLICEMEN IN THE CIVILIAN DRESS entered the Belgrade premises of the campaign “Time” by breaking its door. On this occasion, 15 activists of this campaign were arrested. At the police station, all the activists of the campaign were asked questions related to Otpor, as well as to the goals of the campaign “It is Time”. The activists repeated that their campaign was directed to animating the youth to participate, in a greater number, in the forthcoming elections. Tamara Popic, an activist, said that she was kept for six hours in an informative conversation and that, besides the questions about the campaign and Otpor, she was asked questions of the personal nature, related to her family. (Beta)
  
• THREE ACTIVISTS OF OTPOR WERE SENTENCED 10 DAYS IN PRISON, RESPECTIVELY. As stated by Otpor, they are from the Belgrade suburb of Rakovica and were directly sent to jail in Padinska Skela. Djordje Brankovic and Milan Radojcic were arrested in the night between Friday and Saturday, while they sprayed slogans. Sasa Maksimovic was taken from his apartment to the police station on Saturday morning.
  Their attorney, Biljana Kajganic, claims that the hearing at the police headquarters at November 29^th Street was not correct and she has announced her appeal.
  Earlier on, she stated that one of the policemen “constantly beat” Brankovic and Radojcic during the arrest and on their way to the police, so that they have bruises all over their bodies. (Beta)
  
• THE FEDERAL PUBLIC INSTITUTION RTJ-INTERNET YUGOSLAVIA placed an Internet site providing information on the elections in the FRY. As stated by the Federal Ministry of Information, the address of this site is www.gov.yu/izbori.
  This site contains the data on the number of voters, electoral units, Federal Electoral Commission, candidates for the president of the FRY and parties participating in the elections, results of the previous federal elections, and electoral laws.
  All these data are public and may be freely transmitted by other sources of public information providing that the source is quoted.
  The Internet Yugoslavia has prepared a new presentation of the Federal State at www.gov.yu. (Beta)

September 15, 2000

• THE POLICE IN CIVILIAN DRESS ENTERED THE BELGRADE PREMISES OF THE CAMPAIGN «IT IS TIME» and arrested five activists, seized computers and the propaganda material.
  About ten policemen in civilian dress entered the premises and, without any warrant or police identification, started to seize computers and the propaganda material. The activists Dejan Randjic, Ivan Andric, Aleksandar Markovic and two other young men whose identity is not known, were put into two police vehicles and driven in an unknown direction.
  The campaign “It is Time” is carried out by a group of NGOs in order to animate young voters to participate in the elections.
  
• THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID) has submitted, to the Federal Electoral Commission, their request for permission to monitor the elections of September 24.
  The Federal Electoral Commission should respond, within 48 hours, to the request of CeSID for monitoring the elections.
  
• THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS in the FRY and Serbia “will not be free, and probably not fair either”, claims Human Rights Watch.
  In their published analysis, Human Rights Watch mentions “a campaign of intimidation and violence that the Yugoslav authorities carry out against the opposition, as well as the technique of fraud, which the authorities had already used to steal previous elections”.
  
• THE MEMBERS OF THE WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION “CARPET” FROM PIROT, were detained by the police because they placed the poster “Your Vote – A Vote of Difference”. They were detained at the police station until 5 A.M. in the morning. They were not harassed in any other way. 
  The detention followed after the commentary read at the local TV station “Pi Channel”, where the members of this association were accused for practicing politics.
  
• ABOUT 2,500 PEOPLE GOT TOGETHER IN BOR, at the concert held within the campaign “Step on the Line” inviting the young people to participate, in a greater number, at the September 24 elections. Organized by a group of NGOs, the concert was held at the plateau in front of the railway station, accompanied by fireworks. Featuring were the following bands: Jarboli, Eyesburn, Goblins, Ivana&Negative, Orthodox Celts, Darkwood Dub and Sunshine. The concert was held in a cheerful atmosphere and without any incidents. No uniformed policemen were noticed at the plateau.
  
• DURING THE LAST 24 DAYS, ABOUT 380 activists of the opposition parties, NGO members, journalists and citizens were arrested. This was mainly a result of their putting posters or delivering the election campaign material, or organizing, and participating in the Otpor actions and actions of other organizations inviting citizens to participate in the elections. According to various sources, more than 30 cases of physical assault were noted, including fights of the supporters of the left, opposition parties and Serbian Radical Party. The Otpor activists were, furthermore, beaten by the police. Most of these incidents were registered in Indjija and Sabac. During the last four weeks, the opposition often reported about the prevention of the campaign and collecting the signatures for candidates. Since May 13, when the official of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Boško Perošević, was killed more than 1,600 citizens were arrested in about 70 places in Serbia. Some activists of Otpor have been arrested more than ten times. During the last two weeks, the interest of the police for the activities of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy, an organization registered for monitoring the elections, has increased. (Beta)
  
• THE RALLY OF THE GROUP 17 PLUS was attended by more than 10,000 citizens of Novi Sad. This rally was held within the election campaign inviting citizens to participate in September 24 elections and vote for changes.
  
• REPRESENTATIVES OF THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID) protested against an increased pressure of the authorities on this NGO.
  Aleksandar Bratkovic, regional coordinator of the CeSID, said that, during the last two days, the police investigated the CeSID activists or searched the premises of this organization in Subotica, Novi Sad, Kraljevo, Zajecar, Majdanpek, Valjevo, Leskovac, Vranje and Valjevo.
  The member of the CeSID’s board, Marko Blagojevic, said that since the last week’s seizing of the equipment from the CeSID’s premises in Belgrade, the pressure on the donors, activists and companies related to CeSID has increased.
  
• DURING THE LAST SEVERAL MONTHS 15 TV STATIONS WERE ESTABLISHED IN SERBIA under an indirect control of the ruling parties, as stated by Slobodan Djoric, secretary general of the Association for the Development of the Private Radio Broadcast “Spektar”. Djoric said that, according to the data provided by  “Spektar”, the following TVs were established duting the last several months: TV “Pi Channel” in Pirot, TV “Global” in Nis, TV “Globus” in Kragujevac, TV “S” in Uzice, TV “S” in Cacak, TV “K34” in Sombor, TV Kikinda, TV “S” in Becej, TV Vrnjacka Banja, TV “Banat” in Vrsac, TV “S” in Varvarin, TV “IBC” and TV “Stankom” in Belgrade and TV “BAP” in Backa Palanka.
  Most of these stations were established in the cities where the members of the former opposition coalition “Zajedno” are in power.

September 14, 2000

• THE POLICE HAS ENTERED THE INFORMATION CENTER UNON "PROTECTA". The members of Protecta left their premises, while the police, inquiring into their activities, control the entrance into their office.

September 13, 2000

• AN «ADMINISTRATIVE SUPERVISION» at the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID) in Belgrade has been carried out by the representatives of the Yugoslav Ministry of Justice. The representatives of CeSID repeated that they would request permission for monitoring the elections on September 24.
  The deputy Yugoslav Ministry of Justice, Zvonimir Tomovic, visited CeSID and warned the representatives of this organization that they were obliged to respect the election regulations.
  The CeSID representatives said to the deputy minister Tomovic that they obeyed these regulations and that they would continue to do that in the future. They will also request their accreditation for monitoring the elections from the Federal Electoral Commission.
  CeSID was registered as an association of citizens back in August 1997, and is the only domestic organization registered for monitoring the elections.
  The member of the CeSID's Board, Marko Blagojevic, said that he was invited to an informative conversation at the Belgrade police this morning, and that he spent half an hour in a conversation with the police inspectors. He said that the police was interested in the ways of financing the CeSID. (Beta)
  
• THE YUGOSLAV MINISTER OF INFORMATION, Goran Matic, accused the American administration for preparing the scenarios for a “violent overthrow of the government in the FRY” in cooperation with part of the opposition, non-governmental organization G17 Plus and movement Otpor. He said that none of these scenarios would succeed.
  At the press conference, Matic explained the details of one such scenario, called “King’s Tea”. According to this scenario, after the elections of September 24, the police from Republika Srpska (RS) would enter the FRY in the uniforms of the Serbian police and arrest the representatives of the FRY authorities in order to protect the election victory of the opposition.
  According to Matic, this action will include 1,500 policemen from RS with about 140 vehicles.
  The duty of a part of the opposition, G17 Plus and Otpor will be to proclaim the election victory and accuse the authorities for stealing the elections. Furthermore, the masked policemen would start arresting the representatives of the FRY authorities in order to show the people that the police is with the opposition, claims Matic. (Beta)
  
• ON SEPTEMBER 16, THE NGO CAMPAIGN “IT’S TIME” WILL ORGANIZE THE ACTION “MY VOTE TO MY HOMELAND” in all major cities in the world. This action is aimed at animating the youth to participate in the September 24 elections and is directed to the Diaspora Serbs who request their right to vote.
  The actions will be held at five minutes to twelve (local time), in front of the Yugoslav consulates in the Hague, London, Budapest, Stockholm, San Francisco, Prague, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Bonn, New York, Vancouver and Toronto.
  It is expected that the simulations of the elections will be held, whereby the Diaspora Serbs would appeal to their friends and relatives in Serbia to participate in the September 24 elections.
  It is also planned that the people gathered in front of the Yugoslav consulates request the opportunity to vote on September 24, or “return to their homeland in order to vote for the future”.
  This action has been launched through an Internet site, while a great number of volunteers from the mentioned cities announced their participation on September 16.
  
• IF THE DEMOCRATIC FORCES WIN at the forthcoming elections, and then assume the political power in the FR Yugoslavia, the Norwegian government will allocate 35 million DEM in support of the transition of the FRY to a democratic society.
  
• THE ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT ELECTRONIC MEDIA (ANEM) has expressed its deepest sympathy, as well as the fierce protest, because of the murder of the journalist of the daily “Rilindija”, Sefkija Popov in Vucitrn and disappearance of the journalist of the Serbian program of RTV Kosovo, Marijan Melonasi.
  
• REPRESENTATIVES OF THE INDEPENDENT ASSOCIATION OF JOURNALISTS (NUNS) visited Miroslav Filipovic at the Army Hospital in Nis, where he serves his seven years in prison, accused of espionage and spreading the false rumors.
  The NUNS president, Gordana Susa, and the member of the executive board of this organization, Nebojsa Bugarinovic, gave a laptop computer to Filipovic, a joint gift of the NUNS and Belgrade Media Center.
  In its statement, the NUNS quoted that the president of the Army Court in Nis, Colonel Vukadin Milojevic approved Filipovic’s use of this computer.
  
• DURING THE TWO-DAY ARREST of an activist of Otpor, Zeljko Lajsic (arrested by the police in Osecina), he was beaten by the baton (to his back) and fists (in the head) and deprived of food and water.
  Lajsic was arrested on September 8, because he placed the stickers with the message “He is Finished” across the leftist posters in downtown Osecina. He was released in the morning of September 10.
  On Tuesday, Lajsic addressed the Municipal Board of the Democratic Party in Valjevo and announced the submission of the criminal charges against the policemen Dragan Spasojevic, Milana Simic and Zivorad Bogosavljevic. (Beta)
  
• REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FEDERAL MINISTRY OF JUSTICE have come to the premises of the Center for Free Elections and Democracy (CeSID). The spokesman of the Centre, Marko Blagojevic has asked us to inform you that the visit is clearly intended at contesting the registration of the Centre in order to terminate this Organization which is preparing to observe the elections and monitor their regularity. Representatives of CeSID shall hold a press conference in the Media Center as soo as possible.

September 12, 2000

• THE FIRST FORUM OF THE YUGOSLAV MINORITY NGOs, organized by the Open Perspectives from Subotica, was held in Subotica, from September 8-10. The participants were the representatives of both minority and non-minority organizations from Serbia, as well as the guests from the similar NGOs in the neighboring countries.
  The work of this Forum has demonstrated that a strong and active third sector, including the NGOs of the national minorities, may significantly contribute to the processes of democratization and articulating the minority demands with regard to regulating and realizing their rights. At the end of the Forum, a joint statement was adopted emphasizing the interest of the minority NGOs, as part of the large network of NGOs in Yugoslavia, in the democratic changes, as well as their readiness to increase their activities in the area of tolerance, co-existence, cooperation and respect for differences. They also respect the traditions of the developed democracies in the domain of individual and collective rights.
  
• ON FRIDAY, THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID), will submit its request to the Federal Electoral Commission to monitor, with their volunteers, the elections of September 24.
  Within 48 hours, the Federal Electoral Commission should respond to the CeSID request for monitoring the elections.
  
• THE GENERATOR AT THE HYDROELECTRIOC POWER STATION "DJERDAP 2", which was set in motion by the president of the FRY, Slobodan Milosevic, should have been activated eight years ago, states G17 Plus.
  The statement of this NGO indicates that the small power generator (27 mega-watts) waited for eight years for the “wise and anticipating policy that anticipated the renewal and reconstruction in the year 2000”. (Beta)
  
• THE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE MOVEMENT "OTPOR", Gradimir Nalic, expects that the “regime” will step up the repression against this movement’s activists, because “Otpor” is respected and trusted among the Serbian people.
  Nalic believes that approving the actions of “Otpor” reminds of the tradition of the people’s “affection for haiduks”.
  ”Let the authorities be amused by searching for the true leaders of Otpor, and Otpor will be amused by searching for a true president of this state…. Otpor has mixed with the people, and the Serbian tradition is to like the haiduks”, said Nalic.
  An activist of Otpor, Vukasin Petrovic, advised again the high official of the Yugoslav Left, Ratko Krsmanovic, on the occasion of his arrest in Montenegro, to visit “jails in Serbia, too” and stay “for at least several years” to sense “the stench, fear and lack of comfort in the Serbian jails”.
  ”Let him know then that two thousand members of Otpor passed through these jails, but none of them complained about the conditions”, said Petrovic. (Beta)
  
• THE POLICE IN SABAC ARRESTED FOUR ACTIVISTS OF "OTPOR" AND THE GROUP FOR PROMOTION OF THE WOMEN’S POLITICAL RIGHTS, because they placed posters inviting women to participate in the September elections.
  The arrested activists, Darko Pavlovic, Stevan Pavlovic, Nenad Vasilic and Darko Vasic were released after an hour, when the police determined that the Group for the Promotion of Women’s Political Rights, whose propaganda material was posted, were a registered group, and not “something related to Otpor”.
  According to Darko Pavlovic, an activist of Otpor, who was arrested more than ten times for his political activities within the last two months, “the police was correct for the first time, did not threat and even returned the seized propaganda material.”
  
• WITHIN THE WOMEN’S MEDIA CAMPAIGN “Women in the elections – go out and vote!” at the Belgrade theater "Slavija", the performance “Undesirable Effects” by Mirjana Ojdanic will be held on Thursday, September 14.
  
• THE EMBASSY OF THE KINGDOM OF NORWAY in Belgrade stated that it has selected 1,000 students - winners of the stipend “For the Promising Generation”.
  Grade point average (GPA) of all 1,000 winners is 9.46, while 48 students have a GPA of 10.00, and more than 100 applicants have a GPA of 9.90 and more, as stated.
  All the winners will personally be informed about the results, while the list with their names will soon be published in the newspapers.

September 11, 2000

• IN LESKOVAC, THE PUBLIC DEBATE “SAVE SERBIA AND VOTE” HAS BEEN HELD. The participants, professors of the University of Belgrade, Zarko Trebjesanin and Ratko Bozovic, and former municipal court judge from Belgrade, Bozo Prelevic, condemned the behavior of the police against the activists of the movement Otpor from Vladicin Han.
  As stated earlier by this organization, in the night between Friday and Saturday, the police “brutally beat” seven members of Otpor and the Democratic Party Youth, because they posted election posters in this south Serbian city.
  President of the Democratic Youth in Vladicin Han, Vladica Mircicm, said that the policemen, “ordered by the chief of this station”, “tied the legs” of the young people and “beat their bodies and soles by batons”, “threatened with murder” and “tied their throats by rope threatening to strangle them”.
  The guests of the public debate in Leskovac, organized within the campaign “Exit 2000”, appealed to the citizens not to “enter the trap” of the authorities “by responding to violence with violence”. (Beta)
  
• A JOINT RALLY WILL BE HELD IN BELGRADE on September 20 by the Democratic Opposition of Serbia and G17 Plus.
  As stated at the G17 Plus press conference, the rallies in Zrenjanin (tomorrow), Novi Sad (Thursday) and Nis (Sunday) will be held before that.
  On the occasion of the Belgrade rally, Dragoljub Djuricic, a musician, will take out to the street the largest number of drummers thus far. (Beta)

September 8, 2000

• AS A RESULT OF POSTING THE NGO STICKERS «EXIT 2000», the police arrested ten activists of the non-governmental youth organization BOOM in Bor. The BOOM activists were detained at the police station for an hour. According to them, the police took their data, opened their files and let them go (with no physical abuse).
  Before that, the BOOM activists had their meeting at the Committee for Human Rights (used by the BOOM). 
  The police informed the activists that they put them under surveillance and that they knew exactly when they received their material.
  16 stickers were seized from the activists.
  
• GREEK MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Iorgos Papandreu, protested in Belgrade in his conversation with the chief of Yugoslav diplomacy, Zivadin Jovanovic, in reaction to the arrest of four Otpor activists who were invited to the reception of the Greek minister.
  Papandreu immediately sent his demarche to Jovanovic, who promised that he would investigate into what happened. The report quotes that Papandreu clearly indicated to Jovanovic that the relations between the two countries would be put on probe, unless the arrested activists be immediately released. (Beta)
  
• THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED BELGRADE OFFICE OF G17 PLUS has been presented by this NGO.
  This office will host the expert teams for the following areas: construction, renewal and development of agriculture and villages, urban waters, public opinion research, law, economy, energy, industry and traffic, media, healthcare, education, culture, marketing and psychology.
  The premises of the Belgrade office of G17 Plus are at 33-34 Gospodar Jevremova Street.
  
• THE MONTENEGRIN ROMANIES INITIATIVE WAS ESTABLISHED IN BAR. This is the first organization of the Romanies on the territory of Montenegro.
  
• THE SERBIAN PEN CENTER repeated its request to the Supreme Court of Serbia for the release of the Albanian poet and human rights activist Flora Brovina. She was sentenced for associating in adversary activities related to terrorism during the wartime.
  
• THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CeSID) has printed, within its campaign of educating the voters, a manual “My Guide through the Elections”. The citizens will be informed on their election rights, including the possibility for revealing an irregular election process.

September 7, 2000

• THE POLICE SEIZED 15 EMPTY BOXES that the activists of Otpor intended to place at this organization's headquarters in downtown Belgrade.
  This action of Otpor came as a result of the police entering the premises of this organization on Monday, when the police seized a large quantity of the propaganda material and equipment.
  The action «Loading 2000» was designed as follows: the boxes were supposed to be loaded into the Otpor premises by a special crane composed of a windlass, block and a hook.
  Two policemen in uniforms stopped the Otpor activists near the premises and ordered them to leave the boxes that they intended to put in their headquarters.
  The policemen threw these boxes into the container, while the citizens and activists of Otpor cheered them with applause and laugh.
  On Monday, the police entered the headquarters of Otpor without a warrant and emptied its rooms, calling Otpor, in an official statement, a “pro-NATO, illegal and mercenary organization”. (Beta)
  
• THE ACTIVISTS OF THE NATIONAL PARLIAMENT visited 20,000 citizens of Leskovac within the action of animating citizens to participate in the September 24 elections.
  Within the action “From Door to Door”, the activists of the National Parliament, divided into six teams, have visited today 900 households in Dubocica, where they were “received very positively”. Parallel to this action, a telephone campaign was realized for the tenth time in a row.
  After September 10, “From Door to Door” action will be continued in villages of the Leskovac municipality, as well as in the cities.
  
• THE CAMPAIGN “INFO BLOW”, which was launched in Serbian independent media, provides an opportunity to all “ordinary” citizens to say what they wish about the political life in the country, as stated by the initiators of this campaign.
  The initiator, Forum of the media Initiatives, wished to animate citizens from all over the country to become a sort of media correspondents or “alternative journalists” and, thus, enable the broader public to obtain an accurate insight into the situation in the country.
  Nebojsa Spajic from the Media Center said that the campaign is being run through 27 TV stations in Serbia, more than 30 radio stations and three independent dailies from Belgrade. (Beta)
  
• PRESIDENT OF THE FRY, SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC “WILL NOT SURRENDER HIS AUTHORITY”, even if “everybody votes” for the presidential candidate of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia, Vojislav Kostunica, at the September 24 elections, said Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center. “ I do not know what will happen, but it is important that, in the evening of September 24, we do not sit at home, but go out and defend our votes”, said Kandic at the debate “Last Wave of Repression” organized by Otpor in Novi Sad. (Beta)

September 6, 2000

• GROUP 17 PLUS PRESENTED THE MULTIMEDIA PROJECT «IT IS TIME». The citizens are invited, with song and a musical spot, to participate in the elections scheduled for September 24.
  Executive director of G17 Plus, Mladjan Dinkic invited the director of RTV Pink Zeljko Mitrovic, “who knows what music is, and who once played an excellent bass, as well as the leadership of the state TV, to broadcast this spot in their program and, thus, demonstrate “that they appreciate the people who feature in it”. Sladjana Milosevic, a musician and one of the performers in the project “It is Time”, said that her “personal fight for changes in the country” lasted more than 23 years, and that she hoped that the “victory” would be reached at the forthcoming elections.
  She added that the police tried to arrest her yesterday, with no explanation, or police or court order.
  Besides Delca and Sladjana Milosevic, the performers of this song, within the project “It is Time”, are Momcilo Bajagic-Bajaga, Dragoljub Djuricic, Zika Milenkovic from the band “Grandmas”, Aleksandar “Celtic” Petrovic from the Orthodox Celts, and actors Tanja Boskovic, Vojin Cetkovic, Bogdan Diklic, Branislav Lecic and others. (Beta)
  
• THE DELIVERY OF ABOUT 120 TONS OF HUMANITARIAN AID for the socially distressed population in Serbia has been organized by the Association of Women from Bijeljina - “Hope”.
  The Association states that this aid is directed to the citizens of Novi Sad, Pancevo, Sombor, Kragujevac, Kraljevo, Nis, Leskovac and Uzice.
  The parcels contain flour, oil, sugar, salt, meat cans, etc., and this is the fourth delivery of this aid.
  The delivery is worth 190,000 DEM, and is organized owing to the USAID.
  
• THE APPLICATIONS FOR THE NEW VOLUNTEERS will be accepted until September 15 by the Belgrade SOS phone for women and children – victims of violence.
  The application information may be obtained at (011) 645-798, from 4-8P.M. The About 18, 000 women contacted the Belgrade SOS phone service for help within the last ten years. It is also stated that “every 15 minutes, one woman is physically abused, every half an hour one woman is a victim of rape, while every twentieth woman has an experience of incest.
  
• IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CONTROL VOTING OF THE MEMBERS OF THE YUGOSLAV ARMY (VJ), claims the Board member of the CESID, Marko Blagojevic. Voting in the VJ is organized and carried out by a body established within the barracks, military units or institutions, but the law does not specify who is in charge of nominating this body. If it happens that the elections in the barracks, military units and institutions are carried out by a military, and not civilian body, there is a fear that the soldiers’ votes could be used for changing the election results, claims Blagojevic.
  It is estimated that between 90,000 and 100,000 Army members could vote at the forthcoming elections. (Beta)
  
• THE POLICE ENTERING the Belgrade branch of Otpor bears witness of the success of the campaign inviting citizens to participate in the elections, claims Ivan Marovic, an activist, announcing the new action of Otpor for Wednesday.
  
• AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has sharply condemned the entering of the Otpor premises by the police, stating that the harassment of the sympathizers of this movement must be stopped.
  
• DORIS PACK, PRESIDENT OF THE DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT for relations with South Eastern Europe has condemned the “cowardly attempts of the regime of the Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic, to prevent the activities of the National Movement Otpor. Furthermore, Pack re-emphasized the full support of the European Parliament to the democratic student movement Otpor, praising the election campaign “Step on the Line”, which could “enable the new start for the FR Yugoslavia, after a decade of the destructive authoritarian rule”. (Beta) 

September 5, 2000

• THE CIVIC PARLIAMENT OF SERBIA (GPS) from Cacak has announced the rock concerts of solidarity with the journalist Miroslav Filipovic, who was sentenced by the Military Court in Nis seven years in prison.
  The concerts of solidarity with Filipovic will be held on September 8 in Pozega, and September 9 in Cacak.
  At the Cacak rally, called «What Do you Wait?» that will be held on September 9 at 8 P.M. at the city square, the speakers will be Filipovic's wife Slavica, editor of the TV "Soko" from Soko Banja - Nebojsa Ristic, the chair of the Civic Parliament - Verica Barac and mayor of Cacak - Velimir Ilic.
  Featuring at the rock concert are the following bands: «Tilt», «Cristals» and «Children of Bad Musicians».
  The organizers of this rally and the concert will deliver badges and postcards with the slogan “Free Filipovic” and sell T-shirts with the same slogan for his family aid fund. (Beta)
  
• THE POLICE ENTERED THE PREMISES OF THE COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN BOR and requested, from an activist in charge, the information on the activities of the movement Otpor, said Simonida Gavric from the Committee.
  She said that the policemen explained that they sought information about Otpor because of the last night’s action in which most of the traffic signs in Bor were posted with the stickers bearing the slogan “It’s Time”.
  Simonida Gavric added that the policemen said they were sure that the Otpor activists got together at the premises of the Committee for Human Rights.
  ”When I denied the rumors that our Committee has connections with Otpor, they said that they ‘knew everything’, including the next delivery of the propaganda material” said Simonida Gavric.
  Gavric said that the police did not search the premises of the Committee for Human Rights. (Beta)
  
• THE RESEARCH OF THE CENTER FOR POLICY STUDIES indicates that the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and its presidential candidate, Vojislav Kostunica, have twice as many supporters than the left coalition and its candidate Slobodan Milosevic. There are also 17% of undecided and 9% of abstainers. (Beta)

September 4, 2000

• BEFORE 8,000 CITIZENS OF KRUSEVAC, the experts of G17 Plus promoted the program of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia «For a Democratic Serbia».
  At this rally, held at the central Square of the Kosovo Heroes, the speakers were Mladjan Dinkic, executive director and members of G 17 Plus Predrag Markovic, Nebojsa Bradic, Vojin Cetkovic, Srbijanka Djordjevic, Verica Zivancevic, Predrag Gasic, Srdjan Milivojevic, a representative of Otpor, as well as the musician Dragoljub Đuricic with his drummers. (Beta)
  
• THE PRODUCTION HOUSE VIN will start shooting 25-minute TV chronicles on the election activities of presidential candidates, parties and non-governmental organizations.
  The contributions from the election events, as well as the news on the elections will provide a complete picture of the campaign of parties and presidential candidates, while the guests in studios will try to contribute, with their analyses, to the better information of citizens before the elections, as stated by VIN.
  The chronicle will be broadcast at the TV Kragujevac, TV5 from Nis, TV Trstenik, TV Pancevo, TV BB from bajina Basta, TV Pozega, TV Soko from Soko Banja, STV Negotin, TV Plus from Krusevac, TV GRK from Prokuplje, TV Kursumlija, TV 5 from Uzice, TV K54 from Sombor, TV VK Jet from Kikinda, TV Kronik from Valjevo, F Channel from Zajecar, RTL Barajevo, as well as at the public projections organized by NGOs in Novi Sad and Obrenovac.
  
• “THE MOST EFFICIENT MEDICINE – COMRADESHIP!” One should fight drug addiction, alcoholism and new world order, said Branislav Ivkovic, Serbian Minister of Science.
  ”There is no better medicine and cure” for drug addiction, alcoholism and religious sects than “applying the most valuable assets here – comradeship and strengthening the family”, said Ivkovic at the founding assembly of branches of the assembly for fight against narcotics, alcoholism and sects (FONAS) for the Danube County in Smederevo.
  The Belgrade media quote Ivkovic that all Yugoslavs should “return to comradeship”, while the leaders of great powers have “dark minds” (Beta)

September 2, 2000

• THE RACE “AS FAST AS POSSIBLE TO THE BALLOT BOXES” was organized by the National Parliament from Leskovac.
  This action was held in downtown, in front of the warehouse. It was attended by 23 young men and women, as well as by one hundred citizens and activists of this organization.
  They ran about one hundred yards and put ballots, reading “Go Out and Vote” into the ballot box.
  The race participants received pencils, lighters and shirts with the slogan “Go Out and Vote”, while three fastest runners received the total of 1,000 dinars from the Democratic Party, which also participated in this action.
  The police did not interfere in this action.
  

• MORE THAN 1,000 CITIZENS OF NIS demanded, at the protest rally, the release of the journalist Miroslav Filipovic from prison. He serves his seven years in prison sentence in Nis, because of the texts about the activities of theYugoslav Army during the conflict in Kosovo.
  After the protest rally "Free Filipović" at the summer stage of the Nis Fortress, the citizens symbolically passed, one by one, behind the bars that were put on the stage. Most of the citizens raised their fists, symbols of Otpor, into the air.(Beta)

September 1, 2000

• THE CENTER FOR FREE ELECTIONS AND DEMOCRACY (CESID) WILL PUBLISH THE ELECTION RESULTS ON ITS WEB SITE during the night between 24th and 25th September. These results will arrive from its monitors at the electoral points.
  A member of the CeSID's board, Zoran Lucic, said at the press conference that the goal of this action is «to mitigate the results of the election manipulations».
  Presenting the new web site of CeSID (http://www.cesid.org/), he explained that this was the way in which the «prediction of election results» could be made early and precisely, with the margin of error not higher than 1%.
  At the new web site, the citizens will be able to find the data both on the forthcoming and previous elections, as well as on the electoral units, election legislation and application for the training program of monitors.
  Another member of the CeSID’s board, Marko Blagojevic, explained that, thus far, this NGO has trained 140 teams of instructors and recruited about 3,500 monitors for the September 24 elections.
  The CeSID presented the publication “My Manual for Monitoring the Elections”, providing some concrete directions for the future monitors.
  Blagojevic said that the CeSID would request the permission from the Federal Election Committee for monitoring the elections most likely during the second week of September. (Beta)
  
• REPRESENTATIVES OF ALL POLITICAL PARTIES IN LESKOVAC ACCEPTED to participate in the public debates “Forum of Candidates” organized by the National Parliament, as stated by Divna Stankovic, president of the National Parliament Assembly.
  Stankovic said that besides the parties united within the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), this proposal was accepted by the representatives of the Serbian Radical Party and Yugoslav Left, as well as by the president of the County Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Bozidar Vuckovic.
  President of the National Parliament, Bratislav Stamenkovic, said that this largest NGO in southeastern Serbia runs a series of campaigns in villages and cities in order to animate citizens for the elections.
  Based on the results of conversations with citizens in the campaign “from door to door”, as well as the telephone conversations, he claims that there is an immense interest in participating in the elections in Leskovac.
  ”Our estimates are that about 90% of citizens will vote in the municipality of Leskovac, said Stamenkovic. (Beta)
  
• IN BOR, THE MEMBERS OF THE BOOM AND OTPOR ENTERED THE PREMISES of the Democratic Party where the meeting of DOS regarding the local elections was held. They put forward three requests related to the cooperation of this coalition with the Serbian Renewal Movement called “DOS and SPO Alliance for Bor”.
  After their entering, the debate with the DOS representatives lasted for about one hour, when the president of the Democratic Party in Bor, Sinisa Ivaskovic called the police.
  Ivaskovic accused the office of the Committee for Human Rights in Bor for initiating the incident with Otpor and BOOM in order to take the money from NGOs for the united list campaign. Dragoljub Janes, vice-president of the Committee for Human Rights in Bor denied that this Committee organized the action and emphasized that it did not want to do anything with political parties.
  ”This is a design of those who, due to their ‘petty officials’, invent such a nonsense”, said Janes.
  According to him, the only thing in common between the BOOM, Otpor and Committee for Human Rights are the temporary premises. (Beta)
  
• THE POLICE IN NOVI PAZAR prohibited the activists of the coalition Sandzak to organize signing of the petition for releasing the journalist Miroslav Filipovic from prison. Signing the petition for Filipovic’s release will still be organized at the premises of the coalition Sandzak, from September 1-8, reads the statement.
  
• ONLY INDEPENDENT MONTENEGRO MAY DEFINE ITS EQAUL STATUS WITH SERBIA, said Sonja Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.
  In her interview to the Montenegrin weekly "Monitor", she claims that the attempt of the opposition in Serbia to “convince” the Montenegrin authorities with its promises that Montenegro will be “an equal partner” did not succeed, because it was not sincere.
  Sonja Biserko said that the argument of the Serbian opposition that the lack of participation of Montenegrin authorities in the Federal elections will contribute to the victory of the president of FRY, Slobodan Milosevic, “is just burdening Montenegro with the potential failure”.
  ”The opposition provided its full support, not only for the realization, but also designing of the nationalist project, and it has not given up from this”, said Biserko, adding that the opposition programs are “not worked out and have no substance”.
  ”If we consider the behavior of the opposition within the last year, we may easily conclude that it is irresponsible, corrupt, unprofessional and inconsistent”, said Biserko. (Monitor/Beta)