November 15, 2024
The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, organisation CRTA, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina have filed criminal charges against Nevena Đurić, president of the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly, in response to her failure to launch an initiative to elect new members of the Council of the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media ahead of the deadline set by the Law on Electronic Media.
According to the Law on Electronic Media, the mandate of the members of the REM Council expired on 4th November, while the Serbian Assembly should have launched the procedure to elect new members by 4th August.
According to a joint press release of these four organisations, failure to implement the Law has placed Serbia in a situation in which it today no longer has a decision-making body within REM, which controls the work of the electronic media and ensures the implementation of the Law.
“In failing to perform her official duty, i.e. in failing to launch the legal procedure to elect new members of the REM Council, the Committee president most grossly violated the imperative regulations of the Law on Electronic Media.”
It was sometime later that REM Council members tendered their resignations.
One of the Council’s final decisions, announced on the day that members filed their resignations, was to issue a new license to broadcast on the territory of Belgrade to Informer TV, which is owned by a close associate of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
