24 October 2008 Representatives of the Association of Court Reporters, AIS, held a regular meeting on October 23, in order to discuss the current issues and plans for organising a meeting in Brcko.
BIRN
representatives apprised the Association members on the problem they faced when
a text published by BIRN was discussed at a public status conference held before
the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The mentioned conference was called to
discuss an interview with Deputy Chief Prosecutor David Schwendiman, which was
published by BIRN in September, because, as the Deputy Prosecutor said himself,
he quoted some wrong data in the interview.
Following the Conference, the Prosecutor sent a written
apology to BIRN and an explanation to the Court, taking the full responsibility
for the misinformation.
BIRN
sent a letter to the Court, Prosecution and OSCE, informing them on what had
happened. After that the Court President called an informal meeting at which
BIRN asked for the Court to announce at a public conference that BIRN cannot be
held responsible for the mistake made in the text.
Although the Court reacted promptly, the AIS expressed
its stand concerning the issue, stressing that no media in Bosnia and
Herzegovina should be exposed to similar situations in the future, because this
can be considered as an attack on their independence. It was further concluded
that the attitude of the Court and Prosecution is not in the interest of the
public, because dedicating a statistics conference to a media report constitutes
"dilution" of the trial.
Other
problems facing reporters, who follow the trials conducted before the State
Court, were also mentioned. They include the untimely provision of trial photos, no
possibility of getting audio recordings on time, unavailability of
spokespersons, who do not answer official phone lines after the official working
hours, and so on.
It
was decided to present these problems at a special meeting between the AIS and
the Court and its Prosecution.
It
was agreed to organise a meeting with the media and judicial institutions, which
are active in the District of Brcko on November 5 this year. Muamer Selimbegovic
will attend the meeting on behalf of AIS, Aida Alic will be there on behalf of
BIRN, while the Konrad Adenauer Foundation will be represented by Lea Tajic.
A
possibility of expanding the network by inviting other journalists to join AIS
was discussed at this meeting.
The
meeting participants included: Lea Tajic - Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Alma Djozo -
Nezavisne novine, Mirela
Hukovic-Hodzic - BH Radio 1, Muamer
Selimbegovic - Fena, and Anisa
Suceska-Vekic, Nidzara Ahmetasevic, Aida Alic, Merima Husejnovic, Denis Dzidic
and Erna Mackic - BIRN.
Justice Report is a
specialist reporting agency focusing on war crimes trials taking place before
local courts; development of the local legal system; and efforts to come to
terms with the past.
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