Heaters, Foils and Principles

“We wish to express our most sincere pleasure with the fact that the Democratic Party is the first non-parliament organization to recognize and reach out for the new law on the media”, said Zdenko Tomanovic, Antic’s lawyer, when he presented his defense to the court in the “democrats versus the daily Politika” case. He sounded very sincere, and there is no reason to believe that Tomanovic’s clients aren’t thrilled with the case.

Zoran Djindjic and his Democratic Party (DS) pressed charges against the daily Politika and its editor-in-chief, Hadzi Dragan Antic, for untruthful allegations against the Democratic Party and Djindjic himself. The indictment says that Politika’s Cacak correspondent accused the town’s DS chairman of “dismantling a mini heater in the dark and gathering a sum of 100,000 German marks for some aluminum foils because Djindjic said NATO air strikes were imminent”. The daily Politika was represented by Tomanovic only, as Antic failed to turn up. Tomanovic rested his case on the fact that Politika’s Cacak correspondent carried an SPS press conference in full, and that the reporter had no reason not to believe what was said at the press conference. Antic’s attorney took about half an hour to explain how Dragan Pavlovic, the local DS chairman, dismantled a mini heater and took it home (after which he was accused of theft) and that a certain quantity of aluminum foil was bought for a sum of 100,000 German marks. According to Tomanovic, the foil was bought from an untrustworthy salesman with a faked invoice provided by members of the Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO).

The DS lawyers thought that all that was in sharp discord with the new law on media and insisted that the incriminating information should have been checked, especially the one that Djindjic qualified a NATO air raid as imminent. Once again, it turned out that the main shortcoming of this undemocratic, unconstitutional and totalitarian law is the urgency of passing the sentence without even touching the case itself. Djindjic and the DS are now unable to deny the claims brought forward by the defense, because they have no time to. In the previous two cases, the defense had no time to present its case. Whatever the outcome of this particular case, it is quite clear that the new law is no good at all. If the daily Politika and Antic are made to pay, they will complain that they had no time to present their case. If they are acquitted, the Democratic Party and Djindjic will complain that they had no time to prove that the defense lied. A foul law can never result in a decent trial, no matter how hard all the parties involved try.

What exactly is the Djindhic-led DS trying to achieve after reaching out for a law he deplored as soon as it was adopted? The absurd logic that he is trying to turn it against those who adopted it might be appealing to the masses, but the real issue is will Milosevic win more if Politika and Antic are fined or let off the hook? If they are acquitted, a whole lot of people will say that the law has been adopted for political purposes, to subdue the “enemy”. If, however, they are fined, the Democratic Party will be in a very tight spot as a whole lot of people will say that it has provided legitimacy to a repressive system subduing democracy whenever it possibly can. Both outcomes are possible, even likely, as no one has any illusions that this regime is capable of resolving even the simplest matter with any subtlety at all. If Antic and his daily are convicted, it means that reporters can believe that they are always being told the truth beyond any reasonable doubt. If that happens, one of the shortcomings of the new media law should be eliminated, as reporters should in that case be able to carry someone’s authentic statement. However, precedents in a judicial system like ours are worthless and who is to say that it will be any different this time round.

Tomanovic’s “sincere pleasure” is the only certain factor in this matter, because the Democratic Party has reached out for a law it truly deplores.