Ricardo Gutierrez: State of Macedonia Media 'Worst in Balkans'

The fact that Macedonia is one of the few countries in Europe to have incarcerated a journalist - not for the first time - speaks volumes about the state of media freedom there, Ricardo Gutierrez says.

The EFJ General Secretary, who visited Macedonia, among other things, to promote an EU funded project, "Journalists' Network for Promoting Media Freedom," notes that every time he has visited the country, a journalist seems to have been imprisoned under suspicious circumstances.

"Previously it was Tomislav Kezarovski and now it is Zoran Bozinovski," Gutierrez recalls.

Bozinovski, who is accused of spying and extortion, has been spending five months in detention in Skopje, after his extradiction from Serbia where he had spent another 18 months detained.

He has remained in pre-trial detention for almost five months and is now on a hunger strike.

Gutierrez reflects the concerns expressed by the Association of Journalists of Macedonia, ZNM, and the Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers, SSNM, who say the case against Bozinovski is "politically motivated" with the aim of silencing journalists who uncover corruption in which officials are involved.

"In our view, it is an unlawful and extremely long detention without clear reasons," he says.
 
"We see this as a way to intimidate the full journalistic community ... because they [the government] are showing journalists in Macedonia: look what we can do if we are not satisfied by your work," Gutierrez adds.

He says it is "strange" that the prosecution took four months just to provide an official indictment, which he says lacks material evidence in support of the spying charge.

He says he felt "disgusted" when the court ignored...