Serbia
Controversy over smuggled studentPosted Mar 17 2009
According to the South East European Media Organization, politicians and police have been pressuring the daily Serbian newspaper Borba after it published information that officials claimed was confidential.
The scoop followed the case of Miladin Kovacevic, a student studying in the U.S. who was smuggled back into his native Serbia with the help of a Serbian diplomat after he beat up a fellow student. Kovacevic, who played basketball for Binghamton University in New York, allegedly beat classmate Bryan Steinhauer to near death.
Borba’s staff has been pressured because the paper published the amount of compensation the Serbian government had offered Steinhauer — $1 million — in exchange for allowing the trial to be held in Serbia. The paper said it is protected by Serbia’s information laws, which allow confidential information in the public interest to be published without regard to how the information was obtained.
For their part, American officials want the trial to be held in New York. The incident has caused a diplomatic row between Washington and Belgrade.
More information
- The Echo
- medienhilfe