Serbia passes controversial media law

Aug 31, 2009, 12:28 GMT

Belgrade - The Serbian parliament on Monday passed a controversial media law that was seen as a threat to the fragile ruling coalition.

With his alliance split over the law, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic had to rely on outside votes to barely pass it, in a 125-100 vote. Twenty-five legislators were not present.

The new law was criticized by journalist organizations and opponents as restrictive and a gateway to censorship because it creates broad grounds for lawsuits and provides draconian fines.

President Boris Tadic's Democratic Party and its junior partner, the G17 Plus party, backed the law, while the other junior partner, the Socialist Party, abstained.

The critical votes were provided by the opposition Liberal Democratic Party, which has already stepped in more than once with the votes to avert a government crisis.

The government coalition is now set to resume working together despite the clash over the media law.

'I don't think the government was in a crisis at any moment,' the parliament speaker and Socialist official, Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic told radio B92.

The parliament met after a month-long recess to vote on the media law, after the the ruling coalition pulled it from the agenda in July and sought the way to find the majority and push it through without falling apart.

One of two journalists' organizations in Serbia, the UNS, held a protest against the law, drawing around 50 people.

Serbia introduced a restrictive media law in 1998, during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic. While it was enforced until Milosevic's fall in the autumn of 2000, dozens of media and journalists were harshly fined in trials.