Youth Initiative Files Lawsuit Against "Kurir" Daily
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The Youth Initiative for Human Rights filed a lawsuit against the Kurir daily newspaper, on charges of hate-speech used in the article "Pristina Football Fans Carry a Banner 'Serbia Like Nokia, Ever Smaller and Smaller'".
The lawsuit was filed at the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, on May 12, 2006, and it demands from the Court to determine that the said article is a clear case of hate-speech, that it is eliminated from the internet pages of the paper; to prohibit the publisher and the editor-in-chief from future publication of articles with similar contents, and to publish the court decision without any fee or compensation. "Kurir" published the disputed article on April 13 of this year. The article represents a clear case of hate-speech, having in mind that it uses the pejorative term "Siptari" for the Albanians, with the clear intention to humiliate and insult the whole nation. It also insinuates that the Albanians "would progress much faster under Belgrade's tutelage", which points out at certain war-mongering aspects and elements in the text. Furthermore, it says that "…until recently, the Albanians were unaware that soap exists and ate lemons with the skin, while today they make fun of Serbia's incompetence". This phrase is intended to present the Albanians as unclean and uncivilized nation, towards which the Serbs are clearly superior. The article is one of the most extreme cases of hate-speech, continually used by Serbian media to describe Kosovar Albanians. YIHR will continue to react to similar cases of abuse of journalistic profession and incitement of national, religious, racial and gender intolerance. |
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