Journalist Dubbed ‘Macedonian Assange’ Arrested in Serbia

Zoran Bozinovski, a journalist known as “the Macedonian Assange”, was arrested in Serbia on an Interpol arrest warrant on November 7, 2013. Bozinovski runs the Macedonian site Burevesnik.org, often referred to as the Macedonian WikiLeaks due to the fact that he and others have released documents there in the past that reveal foul play and corruption in Macedonian politics and business.

Still image of Zoran Bozinovski from an interview with Croatian Nova TV.

Another Macedonian journalist recently sentenced to prison for “revealing the identity of a protected witness”, Tomislav Kezarovski, was released earlier that same day to serve the remainder of his four-and-a-half-year sentence under house arrest.

Macedonian citizens and journalists on social media were surprised to hear of the arrest of another journalist on the very day that Kezarovski had been released into house arrest, with some ironically calling it “a trade off”, and others saying there was now an open witch hunt on Macedonian journalists. Comments on Twitter regarding Kezarovski's release and Bozinovski's arrest are mostly ironic, with many suspecting authorities knew this was coming.

Aco Lazarov from Macedonia asked:

Немало место во затворот за Божиновски па го пуштиле Кежаровски?

— Ацо Лазаров (@AcoLazarov) November 8, 2013

There wasn't room in prison for Bozinovski so they let Kezarovski out?

— Ацо Лазаров (@AcoLazarov) November 8, 2013

Another Macedonian Twitter user, Jana, commented upon learning the news of Bozinovski's arrest:

Не знам зошто и како ама ова е лош ден за истражувачкото новинарство во Македонија. Уапсен новинарот Зоран Божиновски http://t.co/cKcPxUVXiz

— Јана (@PaliKukja) November 7, 2013

I don't know why or how but this is a bad day for investigative journalism in Macedonia. Journalist Zoran Bozinovski arrested http://t.co/cKcPxUVXiz

— Јана (@PaliKukja) November 7, 2013

Bozinovski was arrested by Serbian authorities on charges of espionage, extortion and criminal conspiracy. He was easily located in one of the two apartments he had been renting in Novi Sad, Serbia, where he had living for the past several months. Police confiscated two computers and several yet unspecified documents from the apartment at the time of the arrest, and stated that Bozinovski will be held in a local jail until extradition to Macedonia, after the Macedonian government officially files for the extradition.

Some Serbian and Macedonian media are reporting [sr] that Bozinovski, also known as a conspiracy theorist who has dubbed himself “Crazy Milojko” on his own site and elsewhere online, is deeply involved in espionage, although no evidence has yet been put forth:

Osumnjičeni je deo kriminalne grupe koja je pre nekoliko meseci raskrinkana kada su pohapšeni visoki zvaničnici makedonske Vlade i zaposleni u bezbednosnim službama te zemlje pod optužbom da su špijunirali u korist Grčke. Prema informacijama iz istrage, oni su špijunirali za strane tajne službe, ali ucenjivali su i pojedince iz javnog života Makedonije. Takođe, pod kontrolom su imali i nekoliko medija, kao i određene internet stranice preko kojih su pretili da će objaviti poverljive sadržaje, što su i činili.

The suspect is a member of a criminal group that was cracked several months ago when high officials of the Macedonian government and employees of [national] security services were arrested and charged with spying for Greece. According to information obtained during the investigation, they spied for foreign secret services, but also blackmailed individuals from Macedonian public life. They also had several media under their control as well as certain Internet pages through which they threatened to publish confidential content, which they did.

These accusations seem to stem from Bozinovski publishing certain files and confidential information that he obtained regarding corruption and foul play within the Macedonian government and Macedonian organized crime, which Bozinovsski and some of his associates claim are closely tied.

He has also been researching these ties and alleged manipulations in Macedonian politics, as well as the tragic death of Macedonian singer Tose Proeski, who died in a car accident at the age of 26 in 2007. Bozinovski began writing a book on this subject and, after being rejected by 32 publishers in the region, finally announced that he had found a publisher in Zagreb, Croatia willing to make his research public.

In the video below, Bozinovski gave an interview to Nova TV in May 2013, during which he listed several things that he found suspicious about the young singer's death, claiming he had evidence of how the then ruling politicians and media exploited Tose Proeski and continue to profit from the singer's legacy. Bozinovski also stated in this interview that he does not necessarily believe that the late musical prodigy is dead, citing that no real evidence of his death was ever provided. The book is planned to come out sometime in 2014.

Twitter user Parg0 from Skopje noted:

#божиновски можеби е луд, ама мислам дека не е глуп. Очекувам http://t.co/gwxwK000J7 да почне да исфрла многу интересни документи.

— Parg0 (@parg0) November 8, 2013

#божиновски [Bozinovski] may be crazy, but I don't think he's stupid. I expect http://t.co/gwxwK000J7 to begin putting out a lot of interesting documents.

— Parg0 (@parg0) November 8, 2013

Whatever the case regarding his upcoming book and work on Burevesnik.org, several media associations have condemned the arrest of Bozinovski, including the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS). In an official statement on their website, they remind Serbian authorities that this arrest has also been publicly condemned by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as well as Central and Eastern Europe Media Organization (CEEMO), and they add:

УНС подсећа да је суд у Македонији недавно, без ваљаних правних разлога, осудио новинара дневника “Нова Македонија” Томислава Кежаровског на четири и по године затвора „због откривања идентитета једног сведока у случају нерасветљеног убиства“. [...]

УНС због тога тражи од Министарства правде Србије да приликом одлучивања о изручивању Зорана Божиновског држави која спорним пресудама осуђује новинаре и тражи њихово хапшење, буде посебно обазриво и испита све околности од значаја за заштиту професионалних права интереса новинара.

The UNS [Journalists' Association of Serbia] reminds that a court in Macedonia recently, without valid legal reason, convicted journalist from the daily “Nova Makedonija” Tomislav Kezarovski to four and a half years in prison “for revealing the identity of a protected witness in an uncleared murder”. [...]

Due to this, UNS requests of the Ministry of Justice of Serbia that, during their deliberation concerning the extradition of Zoran Bozinovski to a country that convicts journalists under debatable rulings and requests their arrest, they be particularly wary and look into all circumstances relevant to the protection of professional rights and interests of journalists.

While there are reports that the extradition process has been started [mk], it is now unclear whether Bozinovski has obtained Serbian citizenship during his stay in Serbia and, if so, whether the extradition process to Macedonia will be able to be carried out. When asked by Macedonian media, the Macedonian Ministry of Interior could neither deny nor confirm whether Bozinovski was also a Serbian national at this time.

Curiously, Bozinovski posted this photograph of himself in handcuffs on his Facebook profile on October 11, 2013, adding the note:

fotografijata e od edno minato vreme. taka beše, dali pak ke bide – ke vidime!?

The photograph is from a past time. So it was, whether it will be so [again]- we shall see!?

Written by Danica Radisic · comments (0)

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via Global Voices » Feature http://globalvoicesonline.org/2013/11/10/journalist-dubbed-macedonian-assange-arrested-in-serbia/