Yesterday, the editor-in-chief of magazine Demokracija, Joze Biscak, published an open letter to Mr Harlem Désir, the OSCE’s High Representative for Freedom of the Media, where Biscak warned him, that the OSCE’s reputation was shamed by him without critical distance. (MORE HERE: http://demokracija.si/fokus/joze-biscak-odprto-pismo-gospodu-harlemu-desirju-brez-kriticne-distance-sramotite-ugled-osce.html) It should be recalled also that a similar case occurred in Northern Macedonia when OSCE High Representative for Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir was informed about the prosecution of Infomax journalist Alexander Mitovski by Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, when Mitovski leaked out evidence in the media of Zaev’s corrupt dealings.
Désir informed the journalist, that he was following the case, but when the court sentenced Mitovski’s editor, Harlem Désir did not even comment on anything, not even to act in accordance with his function.
Remember. On September 26, last year, web portal english.republika.mk wrote, that Harlem Désir, OSCE High Representative for Freedom of the Media, expressed concern over criminal charges filed against Infomax editor Aleksander Mitovski, revealing evidence that top government officials were cooperating in a major blackmail scandal”. Namely, Mitovski published excerpts from sworn testimony, in front of prosecutors. And instead of investigating Zaev, the prosecution began investigating the source of the information leak.
Désir wrote on his Twitter account, at that time: “I am closely following the case of Aleksander Mitovski, editor of Infomax, who is accused of revealing official secrets in “Northern” Macedonia.”
At that time, the Macedonian Association of Journalists was protesting in front of the State Prosecutor’s Office in support of Mitovski, demanding that Zaev’s government and prosecutors, to put an end to group pressure on the media. During the protest, it even happened that police broke into the editorial office of Netpress, another critical online media outlet that reported that Dragi Raskovski, the secretary-general of Zoran Zaev’s government, had forged a procurement contract for air traffic control equipment, worth 7.5 million euros.