3 Papers in Macedonia Shut for Tax Violations amidst Media Freedom Fears

Pictured: Macedonian special police forces escort arrested media tycoon Velija Ramkovski (C) and 14 employees of his private A1 television channel, from the police station to take them to court in Skopje, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, 24 Dece

Three Macedonian newspapers known for their criticism of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski published their last issues on Saturday as they are being shut down for alleged tax violations.

Opposition-minded newspapers Spic, Vreme, and Koha E Re (in Albanian language) have terminated publication forcing about 100 journalists in unpaid leave after their publishing firm Plus Produkcja had a distraint placed on its bank accounts for allegedly owing EUR 1 M in tavex.

The company's owner, Velija Ramkovski, a local oligarch, has been in jail since 2010 on counts of financial and tax crimes.

Ramkovski is also the owner of Macedonian TV station A1, whose bank accounts are distrained for owing the state EUR 9 M in taxes, making it very likely that A1 will share the fate of the three newspapers, the Skopje correspondent of the Bulgarian National Radio reported.

The fact that the opposition newspapers that have been critical of the Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski have been shut down as of July 2, 2011, has led many to raise alarm about press freedom in Macedonia.

"The Cabinet of Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski wants to destroy our three newspapers and television A1 because we are critical of his government," Macedonian journalist Branko Gerovski has told BGNES regarding the shutting down of the Macedonian newspapers Spic, Vreme, and Koha E Re.

He claims that the accusations of the Macedonian tax authorities for the three newspapers and the A1 TV station are fake, and that they initially demanded EUR 4 M, but subsequently requested a higher sum – EUR 10 M, including EUR 1 M allegedly owed to the Macedonian state by the three newspapers, and EUR 9 M – by A1 TV. He further declared that Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski is staging an all-out operation to put all media in Macedonia under control.

"There is no freedom of speech in our country. The authorities are trying to create another reality with some kind of patriotic rhetoric. And the reality is that Macedonia is at the bottom of all rankings in freedom of media, according to NGOs such as Freedom House and Reporters without Borders. There is no democracy without media freedom. We are no longer part of Europe, we have descended to the level of the most terrible African dictatorships such as Robert Mugabe's in Zimbabwe," he stated.

What has been described as a crackdown on media freedom in Macedonia comes just after Macedonian PM Nikola Gruevski and his rightist VMRO-DPMNE party won the early parliamentary elections on June 5, 2011, and just as the Macedonian authorities are shocking their neighbors with the erection of an Alexander the Great statue, and a monument of medieval Bulgarian Tsar Samuil.

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