Serbia Revokes Virus Decree Limiting Media Freedom

Belgrade, April 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Apr, 2020 ) :The Serbian government revoked Thursday a decree on the novel coronavirus which de facto limited media reporting about the pandemic.

The decree came into force on Wednesday and authorised only the crisis management taskforce led by Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to release information on the pandemic.

As a result a journalist in the northern town of Novi sad was detained for infringing the order on Wednesday, sparking outrage of the opposition and non-governmental organisations.

Ana Lalic, a journalist with news portal nova.rs, wrote an article on poor working conditions and the lack of equipment in a Novi Sad clinic.

She was released Thursday.

The decree was intended to ensure information would be reliable and to fight against fake news about the coronavirus pandemic, Brnabic told the state-run RTS television.

"It is my mistake, this decree, we should have better explained" the reasons behind it, she said.

"We will make sure that this does not happen again in order to avoid providing excuses for criticism," Brnabic said.

Serbia, which declared a state of emergency to halt the spread of the coronavirus in mid-March, currently has 1,171 confirmed cases and 31 deaths.