Tobacco.org

• Tobacco Mafia, assassinations cases take new turn? 

Serbia's public prosecutor has provided two key witnesses in the investigation of the so-called Tobacco Mafia, a Belgrade daily reports.

Blic newspaper writes today that the first witness is going to present new evidence against Stanko Subotić, aka Cane, who is accused of cigarette smuggling.

The other should provide information which would lead to the persons responsible for ordering and executing the murders of MUP Gen. Radovan Stojičić Badža and Minister of Defense of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Pavle Bulatović.

The key witness was provided by means of international cooperation in the region and should give the prosecutor's office solid evidence, which would incriminate Subotić as a cigarette smuggler, according to this article.

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Philip Morris to axe third of Serb workforce: report  

lobal tobacco giant Philip Morris will dismiss one third of the 910-strong workforce at its Serbian subsidiary in order to keep competitive, Beta news agency reported Friday.

"Detailed analysis showed that for effective and sustainable business, there should be no more than 580 employees" at Duvanska Industrija Nis (DIN), the agency said, quoting a DIN statement.

The job cuts and other measures planned were designed to enable DIN to become increasingly comptetive due to lower prices and overall negative economic trends, the report said.

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THE DAMAGING EFFECTS AND PREVENTION OF SMOKING 

One third of the population in Serbia are smokers and Serbia is among the countries with the highest percentage of smokers – 38% men, 30% women and even 8% among children aged between 13 and 15. The data are better than those obtained nine years ago, as they show a tendency of the reduction of the number of smokers, but the rate is still high anyway, the president of the Republican Expert Commission for the Prevention of Smoking with the Ministry of Health, doctor Srmena Krstev. Jelica Tapušković talked to her. . . .

the Serbian Ministry of Health has adopted a national strategy of the protection of non-smokers, whereby the population is constantly informed about the damaging effect of smoking on smokers themselves and their surroundings as well. Doctor Krstev says that very soon, a new law banning smoking in public places and offices will be soon submitted to the government . . .

In the past 5-6 years, the Ministry of Health conducted drives on the damaging effects of smoking on January 31, National Day without Tobacco Smoke, and on 31 May, International Day without Tobacco Smoke. The campaigns were effective, as since the beginning of those drives, the number of people aware of the damaging effects of tobacco smoke has risen to 70%. This year, May 31 will be observed by putting emphasis on pictures showing the effects of smoking. A walk will be organized in Belgrade’s downtown street, Knez Mihailova, and the central event will be held on the Republic Square, including a performance, while Health Minister Tomica Milosavljević will be speaking of the detrimental effects of smoking.

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• Serbia takes aim at smoking 

Srmena Krstev, president of Serbia's Commission for the Prevention of Smoking, told the Southeast European Times the age at which they begin is dropping constantly. "About 8% of teenagers, ages 13 to 15, periodically light up a cigarette. A third of them had their first cigarette at the age of ten," she said.

In some countries, such as Greece and Turkey, nearly half the men smoke. However, the percentage of women who light up in those countries is much lower than in Serbia. "Serbia's only 'rival' in the number of smokers among European countries is Bosnia and Herzegovina," she said.

To address the growing health problems posed by smoking, the health ministry has proposed existing amendments to the law prohibiting smoking in enclosed spaces.

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• Restaurants want to hang on to smoke 

While in many European countries smoking in public places has been banned altogether, in Serbia, even the current law is not entirely respected.

Now the restaurant owners say they wish to see "more moderate legislation" enforced.

A new bill could by the end of this year outlaw tobacco smoke in cafes and restaurants in a country where one third of the adult population enjoys the nicotine.

The law would then allow them this pleasure only in their own homes, and in the streets.

While Serbians react with mixed opinions, the restaurant industry is about to launch an initiative they have dubbed, "Protection instead of prohibition".

They suggest that Serbia adopts the so-called Spanish-Portuguese model, where the owner of a restaurant sized up to 100 sq meters could independently decide whether the space is banned for smoking, while larger ones would have separated smoking and non-smoking areas.

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Tobacco farmers back in front of government 

BELGRADE, BRATISLAVA -- Tobacco farmers are again protesting in front of the Serbian government this Monday in Belgrade, asking that subsidy regulations be withdrawn.

The farmers are also asking for bonuses for Burley and Oriental tobacco for 2008, in keeping with a CEFTA action plan, said Milorad Antonić, president of the Tobacco Growers Association.

The farmers are asking that the decision to subsidize tobacco farming be pulled, "as it would contribute to the disappearance of tobacco farming in Serbia".

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• Serbia marks No Smoking Day 

Serbia today marks National No Smoking Day, as new anti-smoking restrictions loom.

As part a campaign which, for the first half of the year, is running under the slogan, "Tobacco Smoke is a Serial Killer," and in the second "Throw out Tobacco Smoke", a gradual introduction of no-smoking laws in restaurants and cafes in Serbia has been announced. . . .

So-called passive smoking, which is indirectly inhaled, is officially classified as a known carcinogen, which can cause cancer, most often of the lungs, as well as often fatal, acute and chronic heart conditions and strokes.

According to a study on diseases and injuries in Serbia, in 2000, 10,187 people died due to the consequences of smoking, which is 9.8 percent of the total number of deaths, and rconstitutes a 13.7 percent loss of years of life.

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SMOKEFREE CAMPAIGN 

The national campaign of the Serbian Health Ministry and the Institute "Dr Milan Jovanovic Batut", focused on consequences of the passive smoking, has commenced today and will last for a year, it was announced at the press conference. Djuro Malobabic has more.

The campaign is directed at all social categories and will be accompanied by promotional and printed material, ads, TV spots, jingles, billboards and branded buses. The action will be carried out in two parts – the first one will be under the slogan "Tobacco smoke is a serial killer " by August, while the latter part of 2009 will be marked by the motto "Get tobacco smoke out". Health Minister Prof. Dr Tomica Milosavljevic said that a new law is being prepared on ban of smoking in closed premises, which envisages gradual banning of smoking in restaurants that will primarily protect health of the employees and non-smoking visitors.

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• Murdered Croatia Journalist Pukanic Was Key Witness on Balkan Tobacco Mafia 

The Croatian journalist Ivo Pukanic, who was murdered in Zagreb on October 23, had been one of the main witnesses in a Balkan cigarette contraband investigation of the police in the Italian city of Bari, the Italian Prosecutor Guiseppe Scelsi announced as quoted by the Trieste newspaper Il Piccolo.

Scelsi expressed the alarm of the Italian prosecution over the assassination of the owner of the Croatian newspaper Nacional, who was also its Editor-in-Chief, because it was going to affect the investigation against the Balkan cigarette smuggling mafia.

The Prosecutor also pointed out that another journalist who was also a witness in the tobacco contraband case - the Editor-in-Chief of Montenegro's Dan Daily Dusko Jovanovic - had been murdered in Podgorica on May 27, 2004.

According to Scelsi, the current Prime Minister and former President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic had also been investigated as potentially involved in the Balkan cigarette smuggling ring but the investigation against him would be terminated because of his diplomatic immunity.

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• Smoking still thrives in Balkans, but for how long?  

Croatia -- where almost 13,000 people, the size of a small town -- die of smoking each year, became the first to take more concrete steps on Friday, when parliament passed a tough new anti-smoking bill.

The law banning cigarettes from all public places takes effect almost immediately, a move certain to displease almost one third of the European Union candidate country's 4.4 million people who smoke. Only cafe and restaurant owners will have a six-month transition period.

The law also restricts any smoking-related media campaigns.

"We want to do something for our health and catch up with European standards," Health Minister Darko Milinovic told parliament when presenting the bill this month. . . .

So, the ban is likely to improve quality of life here, but will almost certainly impact cafe owners, who depend very much on smoking clientele, but face a fine of up to 150,000 kuna ($28,180) if found in violation. . . .

Neighboring Serbia nominally banned smoking in public places in 1995 but the law has never been implemented and smokers can be seen everywhere in its sprawling capital Belgrade.

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• Kertes enters plea in Tobacco Mafia trial 

The trial of an organized cigarette smuggling group continued today at the Special Organized Crime Court in Belgrade.

The members of the network, allegedly led by Stanko Subotić, are charged for having illegally imported cigarettes to Serbia during the 1990s.

There has been no official explanation yet regarding the Russian authorities’ recent rejection of a request to extradite Subotić, held in Moscow since April and released last week, the Ministry of Justice said today. . . .

The trial continued this morning with former Milošević-era Federal Customs chief Mihalj Kertes entering his plea.

Kertes rejected all charges against him and said that "the only correct thing in the entire indictment" was his name.

"The indictment says that I let trucks [loaded with cigarettes] through for three gangs, but it doesn’t say that I took my share. That’s impossible. Why would I allow the trucks to enter the country and not take my share? The prosecutor is trying to make me look like an imbecile . . .

Kertes was indicted for his alleged membership in a criminal gang led by Mirjana Marković, and Marko Milošević – the wife and son of Slobodan Milošević. . . .

The former customs chief also repeated the defense he used at his other trials, saying that "his end began" after he was appointed to the job, and after he managed to suppress smuggling and increase the customs revenues mulitfold in 1994.

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Serbia to mark World No Tobacco Day 

BELGRADE -- Today is World No Tobacco Day, marked every year around the globe on May 31.

According to statistics, almost one in two men and one in three women smoke in Serbia. . . .

In Serbia, much emphasis is placed on legal regulations intended to fight the habit, while at the same time, losing sight of the fact that these regulations have their limits linked to the interests of society in terms of revenue from the manufacture and sale of tobacco.

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Suspected Tobacco Mafia mastermind arrested 

Stanko Subotić, one of the key suspects in the 1990s cigarette smuggling case, has been arrested in Moscow.

Serbian police, MUP, today confirmed the news, and added that Subotić is now in detention pending his extradition to Serbia.

Subotić, a Serbian businessman, is charged with organizing a criminal group that in 1995 and 1996 illegally imported and sold cigarettes in the Serbian market.

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Tobacco Mafia trial could be postponed 

BELGRADE -- The trial of Stanko Subotić and others suspected of participating in the cigarette smuggling ring of the 1990s, could be delayed.

Subotić was arrested in Moscow yesterday. The Special Sector of the Belgrade District Court stated that the trial, scheduled to begin on May 19, could be pushed back until Subotić is extradited.

The Special Organized Crimes Court stated that the trial, scheduled to begin on May 19, could be pushed back until Subotić is extradited.

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Tobacco Mafia defendant pleads not guilty 

BELGRADE -- Sinisˇa Stojcˇic´, charged with illegally importing and selling cigarettes in the 1990s, yesterday pled not guilty.

He told the Special Organized Crime Department of the Belgrade District Court that it is impossible that his brother, former deputy interior minister Radovan Stojcˇic´, a.k.a. Badzˇa, "who fought against crime, could have organized a criminal group", the so-called Tobacco Mafia.

Sojcˇic´ said that the charges are a "product of hate against his brother and his business success".

He added his brother, a high-ranking MUP commander during the Milosˇevic´ regime, could not have smuggled and sold cigarettes illegally in 1997, because he was killed in April 1997. . . .

A group of nine people is being charged for illegally importing and selling cigarettes on the territory of Serbia in 1997, costing the state about USD 2mn.

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