The Serbian Parliament on October 21 adopted a new information law that critics say further restricts independent media and leads the country back to dictatorship, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Serbian media face fines of up to $82,000 if they are considered to have harmed constitutional order or the national interest, an amount that would force most news organizations to close. The law bans broadcasts of Serbian-language programs by foreign media and calls for huge fines against media editors and owners who disobey. It also gives broad powers to the authorities and places further restrictions on working permits for media organizations.

The law "introduces a ban on listening to foreign stations that broadcast in Serbian. A similar ban existed only during the fascist occupation of Serbia during World War II," said the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) in a statement.

During the parliamentary reading of the law, representatives of the ruling coalition made accusations and threats against the independent media. Most notable was Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj, who described independent editors as NATO officers and described Javier Solana, "the man who decided on the bombing and destruction of Serbia and killings of its citizens," as their chief editor, ANEM reported.

Independent legal experts and journalists said the law was highly restrictive and again introduces censorship, formally abandoned in Serbia in the late 1980s. According to Yugoslav lawyer Rajko Danilovic, the law brings Yugoslavia "back to the period of the single-party Communist state. It represents the return to monopoly on information."

"The United States condemns the Draconian law," White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said in a statement, adding that "the Belgrade leadership should immediately halt its repression of independent media."

For the full text of ANEM's preliminary legal analysis of the first draft of the Law on Public Information visit the Media Watch section of Belgrade's Radio B92 home page at http://www.b92.net .