The Untied States extends it best wishes for a full
and speedy recovery to Zeljko Kopanja, the
editor-in-chief of Nezavisne Novine, who was critically
injured in a car bomb attack in Banja Luka on October
22.
We are outraged at this assassination attempt and
condemn it in the strongest possible terms. We urge the
local police to undertake a vigorous and expeditious
investigation to bring those responsible to justice.
As a journalist, Mr. Kopanja has demonstrated
exceptional courage on repeated occasions. The series of
articles in Nezavisne Novine, detailing wartime
atrocities committed against non-Serbs by Serb and
Bosnian Serb forces, was the first comprehensive
investigation into such atrocities to appear in any
media in Republica Srpska.
Attacks on journalists belong at the top of any list
of cowardly acts. Words were Mr. Kopanja's only weapon.
Unprepared to challenge Mr. Kopanja's reports on the
battlefield of ideas and facts, his attackers resorted
to bombs, thereby revealing the hollowness of their
cause.
A free and independent press remains essential to the
cause of peace and reconciliation in Bosnia. It is the
linchpin of a free and democratic society. Mr. Kopanja
is a living example of the value of a free press and
deserves our strongest
support.
