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CIVIL expresses its abhorrence of extremely presumptuous, unprofessional and unethical performance of the Editor-in-Chief of TV Sitel, Dragan Pavlovic-Latas, on February 10, 2016, as the host of the opposition leader Zoran Zaev.
In his monologue, Latas has fully exposed his own positions of a servant to the political power. The editor of the station with national coverage has revealed his nationalist and racist determination and made direct insults against his guest and against the international community.
Latas at no time has posed a real question, nor allowed his guest to answer. He called the opposition leader a freak, assumed that a politician like Zaev cannot be found “not even in Africa, nor on Mars”, and topped his cannonade by the offensive qualification on ethnic grounds against the Turks, saying that Zaev is "lying like a Turk".
In a gangster manner, indecent and filthy, the editor Latas tried to humiliate and offend his guest, but all he managed was to humiliate the TV station where he works, and has shown how low, immoral and unprofessional are media under the tight control of the government.
We urge the public and civil society to strongly condemn this ill-mannered, immoral and unprofessional act. In a normal, democratic country, this kind of attitude would have been legally sanctioned, but in these conditions it is difficult to expect.
Excerpts from the event (transcript):
Zoran Zaev on Sitel TV
Latas: I used to be a good friend with them and I still am with Branko Crvenkovski, Hari Kostov, Vlado Buckovski, Sekerinska used to visit us at our home, but we have a problem with you. You are not SDSM.
Zaev: What am I?
Latas: You are a freak!
Zaev: You are lying, you are lying so much it spills poison everywhere
Latas: 43 million earned in 2 years
Zaev: How do you explain your property on Kozhuf of 454.000m2?
Latas: That is not of your concern, Zoran Zaev you are lying, you are lying like a Turk
Zaev: Here’s the document of possession, you have borrowed 7 million euros and here’s the paper
Latas: There is no such document it doesn’t exist
Zaev: Here it is, right here, EURO 454.000, owned by Latas
Latas: Can I sue you for this?
Zaev: You can do whatever you want
Latas: We can place a bet now that I will sue you, In front of everyone
Zaev: You are free to do whatever you want
Latas: Even your political party doesn’t trust you
Zaev: You can even give me a verdict right now, I am not scared of you
Latas: You are scared of Gruevski
Zaev: I am not scared, I pulled out all the truth out on the surface
Latas: If you want to get to Gruevski you have 100 other people you have to go through first
Zaev: Well maybe Gruevski should have been here as well so we can debate together
Latas: Do you want to bet, let’s bet right now, do you want to bet?
Zaev : You are not allowing the citizens to get answers to anything. Where are the questions for the public prosecutor or the ones for the media?
Latas: Do not run away, you can run until tomorrow.
Zaev: What do you mean with the betting? I do not have the need to place a bet with you.
Latas: Great, you have the document here, let’s go to court with it, doesn’t matter what the courts’ verdict will be, I will sue you
Zaev: This is an official document with your property on it.
Latas: Let’s go to court, doesn’t matter what the verdict will be
Zaev: You can do whatever your heart desires
Latas: Come on be brave a bit
Zaev: I do not need to debate this matter, this is the truth
Latas: What do you mean you are not debating when you are stating here…
Zaev: No need for debate
Latas: I am offering you this but you are scared from the court
Zaev: You are just throwing some numbers around, telling people lies, this is unheard of
Latas: Let’s place a bet right now
Zaev: So many lies you’re telling but you have 100 times more money than I do
Latas: No, let’s place a bet
Zaev: You are connected with a lot of companies
Latas: But I am not the mayor, I do not work with public money, you do
Zaev: My money have been accounted for in the poll lists
Latas: What about the final account?
Zaev: That IS the poll list, I stand by the results from the poll lists, if there’s anything that doesn’t match I stand behind it
Latas: You stood behind corruption as well and now you’re not showing up in court
Zaev: The state has checked my properties 4 times so far, it has been confirmed
Latas: Why have you not gone to court when you were due, the state accused you and you were not there?
Zaev: I was there, I was at the “Puch” hearing.
Latas: How were you there when Katica Janeva is holding the files?
Zaev: I will be there for the next hearing for bribe, I will prove my innocence
Latas: Can we go back a bit
Zaev: You are scared from the public prosecutor and that you will have to answer for all the crimes that have been done
Zaev: You are scared that’s why you’re reacting like this…
Latas: If you are truly a man I have a proposition for you…
Zaev: You are an editor in chief on a national television with public concession. Can you start asking me questions and leave enough time for me to answer?
Latas: The document about my property that you brought with you was shown without me asking questions, can we talk about that?
Zaev: Go ahead, ask me a question!
Latas: OK. If we go to court and I sue you, and I win. The court will charge you minimally for slander. 1000 or 2000 euros for a fine is how much you make in one hour not in one day. If I win in court, no matter how much the fine will be, can I take one of your Porsches that your family drives around? 100.000 euros!
Zaev: What are you talking about? What Porsche?
Latas: What does your brother Vice drive? What do you and your family drive around the yard?
Zaev: He drives an Audi I think, I am not sure, with money earned honestly
Latas: Why do you think the money have been earned honestly?
Zaev: Because if it wasn’t honest money he would have rotten in jail by now, put there by Gruevski and a gangster like you.
Latas: You have the diplomats to defend you
Zaev: Those are honestly earned money that he’s payed taxes with. We pay the tax and then you go ahead and take 5 million from those money
Latas: If there wasn’t for the diplomats to defend you, you would’ve been a dead man
Zaev: 30 million euros in 10 years you’ve spent
Latas: You are a finished man
Zaev: I will continue to go forward and return the freedom and democracy in the country
Latas: Can we reverse things a bit now? We have info that you and your companies have earned…
Zaev: I have not seen anywhere an editor in chief that acts like this
Latas: And a politician like you can’t be found even in Africa
Zaev: My personal properties are worth 120.000 euros
Latas: A politician like this cannot be found on Mars, not just Africa you can’t find anyone like this on Mars either
Zaev: Transparent one? One that would show up on a government beating like this? On a TV owned by the regime? To answer directly…
Latas: This does not make you a politician. This sentence disqualifies you.
Zaev: What sentence?
Latas: Regimes’ journalist, Regimes’ politician
Zaev: This TV IS owned by the regime, you said yourself that these news are worthless
Latas: I might have…That conversation doesn’t exist anywhere
Zaev: It does exist, it does.
Latas: You will have to prove that at court
Zaev: That one exists as well as much more, and it will all be proven, all legal processes will be opened, all the abuse, crime and racketeering of the companies.
Latas: Is this concerning the Przino Treaty? That is why you haven’t handed all the documents to Katica Janeva, so you can racketeer and scare people
Zaev: We have given them. Sasho Mijalkov and Nikola Gruevski haven’t handed the conversations not us. Those are the ones that should give her the conversations.
Latas: Racketeering is your essence.
Zaev: Zaev has never racketeered anyone.
Latas: Can we talk about something else. Your companies have made 43 million in the last2 years…
Zaev: You are the racketeer in Macedonia.
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