Police raid disrupts independent Macedonia media

SKOPJE (Reuters) - A government probe into one of Macedonia's media tycoons kept three of his independent newspapers from operating on Friday and interrupted broadcasts of his TV station, government officials said.

The officials said a raid on Thursday night on the premises of A1 TV owner Velija Rankovski was aimed at uncovering alleged fraud, but journalists said it was an effort to intimidate the free press in the poor landlocked Balkan country.

"The operation was carried out on the orders of the prosecutor on suspicion that firms registered for trading food products were involved in financial crime," said interior ministry spokesman Ivo Kotevski. "These companies have no relation to media businesses."

He said the firms, suspected of fraud and believed to have sent the proceeds of their activities abroad, were registered at the same location as A1 television.

Mladen Cadikovski, editor-in-chief of A1, the most popular Macedonian TV channel, said police had sealed off the main A1 TV computer center and prevented access to its central software.

Police sealed the doors of two of the newspapers, preventing staff from entering. All three newspapers were unable to prepare the Saturday edition because of the disruption.

"We do not object to financial investigations but when financial investigation is used to disguise control over journalists and prevention of their work, we consider it unacceptable and an attack on democracy," Cadikovski told Reuters.

The police action prompted protests from viewers and members of opposition parties who said the raid was intended to silence a media outlet which has often criticized the conservative government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski.

Macedonia gained independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 and is a candidate for European Union membership, but its progress has been severely hindered by a dispute with EU member Greece over Macedonia's official name.

(Reporting by Maja Zuvela in Sarajevo; editing by Adam Tanner and Tim Pearce)