A court in Serbia has imposed fines totalling nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars on the owners and editors of the independent magazine, 'The European' Evrapljanin.

The court found that an open letter to President Slobodan Milosevic, published by the magazine, broke a new media law passed by parliament this week.

The law is aimed at curbing the dissemination of reports likely to encourage defeatism while the country is under threat of attack over the crisis in Kosovo.

The magazine's founder, Slavko Curuvija, said the article concerned had been published before the law was enacted.

He said he wouldn't pay the fine -- even if he had the money.