Serbia Detains Italian Journalist for ‘Robbing Migrants’

According to his website, Serbia has been holding an Italian freelance photojournalist from Turin for the past seven days, after arresting him in the town of Sid, near the Croatian border, on suspicion of attacking and robbing three migrants.

Mauro Donato’s website states that he is suspected of robbing migrants of 300 dinars, worth less then three euros.

Serbia’s Interior Ministry and Italian Embassy to Serbia were not available for immediate comment.

A press release, posted by Donato’s colleague, Pier Paolo, on Thursday, states that the three alleged victims of the robbery denied that he attacked them, and claimed to “have known him and appreciated him as a photographer committed to documenting their problems”.

More than a year has passed since the European Union signed a controversial deal with Turkey that more or less closed off the so-called “Balkan route” to migrants crossing the Balkans to Western Europe.

However, it has not entirely halted the flow of refugees crossing borders in the Balkan countries on their way westwards.