The Western Balkan’s Regional Platform for Advocating Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety, which represents more than 8,000 members, strongly condemns the attack on a Belgrade based TV Prva crew that took place in the morning of May, 28 in the Zubin potok in northern Kosovo.
According to the report by TV Prva, during the events in Kosovo surrounding the arrests conducted by the Kosovo Police Forces ROSU shots were fired at the TV Prva crew car while they reported from Zubin Potok.
In the phone statement for IJAS, TV Prva journalists Zoran Maksimovic confirmed that the car was seriously damaged in the shooting. On this occasion, the safety of journalist Maksimovic from was seriously jeopardized.
Upon receiving the information about this incident, Association of Journalists of Kosovo contacted the authorities to get official response. Kosovo police stated that it has no information about the incident.
Regional Platform requests from Kosovo authorities to investigate and make public circumstances that lead to the shooting and who is responsible for this attack on journalists. The Kosovo authorities and international organizations EULEX and KFOR are obliged to ensure unhindered work and physical safety for journalists reporting from Kosovo.
We remind that every attack on a journalist is an attack on the public interest, democracy and human rights.
The Platform will inform all European institutions about this incident and ask for their intervention in the sphere of media freedom and safety of journalists in the Western Balkans region.
Skopje – Belgrade – Podgorica – Prishtina – Sarajevo – Zagreb, 28. May 2019.
BH Journalists Association
Trade Union of Media of Montenegro
Croatian Journalists’ Association
Association of Journalists of Kosovo
Association of Journalists of Macedonia
Independent Journalists Association of Serbia