SKOPJE, 08.05.2020 – The Association of Journalists of Macedonia strongly condemns the behavior of the security police officers and those responsible for the protocol of the Minister of Interior, Nake Chulev, to the journalist from TV Klan, Furkan Saliu.
Yesterday at the event organized by the Ministry of Interior, the security of the Minister of Interior broke the Code of Conduct for Police Officers (Article 19 according to which the police have an obligation to establish a professional relationship with the media and journalists) by trying to distance journalist Saliu from Mr. Chulev who only wanted to ask him a question. According to Saliu, some non uniformed police officers even claimed that they should “teach him a lesson”, which is a direct threat to the journalist and is unacceptable to any civil servant. Furthermore, it is even more unacceptable for such things to happen on the day of the Macedonian police!
AJM requests from the Department of Internal Control at the Ministry of Interior to immediately investigate this case and to properly punish the members of the police who allowed themselves to act contrary to the legal powers.
At the same time, we point out to the Minister of Interior that when they organize events in which the media are invited, they must foresee time for questions for journalists, especially at the events with great public interest. Otherwise, such behavior is considered as non-transparent and undemocratic.