Cameraman of TV 24 Ivan Kamchev was verbally and physically attacked and his equipment was damaged yesterday while he was trying to record a traffic accident on the Gradsko-Prilepin road in North Macedonia.
While returning from filming with a colleague from MRTV, Ivan Kamchev witnessed a traffic accident on the Gradsko-Prilep road near the municipality of Rosoman. In an attempt to document the event, cameraman Kamchev was verbally and then physically attacked, during which his equipment was damaged.
“I just started recording inserts, the person approached me and started calling traitor journalists, you are only asking for some rights and addressed us with insulting words. He swung at me several times and once managed to hit the stand and damaged the camera.”, said Kamchev in a telephone conversation with the Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM).
The case was reported to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, SVR Veles, and, as said to AJM, measures were taken to clear up the case.
“Violence against journalists and cameramen is unacceptable. I want to emphasize that according to the new amendments in Article 139 of the Criminal Code, which is in force in the country, an attack on a journalist or media worker while performing professional tasks is a criminal offense where the Ministry of the Interior and the PPO are obliged to act on official duty.”, said Dragan Sekulovski, director of the SafeJournalists network and executive director at AJM.
The SafeJournalists network, which represents more than 8,200 media professionals in the Western Balkans, joins its member AJM and calls on the Ministry of Interior and the Public Prosecutor’s Office in North Macedonia to conduct a quick investigation and find and punish the attacker of the media worker.
The SafeJournalists network will inform relevant national and international stakeholders about this case.
Each attack on journalists is an attack on public interest, democracy and the rights of all citizens.
Pristina – Skopje – Sarajevo – Zagreb – Belgrade – Podgorica, 19.07.2023
Association of Journalists of Kosovo
Association of Journalists of Macedonia
BH Journalists Association
Croatian Journalists’ Association
Independent Journalists Association of Serbia
Trade Union of Media of Montenegro