Sarajevo, 16.01.2020. – The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association condemns the verbal threats and the attempt to disable Muhidin Zivojevic, a photojournalist of Faktor.ba portal, to photograph the arrival of MPs at today’s session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly.
In a public parking lot next to the Government and the Assembly of KS, an unknown man approached the photojournalist Zivojevic and with curses, threats and nudges required him to stop filming. The attacker introduced himself as a person from the “Canton Government” although he did not have any accreditation, he unsuccessfully tried to provoke the reaction of the nearby police, eventually returning to Zivojevic and telling him that he would “remember” him.
The Steering Committee of BH Journalists finds it unacceptable to interfere with media professionals in performing their professional tasks and reminds that photojournalists have the right to freely record and photograph all public events and persons with public functions, including the attendance of MPs at the Canton Sarajevo Assembly. Any interference with the work of media professionals is against media freedoms and democratic values, especially if it comes from the persons paid with public money, regardless of whether they are holders of functions or persons who perform technical tasks for the executive and legislative power of the Sarajevo Canton.
The Steering Committee of BH Journalists calls on the competent staff and officials of the Sarajevo Canton to urgently identify the person who attacked the photojournalist Muhidin Zivojevic and to take legal sanctions against him.
At the same time, BH Journalists are demanding that all holders of public office in the Government and the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton respect media freedoms and create a safe environment for media crews who report daily about the (non)formation of a new government and current political conflicts in the Sarajevo Canton.