Sarajevo, 15.01.2020. – Journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to face interference with their work. Since August 2019, the BH Journalists Association has recorded 41 violations of journalists’ rights, including three verbal threats, eight cases of political pressure, six physical assaults and five death threats.
This is the information provided in the latest Human Rights Watch report.
According to the report, most cases of attacks and threats against journalists were reported to the police, and at the time of writing the report, 15 cases were referred to the competent prosecutor’s offices.
Human Rights Watch further states that although the number of resolved cases has not increased significantly, the BH Journalists Association states that the police are now significantly more engaged and proactive in handling reports than before, and that other relevant state institutions have responded better to attacks against journalists.
– In January 2019, the owner of Visoko.co.ba received the threat after posting articles about nepotism. In March, a politician attacked photojournalist Adi Kebo and damaged his camera. At the time of writing this text, both cases were before competent prosecutors’ offices – the report said.
By August 2019, four court sentences had been issued for assaulting journalists, and Marko Colic was sentenced to four years in prison for attempting to kill journalist Vladimir Kovacevic in 2018.
The entire HRW report is available HERE.