Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) strongly condemns the latest threats and targeting of Kosovo media in Serbian laguage (Kosovo online, radio Kontakt plus, radio Kosovska Mitrovica and TV Most), but above all the portal KoSSev, which was started in the Telegram channel “Zečevi KiM” (Rabbits KM). In this group several publications and two videos mention media that are targeted as “enemies of the Serbian people and Serbia who are under the influence of NATO and the West”. The video with the confrontation scenes from the film “The Good, the Bad, the Evil” is particularly worrying, where the Kossev logo is displayed all the time, and is interrupted at the moment when the shot is about to ring out.
IJAS points out that this is not the first case of serious targeting and threats to journalists of the KoSSev portal, and we call on the competent authorities to investigate all the circumstances of the threats and this event that threaten the safety of all journalists in Kosovo.
It is interesting that the time of creation of the “Zečevi KiM” Telegram channel coincides with the shutdown of pages that were linked to the “Northern Brigade”, which the Government of Kosovo recently declared terrorist and banned its work because it “poses a threat to constitutional order and security”.
IJAS sees as a particular concern that the threats come a few days after a video that was shared on social networks, in which journalists from United Media were targeted.
We remind the authorities that they must react in such serious cases of targeting journalists and the media, and publicly condemn such behavior, which was also discussed by the president of the European Federation of Journalists, Maja Sever, who yesterday called on the Government of Serbia to publicly condemn attacks on journalists. Unfortunately, we cannot help but look back on the fact that a video like this, unsigned, made in a similar way, was an introduction to the tragic event of murdering of Oliver Ivanovic. This is exactly why we expect the state and its authorities to take these and similar incidents seriously.
Tatjana Lazarevic will report this case to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for high-tech crime.