Threats against the lives and physical safety of journalists, Franjo Šarčević, Sarajevo, 3.3.2024.

BHJA •︎ 03/03/2024

Threats against the lives and physical safety of journalists, Franjo Šarčević, Sarajevo, 3.3.2024.

Translations: Sarajevo 

  • Case info

  • Personal info

  • Regional center
    Sarajevo
  • Who was attacked?
    Journalist
  • Gender
    Male
  • Victim(s) name
    Franjo Šarčević

  • Media outlet

  • Name of the media outlet
    News portal Prometej
  • Type of media platform
    Online Media
  • Source of information about the incident
    BHJA

  • Incident Data

  • Date of incident
    03.03.2024
  • City
    Sarajevo
  • Perpetrator(s)
    Known (suspected)
  • Attacked by
    (ordinary) citizens
    Public person(s)
  • Means of incidents and attacks
    Posts or comments on social networks
    Through media outlets (broadcast, print, online)
  • Type of incident
    life_threat

  • Action by the authorities

  • Type of violation
    Security threat

  • Action taken by the journalists' association

  • Was journalist's association informed by the journalists directly?
    Yes
  • What was the reaction of the journalists' association?
    The association reacted publicly
    The association informed international organizations and institutions

Hate speech and threats against Franjo Šarčević, the owner and editor of the Prometej portal, included organized harassment and incitement via social networks and through the contents of a number of media outlets. They followed after Šarčević published an article entitled “Another senseless Independence Day”, in which he commented on the statements and iconography of the solemn celebration of March 1 – the Independence Day of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and after criticism directed at the mayor of Sarajevo, Benjamina Karić, after the publication of the photo with a boy in a camouflage uniform.

The BHJA condemned the threatening messages and hate speech against Franja Šarčević, and requested an efficient response from the police authorities in order to eliminate possible security risks for Šarčević and his family. The BHJA demanded the immediate arrest of the police and interrogation of the persons behind the profiles on social networks from which the threats were sent, and the announced “arrival at the faculty” and “removal” of Šarčević from the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Sarajevo, where he works as a professor. The need for urgent police action and the protection of the editor of Prometheus is based on the fact that he has previously faced brutal threats of violence, mostly when he wrote and spoke against the views of the political majority in Sarajevo, Mostar or other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.