Freedom House: Constant attack and political pressure on media

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Source/Author: SMCG

PODGORICA, 07.05.2020. – The latest Freedom house’s report “Nations in transit” gives only 3.25 out of 7 score to the Montenegro media situation.

Last year was marked by „constant attack and political pressure” on the freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and other media freedoms, as evidenced by the “no progress” marks in the last three European Commission reports.

“There was no progress during the year in resolving previous attacks on journalists or media property. According to a September statement by Police Director Veselin Veljović, the 2004 assassination of DAN editor-in-chief Duško Jovanović and the 2007 attempted assassination of journalist Tufik Softić would probably never be resolved due to prosecutorial omissions in the investigations. So far, no proceedings have been initiated against those responsible for the omissions”, it is stated by the authors of the report.

It the document, it is also stated that in January 2019, reporter Jovo Martinović was given an 18-month prison sentence. Martinović, who had been in contact with an organized crime group for a journalistic investigation, was convicted on charges of drug trafficking and membership in a criminal association. The sentence was thrown out on appeal in October, although Martinović faces a retrial in 2020.

“In February, just before an official visit by Johannes Hahn, then European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, police announced their completed investigation into the 2018 shooting of Vijesti journalist Olivera Lakić, naming the perpetrator as Filip Bešović, who promptly proclaimed his innocence. Several months later, police officials denied that they ever claimed Bešović tried to kill Lakić. Subsequently, there has been no progress in finding the real shooter”.

In 2019, there was one serious physical attack on a journalist.

“In addition, Vijesti, the most popular news portal in the country, endured distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks in January, February, April, June, and September. Public authorities did not resolve any of these attacks nor inform the public on the outcome of any investigations. Twelve cases of threats against and intimidation of journalists were also reported, according to official information from a government commission. Out of that number, five cases were criminal offences, three were misdemeanors, two were dismissed, and the remaining are still being processed”, it is stated in the report.