PODGORICA, July 15, 2021 – In the report on the Judicial Council of Montenegro for last year, it is stated that in 2020, 33 requests for free access to information were submitted, but that more than half were rejected because they did not have the requested information.

“During the reporting period, a total of 33 requests were submitted to the Secretariat, which was decided by issuing a decision, ie notification, depending on the established facts. Acting on the submitted requests, 12 were approved, three were partially approved, one notification was sent and 17 requests were rejected, mainly due to the lack of requested information. The applicants for free access to information were non-governmental organizations, legal entities and individuals”, the report states.

It is added that in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Free Access to Information and the principles of transparency of government and the public’s right to know, the Secretariat respected the standards contained in ratified international treaties on human rights and freedoms, as well as generally accepted principles of international law.

SARAJEVO, July 13, 2021 – On July 7 this year, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo passed a first instance verdict sentencing the online magazine Žurnal and its editors Selvedin Avdić and Eldin Karić, as well as a former journalist of this media outlet Avdo Avdić on paying the total amount of more than 170,000 BAM, without interest.

This case is a defamation lawsuit filed against the editor and journalists of Žurnal by Gordan Memija and his company “FotoArt”. The subject of the lawsuit were the articles published by Žurnal in which Memija is connected with the members of the international drug cartel.

The Steering Committee of the BH Journalists Association expresses deep concern over the amount of compensation in excess of 170,000 BAM determined by the Municipal Court in Sarajevo. If the mentioned verdict becomes final, the payment of that amount could seriously jeopardize the work of Žurnal magazine and the existence of the employees of this media outlet, as well as journalist Avdić.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists is particularly concerned that the first instance verdict and the disproportionately high amount of damages are directed against journalists and editors of the online media outlet who nurture investigative journalism, whose stories have been repeatedly awarded for research on topics of public importance, and with strong social impact. In this context, we draw particular attention to the Council of Europe Declaration on the Protection of Investigative Journalism, which calls on member states to “protect and promote investigative journalism”, respecting Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the case law of the European Court in Strasbourg and others Council of Europe standards. The member states of the Council of Europe are explicitly called upon to “prevent disproportionate, worrying sanctions”, to ensure the free exercise of the journalistic profession, not to seize professional material or search work premises, ie. not to frighten media professionals, and especially investigative journalists. Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a member of the Council of Europe, has committed to respecting all declarations on the protection of media freedom, including the European Convention on Human Rights, which is the part of the foundations of the BiH Constitution.

We remind that recently the Municipal Court in Sarajevo issued a Decision on Enforcement according to which more than 212,000 BAM were confiscated from the account of the company “Avaz-roto press” for the purpose of collecting court penalties and costs of enforcement proceedings, following the verdict on defamation lawsuit dated 2009.

These two court decisions on defamation lawsuits and with enormously high damages claims can be interpreted as a direct threat to media freedom and attempts to stifle investigative journalism, but also endanger the reputation of judicial institutions due to justified suspicions that the verdicts are politically motivated and belong to the so-called SLAPP lawsuits. Such lawsuits, with huge damage claims that are directed against the survival of the media are one of the most current issues of the media community in the European Union, but also in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region, where the number of such cases is evidently growing.

We emphasize that there are currently close to 300 defamation lawsuits against journalists and media outlets in the courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. More than 80 percent of prosecutors in these cases are politicians, representatives of the judiciary and other public officials.

The Steering Committee of BH Journalists Association

PODGORICA, July 10th, 2021 – In the previous months, the prosecution reopened the investigation of the murder of the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper “Dan”, Dusko Jovanovic, to try to finally solve the most difficult case of the attack on journalists from 2004.

According to the information of Vijesti Television, they examined several witnesses, including some security interesting persons.

“The Higher State Prosecutor’s Office in Podgorica, in the case formed on the occasion of the murder of D.J. during April and May 2021, conducted a hearing of certain persons, and takes other measures and actions that are needed,” Higher State Prosecutor’s Office said.

The new government, led by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, recently promised to do everything possible to shed light on the case.

Jovanovic was killed 17 years ago in front of the “Dan” editorial office, since when the prosecution and the police have not determined who shot at him and why.

For the time being, only Damir Mandić from Podgorica has been convicted of participating in the murder, and in April 2017, the Court of Appeals confirmed his verdict of complicity and sentenced him to 18 years in prison.

Concerning the latest developments, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo reemphasizes the call upon all journalists to respect the Code of Ethics of the Press, as well as the Code of Ethics for Media Service Providers in the Republic of Kosovo, during the performing of their work.

AJK is aware that the credibility of the media is closely linked to the implementation of the ethical and legal standards by journalists.

AJK encourages professional journalism, for it is an important pillar in the functioning of a country’s democracy.

PODGORICA, July 7th, 2021 – Journalists worked in difficult conditions last year, their security was threatened, and key cases of attacks on journalists are still unresolved.

This was concluded at the conference “Media Freedom: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow” organized by the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro in partnership with the Civic Alliance, with the financial support of the European Commission, Balkan Trust for Democracy and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway in Belgrade.

Minister of Public Administration, Digital Society and Media, Tamara Srzentic, said that financial problems, inadequate and insufficient regulation, non-compliance with professional and ethical standards, media laws that require urgent changes, are just some of the problems of the media sector whose solutions, as she said, will all work together in the coming period. “You are burdened by poor socio-economic conditions, the salaries of media employees are still below the national average, the crisis has changed your working hours, overtime work is mostly unpaid, a large number of journalists do not have contracts for an indefinite period. Poor financial position of newsrooms that cannot invest in investigative journalism. That is why I invite you to organize as many as possible through the Trade Union of Media and other associations that deal with the media, and to articulate through them the problems and challenges that your profession faces every day”, Srzentic said. She pointed out that the position of the Government is that no case of attack on journalists, their security and media property should be archived without a specific police, prosecutorial and court dismissal. “When we talk about concrete future actions and activities from our department, and in relation to solving the challenges we have identified, our focus is entirely on reforming media legislation, media strategy, as well as urgent activation of the existing Fund for Promotion Media Pluralism and Diversity. The reform of media legislation will place special emphasis on online media, which are more and more in Montenegro, and whose field of activity is not fully regulated, then on improving the protection of journalists’ rights, their integrity, as well as sources”, Srzentic explained.

First Secretary of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Norway, Stefan Almehagen Sandstad, believes that freedom of the media is very important, that civil society is very active and he hopes that it will remain so.

“The role of the media is stronger than before. They must enable citizens to recognize credible information. Many challenges are similar across borders. All journalists in all countries are at risk. It is very important that we spread democracy and continue the fight for media freedom. Discussion between all actors in society creates better conditions. Complete legislation must be well regulated and respected, and it is necessary to adopt best practices”, Sandstad said.

Secretary General of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, Tamara Filipovic Stevanovic, said that Serbia has shown that it is the leader in the region in terms of stifling media freedom.

“Our government has shown a strong intention to control the flow of information and has used the state of emergency to attack professional media. It is worrying that defamation campaigns against the media very often originate from people who perform public functions, and then descend to a lower level. In the previous year, we recorded an increase in online intimidation of journalists in all countries. In 2020, we are also recording an increase in threats to journalists”, Filipović Stevanovic said.

She noted that public prosecutors continue to refrain from indictments in cases of threats to journalists.

“There is no progress in closing the most serious cases of attacks on journalists,” Filipovic Stevanovic said.

President of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro, Marijana Camovic Velickovic, said that the employees in the Montenegrin media did not feel abundant help from the state, and that “millions of euros that flowed into the media accounts a year ago passed by them”.

“Where did at least 2.5 million euros go, as much as the state paid to the media last year? It is necessary to insist on increasing the transparency of spending that money. We asked, because we only consider it correct, for the state to oblige the media that receive help during the crown of the crisis not to fire employees”, Camovic Velickovic said.

Since the beginning of the year, 12 attacks, threats, insults against journalists and other media workers have been registered in Montenegro, and, as she said, according to the data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, there were 18 cases of attacks on journalists last year.

“When it comes to that record, we see as a problem that it is a record based on the profession of the victim of the attack, so whoever is a journalist goes to that register, although the case itself does not have to be related to his profession. When it comes to 2019, 37 lawsuits were filed for compensation of material damage due to violation of personal rights, and during 2020, 22 of them. Although the number of lawsuits remains large, final judgments indicate that many smaller amounts are awarded, and the media are most often sued by citizens”, Camovic Velickovic said.

Researcher of the Trade Union of Media, Bojana Konatar, at the panel “Indicators of the level of media freedom and security of journalists”, said that the big problem is that it is still unknown how many journalists there are in Montenegro.

 “We are still talking about imaginary people. The last survey conducted in 2014 counted 800 journalists, with 54 media outlets at the time. Today, there are about 200 media outlets, and we still mention the same number of journalists. The working conditions of journalists on portals are especially problematic,” said Konatar.

She pointed out that censorship was very present during 2020, especially during the reporting on processions and elections.

“Montenegrin journalism is still maximally dedicated to reporting in the public interest, but we get silence when it tries to get data on how many media there are in Montenegro, how much these media employ journalists. It is generally estimated that journalists forgot investigative and analytical journalism during the last year, due to the increased volume of work and all the problems they have, but it is not surprising,” said Konatar.

Researcher of the Association of BH Journalists, Maja Radevic, said that in Bosnia and Herzegovina, more than 88 percent of the media were affected by the negative economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, and thus the position of journalists in newsrooms was endangered.

 “Politicians have been very active, especially in the last 3-4 years in trying to control editorial policies and create media content. It is especially worrying that the public reputation of the media is being talked about less and less, and the impression is gained that numerous journalists, editors, and media owners have come to terms with political influences and pressures. The feeling of economic insecurity and concern for existence directly leads to censorship, self-censorship and selective publication of information”, Radevic said.

During the last year, as she stated, 69 cases of violation of journalists’ rights and media freedoms were recorded, and only 30 percent of cases before the courts ended in favor of journalists”, said Radevic.

Croatian Journalists’ Association researcher, Monika Kutri, said there were 12 attacks on journalists last year, and what is particularly worrying is that there are a lot of lawsuits against journalists and the media.

“Last year, the Croatian Journalists’ Association recorded at least 924 lawsuits against journalists and media whose claims amount to around 10.5 million euros. These are enormous numbers. The assumption that Croatia is much more advanced when it comes to media freedom and the safety of journalists than other countries in the Balkans is incorrect. Whenever they scratch beneath the surface, a lot of negative and bad things can be found. In 2019, there were five attacks on journalists”, Kutri said.

Vice-president of the Trade Union of Media of Montenegro, Radomir Krackovic, during the panel “Dialogue for better protection of journalists”, said that the Law on Media was adopted last year, which brought good solutions, but also those about which there were various controversies.

“In our analysis, we mapped things that could be further supplemented. This primarily refers to the precise regulation of the media registration procedure, especially portals. Another thing that is very important is that it is necessary to more precisely define the criteria for allocating money from the Fund for Media Pluralism and Diversity. We have high expectations from the new Law on Audio-Visual Media Services, which should replace the previous Law on Electronic Media, primarily because, if the solutions that exist in the draft are adopted, it should significantly improve the position of local public broadcasters”, said Krackovic.

Program director of the NGO Civic Alliance, Milan Radovic, pointed out that the conclusion is that judicial institutions encourage attacks and threats on journalists and that the right moment to measure progress is to process applications in a different way and that there is a moment of sanctions in preventing attacks on journalists.

 “Even when the procedure is initiated, the sanctions are extremely low. Three journalists were arrested last year for fake news and the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office dismissed all three criminal charges. However, after that, the question of the responsibility of those who made the decisions to deprive journalists of their freedom should be raised”, Radovic said.

He stated that the findings so far indicate that the portals do not publish or produce texts that contain hate speech towards vulnerable categories in society, but that problems appear in the comments.