SARAJEVO, June 16, 2020 – The Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office of Sarajevo Canton has opened an investigation into death threats and calls for violence sent to N1 television journalist Nikola Vucic via social networks.

On May 26 this year, commenting on the news that the West Herzegovina Canton had declared itself a “corona-free zone”, journalist Vucic sarcastically asked on Twitter whether the “fascism-free zone” would be declared soon. This was followed by threats and calls for violence with remarks that Vucic should be thrown “in Neretva or on a stake”, labeling Vucic as “halal Serb”, and numerous other insulting messages against him and his family. Vucic then shut down his Twitter account, and some media reported on details of his life that were not in the public interest.

As BH Journalists Association was informed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Sarajevo Canton, police officers of this Ministry interviewed Vucic and carried out operational checks, after which the complete material with transcripts of comments posted on social networks and news portals was submitted to the Cantonal Prosecutor’s Office.

Acting prosecutor Mladen Vukojicic informed Vucic that the case was taken into consideration as a matter of priority, and that he immediately held a meeting with police officers from the Department for the fight against high-tech crime, where the manner of acting in this case was agreed.

At the same time, the investigation into the threats against Vucic is being conducted by the Federal Police Directorate, whose officers are continuing activities within their competences to discover the perpetrators and document the criminal offense in question.

BEOGRAD, 16.06.2020. – Na sajtu Platforme se navodi da država Srbija do sada nije dostavila odgovor na to upozorenje.

Upozorenje je objavljeno u kategoriji “Maltretiranje i zastrašivanje novinara”, na inicijativu partnerskih organizacija Platforme “Evropski centar za slobodu štampe i medija” i “Član 19”.

U upozorenju pod nazivom “Novinarka Bojana Pavlović maltretirana u prisustvu policije koja joj je zaplenila telefon” navodi se da je ona 10. juna “fotografisala Danila Vučića dok je sedeo u kafiću s Aleksandrom Vidojevićem, kome se sudi za učešće u demoliranju noćnog kluba”.

“Prema navodima Centra za istraživačko novinarstvo KRIK, policija je Vidojevića navodno označila kao člana Kavačkog klana. Dok je Pavlović odlazila, tri muškarca su je zaustavila, navodeći da su policajci. Ona je pokazala novinarsku legitimaciju i objasnila da je bila na zadatku, ali joj je rečeno da sačeka patrolu policije jer će verovatno biti privedena”, navodi se na sajtu Platforme Saveta Evrope.

Dodaje se da su muškarci od Pavlović zahtevali da izbriše sliku Danila Vučića i da je ona to učinila, ali da je prethodno već poslala slike KRIK-u.

“Prišla su im dva muškarca, od kojih je jedan oteo njen telefon iz njenih ruku. Policija nije reagovala. Pavlović je rekla da je u jednom trenutku bila okružena petoricom muškaraca i da je zatražila da se pomere pošto se osećala ugroženo i nebezbedno”, piše u upozorenju.

Navodi se da je Vidojević sa još jednom osobom prišao grupi i da je tada policija otišla, ostavivši Pavlović samu s četiri muškarca.

“Vidojević je muškarcu rekao da vrati mobilni telefon, on je to učinio i oni su otišli”, dodaje se u upozorenju Platforme Saveta Evrope.

PODGORICA, 15.06.2020. – The European Commission (EC) noted that the recommendations of the Commission for Monitoring Investigations of Attacks on the Media have yet to be implemented, it is said in the draft of an informal progress document on Chapters 23 and 24, known as the “Non-Paper”, it is published by “Vijesti”.

The “Non-paper” on the situation in Chapters 23 and 24 for Montenegro should be published soon, and provides an overview of Montenegro’s progress in this area since the last non-paper presented in November 2019, and relevant statistics for 2019.

In the part dealing with the media, it is written that in 2019. four attacks on journalists were registered in Montenegro. Charges have been filed in three cases. Protection was offered to two journalists, and further cyber-attacks against the media were recorded.

“Despite the initial results of the investigation into the serious attack on journalist Olivera Lakic in May 2018, no charges have been filed so far. There have been no new developments regarding older serious cases of attacks on journalists, including the 2004 assassination of the editor of Dana. In April 2020, however, police shed light on four cases of attacks on media assets from 2011 and 2014, when five vehicles were damaged and destroyed. Two people – minors at the time of the attack – have been arrested, but the organizers of the attack remain unknown,” it is noted in the EC document.

It is also stated that the transition of Radio Television of Montenegro from the state media to the public service has not yet been completed, and the appointment of a new Council in June 2019 failed to improve the editorial independence and professional standards of the Public Service.

SARAJEVO, June 15, 2020 – More than 83% of journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina believe that the crisis staffs did not provide objective and comprehensive information to citizens about the coronavirus, according to a survey of BH Journalists, conducted on a sample of 102 journalists from across the country on access to public information regarding COVID -19 and within the system of press conferences with a limited presence of journalists or completely without them.

The survey showed that media professionals in Sarajevo, Mostar and Banja Luka had the most problems with access to public information about the pandemic, while in other cities communication with public officials and members of crisis staffs was organized in a much more efficient and simple way. Also, a significant number of questions, which the journalists considered to be extremely important for the public, were left without a credible answer from the members of the crisis staffs. These were issues related to public procurement and general spending of budget money during the pandemic, causes of death of patients and failure to perform autopsies of the deceased, number of coronavirus tested and protection measures, effectiveness and duration of tests, occurence of virus in hospitals and clinical centers, patient path…

To the question “Do you think that the current way of informing from press conferences without journalists enables professional reporting in the interest of citizens?”, as many as 83.3 percent of respondents answered negatively, ie that the information they received were general and without all of the data they need. Only 4.9% of respondents were completely satisfied with this way of informing at press conferences, while 11.8% could not answer whether they were satisfied or not.

In order to provide timely, accurate and objective information in the public interest, it is necessary to return to regular press conferences organized in accordance with protective measures, according to 48% of surveyed journalists. The same percentage of respondents (48%) were of the opinion that regular press conferences with the presence of journalists on the spot should be returned, but also with online participation with the possibility of asking questions. About 2% of respondents answered that the existing form should be kept in the future (press conferences without the presence of journalists, with the possibility of asking questions by e-mail), and 1 percent of respondents said that press conferences should be completely abolished and that crisis headquarters should inform citizens through press releases and official web site.

When asked “how journalists should react in order to protect their profession and objectively inform citizens about the introduced practice of holding press conferences without the presence of journalists”, the largest number of respondents – 42.2% – answered that they are not sure what to do in this situation.

As many as 41.2% of the surveyed journalists stated that press conferences should be boycotted, and information should be transmitted only from the official website of the institutions / crisis headquarters. About 3.9 percent of respondents stated that there is no need for any reaction and that this way of placing information is quite sufficient.

A smaller percentage of respondents (1 percent each) answered that the authorities should be required to organize different kind of communication with the public because the public has that right, to protest against such practices through statements by journalists’ associations, to ask for press conferences with protective measures, to follow existing conferences but criticize the work of institutions that give shallow answers on a daily basis, and to react with professional, impartial and investigative journalism.

More than 39% of respondents stated that, after changing the format of press conferences during the pandemic, they received only partial information on the questions they referred to the authorities. Only 16.7% of journalists state that the received answer contained the key requested information, and 12.7% that the answers of the authorities did not contain the requested information.

Out of the total number of surveyed journalists (102), 76.5% are in permanent employment, 17.6% are freelancers, while the rest work part-time, voluntarily or under different employment contracts.

BELGRADE, 15.06.2020. – Everyone needs independent and professional media and this represents a challenge for every country, not just Serbia, said the head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Andrea Orizio.

He told the FoNet news agency that the media is the basis of every democratic society and that the importance of media for the citizens could especially be seen during the coronavirus pandemic.

Orizio reminded that the OSCE joined the work on the Media Strategy on an invitation by Serbia’s Government.

“That strategy was adopted in January, and now we are working on the funds for the implementation of the Media Strategy,” Orizio said, stressing that the real challenge will be its implementation.

Speaking about the elections in Serbia, Orizio stated that the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has formed a special unit that will observe both the pre-election and election processes and will assess how it all went.

“The ODIHR is unable to deploy long-term and short-term observers due to the current circumstances, but it will have a basic mission to observe all aspects of the campaign, the election process itself and will issue a statement after it all,” he explained.

BELGRADE, 15.06.2020. – The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Balkans Office’s chief Pavol Szalai said on Monday that reporting on the meetings of President Aleksandar Vucic’s son Danilo with people suspected of links to criminal activities were more than a legitimate issue, ‘that is in the interest of the society,” the FoNet news agency reported.

His comment came after a reporter with the KRIK investigative journalism website Bojana Pavlovic had her mobile phone taken away when she took a picture of the Danilo Vucic in the company of an alleged criminal figure while watching a soccer game in a Belgrade café on Wednesday.

Szalai told the Belgrade independent Danas daily that the respective institutions should first explain why the police officers who stopped Pavlovic did not intervene to protect her when she was threatened by people suspected to be linked to organised crime.

“An internal investigation into the police conduct should be launched to explain the officers’ behaviour,” he said, adding “KRIK and Bojana Pavlovic deserve an apology for the way they have been treated and the continued political support, not threats.”

Szalai said that President Vucic’s Instagram posts about the event could be understood as insults and threats to journalists, and were an attack on media freedom.

PRISTINA 15.06.2020 – The Association of Journalists of Kosovo (AJK), welcomes the decision of the Basic Prosecution in Pristina, for filing an indictment against former minister of Trade and Industry, Endrit Shala for the penal act “Attack”, against the journalist of the portal Indeksonline, Ensar Ramadani.

This was known by the spokesperson of the Basic Prosecution in Prishtina, Laureta Ulaj.

“The Basic Prosecution in Prishtina, on 10.02.2020, has created an indictment against the person with the initials E.Sh., for the penal act “Attack”, from article 184 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kosovo. The current prosecutor has proceeded the case to the Basic Court in Prishtina for further protection”, said Ulaj for “Betimi për Drejtësi”.

AJK is extremely concerned about the selective approach of the State Prosecutor, who in most of the cases informs real time the public about the creation of indictments, but on this case he bypassed this practice. This selective approach constitutes violation of the Law of the State Prosecutor, the one entitled to inform the audience at the right time and form, as he does with other cases.

The AJK urges the justice authorities to take seriously cases of attacks and threats against journalists in order to enable them to fulfill their vital role in guaranteeing and developing democracy in the country. Deserved punishments should be unavoidable in all cases of attacks or threats against journalists, which are constantly reported.