BELGRADE, 02.04.2020. – The Nova.rs journalist who was arrested following the publication of her story about the situation in the Vojvodina Clinical Center has been released following an outcry from journalist organizations and some political parties.
Journalist Ana Lalic was arrested at her home on Thursday evening and charged with causing panic and unrest for reporting that the situation in the Vojvodina Clinical Center was very bad.
Her lawyer Srdjan Kovacevic said that she was ordered held for 488 hours pending interrogation by a prosecutor. “I was at her home when the police searched it and seized a laptop and two mobile phones – one personal one business phone. They took her to the police station and handed her the detention order,” he said.
The Independent Journalists’ Society of Vojvodina (NDNV) demanded Lalic’s immediate release. A statement said that the police and prosecutors did not react when “state officialls threatened the population and journalists in a panic nor when the Crisis Staff sent out text messages saying that a Spanish or Italian scenario is looming but do consider reports on who medical staff are in danger to be a crime”. Lalic is a member of the NDNV board.
Lalic published a story on the Nova.rs portal titled – Vojvodina Clinical Center at breaking point: No protection for nurses. Lalic wrote that there was a “chronic shortage of basic equipment at the clinical center where staff are working under chaotic conditions during the pandemic”.
The clinical center management reacted by reporting her to the police and accusing Lalic of upsetting the public and damaging the reputation of the clinical center.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said on Thursday that she regrets the arrest.