05. 10. 2009

ANEM CONDEMNS BOMB ATTACK ON RTV PINK

Belgrade, October 5^th, 2009 - Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the bomb attack on Radio Television Pink, which occurred on October 4^th, 2009, in the night between Saturday and Sunday.

Police confirmed that two unknown perpetrators had thrown a hand grenade at the main entrance of RTV Pink from the motorcycle on the move. Entrance doors have been completely destroyed, but, fortunately, no injured were reported in the attack. TV Pink News program Editor Tanya Jordovic said that it was assumed that a thrown bomb was just an epilogue of the parking dispute, and that the reason for such incidence was not in the editorial policy of the media.

ANEM notes that a bomb thrown at the RTV Pink, regardless of the motives behind this aggressive act, is not only continuing wave of violence that has engulfed Belgrade for the past few weeks, but also of numerous attacks on media, their equipment and journalists, which remained unsolved and their perpetrators unsanctioned during the past years. ANEM reminds that, less than four months ago, a lit torch was thrown at the entry of another media company with a national license, ANEM member - RTV B92, and that the perpetrators of that attack have not been revealed yet. ANEM points out that the slowness of competent authorities in detecting the responsible and adequately processing them, results in repeated attacks, each time in more drastic form.

ANEM reminds that the responsible for the earlier bomb attacks still have not been found, such as the one on journalist Dejan Anastasijevic in 2007, or planting a bomb, which fortunately did not explode, under the reporting vehicle of TV B92 in Raska, in 2004. The fact that the attacks on the media and journalists, even their murder, remains unresolved even after eight, ten and more years, as in the case of Milan Pantic, Slavko Curuvija or Dade Vujasinovic, as well as the slowness of justice when the perpetrators are found, have, however, created the climate in which attackers on RTV Pink were not even drawn back by surveillance cameras on the building of this media outlet and in its immediate surroundings.

ANEM notes that, regardless of the motives behind it, the attack itself creates an additional sense of insecurity among the media and media workers, fitting to prevent them in performing their work, and as such is a factor in limiting the freedoms of public information and expression.

ANEM expresses full solidarity with RTV Pink and its employees and demands from the competent to promptly carry out a detailed investigation, to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

President of ANEM, Sasa Mirkovic