31. 10. 2012

ANEM CONDEMNS PLANTING OF EXPLOSIVE DEVICE IN THE BACKYARD OF B92 JOURNALIST HOME

Belgrade, October 31, 2012 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the planting of an explosive device in the backyard of the house belonging to the family of Tanja Jankovic, a B92 journalist in Vranje, and demands that the authorities immediately investigate the case and expose the people behind the repeated attacks on the journalist and members of her family.

ANEM reminds that the family of Tanja Jankovic was also attacked during the wedding of her cousin held in Hotel Przar in Vranje on 23 September. The jaw of Tanja Jankovic's father, Zoran, was shattered in two places and his nose broken during the attack, while her sister Bojana suffered a fractured nose and underwent immediate surgery. Her sister's fiancé's chest cavity was crushed, while the journalist herself suffered bruises. The media reported Tanja Jankovic's statement that one of the attackers had been a police inspector from Vranje, Nenad Jovanovic. Tanja Jankovic said that the motive behind the attack was her campaign on social networks and blogs against the disastrous security situation in Vranje and her publicly stated questions about the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of criminal offenses committed in Vranje - from the last year's case when mayor's car was set on fire to the destruction of the Vranje Theater in the fire that occurred in July of this year.

After the incident, Tanja Jankovic said that she had seen the police report about the case. In her words, the report says that the fight was caused by the fiancé of her sister Bojana, which is contrary to the existing video recordings made by security cameras. After her complaint, the minister of the internal affairs demanded that the internal control of the Ministry of Internal Affairs investigate all relevant facts related to the incident.

The planting of an explosive device in the backyard of the house belonging to the family of Tanja Jankovic occurred after she posted on her Facebook page that she had acquired the recordings of the attack on her family in Hotel Przar made by the security cameras. Additionally, immediately before the planting of the explosive device, the journalist had also published photographs of documents that indicate a possible attempt to hide the responsibility of individual members of the police for injuries inflicted on her father, sister and her sister's fiancé.

ANEM expresses its full solidarity with the journalists and her family and demands that the authorities immediately take measures to guarantee the safety of the Jankovic family and make public all results of the internal control conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs regarding the incident that occurred in Hotel Przar in Vranje on 23 September. ANEM demands sanctions for everyone responsible for the cover-up of the roles played by individual members of the police in the infliction of serious injuries to the members of the Jankovic family, if it turns out that such attempt at cover-up took place.

ANEM President, Sasa Mirkovic