04. 07. 2014

ANEM CONDEMNS ASSAULT ON FONET EDITOR DAVOR PAŠALIĆ

Belgrade, 4 July 2014 - The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) joins journalists' associations in strongest condemnation of the assault on the editor of the news agency FoNet, Davor Pašalić.

During the night between Wednesday and Thursday (July 2 - July 3, 2014) the FoNet editor was assaulted by three unknown young men in New Belgrade on two occasions while he was walking home. The attackers were trying to extort money from him threatening that they have a gun. When Pašalić refused to give them money, they beat him and insulted him on national basis. The FoNet editor suffered cuts and bruises to his head, face and mouth, had two of his teeth broken, and has bruises all over his body.

ANEM calls to full solidarity with colleague Davor Pašalić and stresses that the minister of interior, Nebojša Stefanović, is expected to make sure that what he ordered the police - that all the circumstances of the event be investigated and established as soon as possible - be done in the shortest possible term.

ANEM points out that the Serbian society is burdened with numerous attacks on journalists which remain unsolved and their perpetrators unpunished, sometimes for decades. This encourages the attackers and contributes to spreading fear and insecurity both among journalists and the society as a whole. Therefore, ANEM demands from the authorities to investigate all the circumstances of the assault on Davor Pašalić without delay and to prosecute those responsible for it, which would show that Serbia no longer tolerates intimidation of journalists or the impunity of the attacks on them.