13. 09. 2006

SEEMO TO JOČIĆ: PROTECT JOURNALISTS

VIENNA, September 13, 2006 (B92) - South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) has sent a protest letter to the Minister of the Interior, Dragan Jočić. The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation expressed its alarm at the recent death threats received by a journalist in Serbia and what it descirbes as the dismissive reaction of the police. On the night of 18 August, Slavica Jovanović, a journalist from Mačvanski Prnjavor, received death threats by telephone from an anonymous male voice telling her that she will die and that she should move away. This was not the first time that Jovanović has been threatened, and in the past, her family members have been physically attacked. SEEMO said in its letter that it was also informed about the local police refusing to allow Jovanović to file an official complaint. It was only after the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) intervened on her behalf that the police agreed to give her proper protection. “SEEMO views these threats as a very serious violation of press freedom and journalists’ rights. We ask Your Excellency to do everything in your power to protect the life of the journalist and her family members, as well as to investigate why the local police failed to react immediately”, the protest letter reads.