05. 04. 2007

NEO-NAZI GROUP THREATS JOURNALIST

NOVI SAD, April 5, 2007 (B92, Beta) - Chairman of the Independent Journalist Association of Vojvodina Dinko Gruhonjić received death threats by a neo-Nazi group.

Gruhonjić, who is also the head of the Vojvodina branch of the independent news agency BETA, received open death threats via a neo-Nazi Web site (Stormfront.org) this week, along with insults on personal, national and professional grounds.
 
Gruhonjić immediately informed the police. The threats were reportedly provoked by Gruhonjić’s coverage of National Formation, a Novi Sad-based neo-Nazi group.
 
Gruhonjić’s reported on  the group’s activities, including a 2005 organized attack where neo-Nazis armed with crowbars, attacked participants marking the anniversary of Kristallnacht—a pogrom against Jews throughout Germany and parts of Austria in 1938—according to local and international press reports.
 
In November 2006, a local court convicted 18 group’s members of inciting hatred and endangering public security. The group’s leader, Goran Davidović, was sentenced to one year in prison, according to local and international press reports. Davidović, who is currently appealing the decision, is not in custody.

Davidović and other members of the group have threatened Gruhonjić in the past. Davidovic denounced the journalist as an enemy of the Serbian people and as a traitor in an autobiography published in December 2006. Gruhonjic has filed a civil defamation suit against Davidovic for the comments.
 
Dinko Gruhonjić also appealed to a New York-based international journalist organization, Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ).

The CPJ immediately reacted, calling on authorities to thoroughly investigate the threats made against Gruhonjić and take immediate measures to protect the safety of him and his family.

“Every effort should be made to bring those responsible to justice without delay,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said.