24. 10. 2007

VOA REPORTER TO END UP IN COURT?

PRIŠTINA, 24 October 2007 (B92, Tanjug) - A case of alleged politically motivated beating of a Serb reporter in Kosovo has taken a surprising turn.

After yesterday's report that Kosovo police (KPS) believe they have grounds to consider Voice of America freelancer Vesna Bojičić's report about being a victim of an assault false, and that her case will therefore be forwarded to a relevant court, new details have emerged today.

Bojičić said last week she was assaulted and beaten in her home in Čaglavica, on the night of October 16, and that her attacker wore a camouflage uniform and a mask, "speaking excellent Serbian and accusing her of pro-Albanian bias in her reporting."

But the witnesses interviewed by the police said they saw Bojičić in a night club in Gračanica that night, while others said they tried to help her after she was involved in a traffic accident the next morning.

A letter by Bojičić, describing the alleged attack, obtained by B92 on October 18, says that the Priština-born reporter had decided to "seek political asylum abroad after the incident."