ANEM alarm: The practice of targeting attacked journalists continues instead of the party's aggressors.
Miljko Stojanović, a journalist for "Glas Zaječara," was attacked by SNS councilor Nelija Nikolić and another assailant while covering the protest drive "Noise Against Dictatorship" on March 25. They attempted to seize the phone he was using to record the event.
After the police separated them, they requested the journalist's ID card, and since he did not have one, they took his details and phone number, saying they would call him. In a nearby car, Miljko had a press card and a driver's license.
Two months later, instead of a summons to testify about the attack by SNS councilors, journalist Stojanović receives a summons from the misdemeanor court for not having an ID card, as he testified in a statement to Danas.
This is a continuation of the pressure on journalists reporting from protests, who are often attacked without protection from members of the Ministry of Interior. Most often, it is the journalists who are removed from the scene where the attack on them occurred, without the attackers being identified or detained, who are clearly protected by their positions, party affiliation, or the fact that they represent party security, which is usually the legal role of the police. (In Niš, journalist Tamara Radovanović from Južne vesti was attacked, and the assailant, who was later identified, was spared identification and detention; this practice has been documented in several other cases over the past few months).
ANEM protests against the fact that instead of prosecuting the attackers, despite criminal complaints from several individuals who sustained injuries, the assailant found himself on the candidate list for councilor for “We Will Not Give Up Serbia – Aleksandar Vučić.”
We demand protection for all journalists from the police and the urgent prosecution of the assailant.
Association of Independent Electronic Media
