ANEM ALARM: Unacceptable detention of Gavrilo Andrić while performing journalistic duties.
The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) strongly condemns the unjust detention of photojournalist Gavrilo Andrić in Loznica while performing his work duties, the rough treatment he received at the police station, and demands that the police urgently establish accountability for the officers involved in this incident.
Andrić was detained today in Loznica during a gathering in front of the court after he recorded unjustified violence against the family of Zlatko Kokanović, and subsequently the police van in which that activist and farmer was located. In the meantime, Gavrilo Andrić has been released, and he was reportedly detained for violating public order and peace.
During today’s hearing, citizens, activists, and the family of the farmer gathered near the courthouse in Loznica for Zlatko Kokanović. When the police vehicle with Kokanović drove out of the courthouse yard, a photojournalist ran after the vehicle to take pictures. The police reacted and detained Andrić at the police station.
Previously, Andrić recorded how police officers were acting towards Kokanović's daughter, who tried to approach the van to see her father but was prevented from doing so.
ANEM reminds the police that it is their duty to protect journalists and media workers while they perform their work in public spaces, and it is unacceptable for them to instead obstruct their reporting, remove them from their workplace, and detain them at the police station.
“Gavrilo Andrić is one of the most professional photojournalists, who has been attacked multiple times by the police and unjustly detained. The deprivation of liberty of media workers directly reflects the intention to prevent the public from being informed about events that are of direct concern to them. Objective and timely information is the only light in the darkness of disinformation, whose increase leads to immeasurable consequences. In this sense, photojournalistic records represent indispensable material, both for the present and for the future moment, in which they can help establish the truth,” stated Veran Matić, President of the ANEM Management Board, member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, and operator on the Safe Line for Journalists 0800 100 115.
We demand that the relevant authorities immediately respond regarding why Gavrilo Andrić was detained and carry out the necessary procedures of the Internal Control Service to determine accountability for the abuse of power.
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)
The project "System for the Prevention of Violence and Protection of Journalists" is implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insider TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union.
The OSCE Mission in Serbia supported ANEM's project “24/7 SOS Helpline for Journalists and Other Threatened Media Workers” as part of the EU-funded project “Strengthening Freedom of Expression and Media Freedom in Serbia.”
