ANEM ALARM: New alarming threats of violence against Vuk Cvijić and the weekly magazine Radar

A threatening message was sent as a comment on Vuk Cvijić's text "Revealing the SNS amendment to the proposal of the Law on Public Prosecutors – stopping the work of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime".

From the account "Miša", from a known IP address, it was stated: "Cvijić, now you will see your god of Ustaša that you wanted to eliminate and stop Serbia, I f*ck your Ustaša mother. You will get what you asked for, and that is a stick to the head; there will be no more Nenadić and Določeva to sign you to smoke Serbia. Get lost, you scum, and I f*ck you, the yellow mud dog."

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) calls on the relevant authorities in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime to urgently respond, identify, and prosecute the individual who issued this threat.

We remind that in the last year and a half, Vuk Cvijić has been the target of violence and threats multiple times: he was physically attacked by the director of Srpski telegraf and knocked down with a punch; he was then physically attacked by members of the intervention unit while reporting from an event in front of the Faculty of Law; he was sprayed without any provocation with an unknown chemical by members of the intervention unit; and recently, he received a phone call in which an unidentified person threatened him over texts that were yet to be published. In addition to these drastic attacks, Vuk Cvijić and the editorial team of Radar regularly receive threats and disturbing messages.

It is unacceptable that none of these cases have been resolved or prosecuted to date, and that the perpetrators have not been punished. The impunity in all these cases sends a clear message from the state that journalists will not be protected while the perpetrators are effectively shielded.

“We remind you that journalist Milan Pantić was killed in 2001 by blows from a stick, and this case has yet to be resolved. Only through effective investigations, identification, and sanctioning of the perpetrators can the wave of threats and attacks on journalists be stopped. Vuk Cvijić is a symbol of professional investigative journalism and media freedom, a role model in the fight to preserve the public interest and the citizens' right to be informed about the most serious and important issues facing society. We must do everything to protect the safety and lives of journalists, who have been among the most endangered professions in the last two years,” stated Veran Matić, President of the Management Board of ANEM and member of the Permanent Working Group for Journalist Security.

This threat has been reported to the Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime.

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.