ANEM ALARM: The Secretary of the Assembly of the Municipality of Aranđelovac filed a criminal complaint against the editor of the media outlet eStvarnost.

The criminal complaint against Đorđe Riznić, regarding the alleged "false reporting" by Dragan Todorović, along with the accompanying letter from the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Aranđelovac, was received at the police station in Aranđelovac in June of this year.

As a reminder, the editor-in-chief of the portal eStvarnost recently filed a criminal complaint against Nikola Obradović, the president of the Assembly of the Municipality of Aranđelovac, and Đorđe Riznić, the secretary of the Assembly of the Municipality of Aranđelovac, because Ljiljana Stojanović, a journalist for that portal, was not allowed to attend the session in the premises of the National Museum in Aranđelovac.

The editorial board of the portal eStvarnost states that the criminal complaint against Đorđe Riznić was filed without any material evidence or facts indicating any falsehood in Todorović's complaint.

The Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) assesses that this is a classic SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) procedure aimed at intimidating the editorial team, diverting attention, prolonging the process, and consuming time meant for the regular activities of this media outlet.

We remind you that such SLAPP procedures against media in Serbia have been frequent in recent years and represent an additional form of pressure on professional and public interest reporting, alongside all the threats, pressures, and physical attacks that local media are increasingly facing.

ANEM calls on all state and local officials to refrain from pressuring media outlets whose editorial policies clearly do not align with their interests, as such actions threaten media freedom and expression in Serbia, which is already at a rather concerning level.

Local and state officials must be aware and prepared to be subjected to criticism from the media, as this is one of the fundamental roles of journalism in democratic societies. Any obstruction of media representatives is, therefore, unacceptable and constitutes a limitation on the quality and timely informing of citizens.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

The project "Improvement of the System of Prevention and Response Mechanisms in Cases of Threats to the Safety and Lives of Journalists in Serbia" is being implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insider TV and the Center for Local Media Development, with the support of the European Union.