ANEM ALARM: The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade against RTS.

Immediately following the Second News Bulletin of RTS, in which the statement of journalist and military analyst Aleksandar Radić was aired on Friday, October 30, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office issued a statement indicating that it is taking measures and actions within its jurisdiction to determine all circumstances under which the suspect Aleksandar R., for whom an arrest warrant was issued by the Higher Court in Belgrade, gave a statement to the Second News Bulletin of the Public Media Service RTS.

In this regard, members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will be instructed to investigate all circumstances related to the disputed event, the prosecutor's office stated.

ANEM warns that the communication from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade and the order to the police to investigate who recorded the segment and how it was done would be quite comical, in a Nušić-like manner, if they did not represent an open pressure on the editorial team of the RTS Information Program, specifically on the editor who decided to record Aleksandar Radić's statement, as well as on the journalist who carried out that professional task.

We remind you that Radić, due to the persecution by this prosecutor's office and serious accusations that he committed criminal acts of preparation against the constitutional order and security of the Republic of Serbia and disclosure of secret data with his statements regarding the government's use of a sound cannon or other weapons against citizens during the peaceful protest on March 15, 2025, had to leave the country to avoid imprisonment.

It seems that the persecution to which Radić was subjected by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade aimed to intimidate him for publicly addressing the attacks on citizens on March 15, in order to obscure all potential circumstances related to the terrifying sound that caused a stampede and panic among hundreds of thousands of citizens of Serbia.

In his statement for the Second News Bulletin of RTS, Radić warned that at this moment, parallel security and armed structures pose a special security problem. He pointed out that the individuals who, during the past months of the previous year, walked in black clothing, exhibiting a characteristic style of behavior, and who were mostly armed, are actually members of a paramilitary structure that exists in the shadows and that could potentially threaten the security of Serbia.

“These centers of intelligence activity must be found, as they practically possessed equipment for eavesdropping and surveillance, as well as software for information analysis. These groups underwent military training and went to various shooting ranges along the Danube. Near Vršac, they almost organized their training center,” Radić noted.

“Instead of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade dealing with the prevention of extralegal threats to the security of Serbian citizens and sanctioning numerous cases of violence against students, citizens, and journalists, the persecution of journalists and media who publicly address these threats and warn about them continues.

We call on the judicial authorities to cease the persecution of journalists and activists through the imposition of serious accusations and threats of drastic penalties. We demand that all journalists and activists who had to leave the country due to threats of imprisonment and persecution be allowed safe and unhindered return, without the danger of imprisonment and other drastic and unjust sanctions,” stated Veran Matić, Chairman of the Management Board of ANEM.

We call on the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, as well as all other prosecutor's offices, to begin investigations into the unfathomable abuses of power by Aleksandar Vučić, whose facilitation of systemic corruption and other violations of the law is a consequence of the capture of institutions, including judicial bodies.

All media, and not just the public media service, must operate in the interest of citizens and protect the public interest, especially at a time when we are facing the possibility of new unfathomable damages precisely from those who have overwhelmingly lost the trust of the citizens of Serbia.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

The project "Improving 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 the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union.