ANEM ALARM: The authorities urgently need to revoke the decision to expel media freedom fighter Masim Morati.

Morati submitted a residency application in Belgrade seven months ago, where he resides with his wife, who is employed, and their two-year-old child. He has worked in Serbia for about ten years on various European Union projects, and since 2022, he has moved to Belgrade with his family, where he works on promoting media freedom with a focus on monitoring the threats faced by journalists, media workers, and media outlets.

He is active through the international network "Media Freedom Rapid Response" (MFRR), which includes the European and International Federation of Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, and the International Press Institute. Over the past two years, during which there has been an escalation of violence against journalists and media in Serbia, the MFRR network has been intensively monitoring, documenting, and responding to violations of freedom of speech, threats, and attacks on the media, as well as all other state activities that reduce the space for freedom of speech, promote hate speech and violence, and contribute to near-total impunity.

“Serbia increasingly resembles Belarus and similar countries without independent and free media, with a practice of persecuting journalists who are forced to leave the country for security reasons. At this moment, six journalists are in exile along with numerous activists. Serbia is expelling foreign journalists and activists, prohibiting their entry into the country. It has now begun to expel media freedom monitoring experts such as Morati. In January of last year, 14 activists and representatives of civil society from nine countries were expelled from Serbia, with a one-year entry ban. Subsequently, Italian singer David Martelo was expelled, as well as a Russian journalist who filmed a magnificent gathering of students and citizens at Slavija with a drone, a Croatian journalist, and a civil society activist. It is particularly concerning and unacceptable that a wave of bans or entry obstacles is affecting journalists and civil society activists from Montenegro. The regime in Serbia is clearly trying to conceal the repression and terror being carried out against women and men journalists, media, civil society, and all citizens of Serbia who think differently. We call on citizens to show solidarity with all those who are threatened, and we urge representatives of the international community not only to send protest notes and statements but to take concrete measures to sanction the authorities in Serbia,” stated Veran Matić, President of the ANEM Board of Directors.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

The project "Enhancement of the System Mechanism for Prevention and Response in Cases of Threats to the Safety and Lives of Women and Men 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.