ANEM reported to the prosecutor's office a threat of serious violence directed at Šarović following police action against the KTV team in Zrenjanin.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) has reported to the Special Public Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime (VTK) a threat of severe violence directed at Nemanja Šarović, the host of KTV from Zrenjanin and leader of the political movement founded in 2020. The contentious comment was made under a post on ANEM's Instagram profile, which condemned the police's prevention and obstruction of the KTV team from reporting on a public gathering of supporters of the ruling party. Such a threat poses a serious risk to Šarović's safety, especially considering that it followed an incident in which members of the riot police physically pushed back the KTV team, who reported being subjected to assaults by police officers. ANEM has requested the prosecutor's office to establish the identity of the individual who made the comment and to prosecute them.

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ANEM reported to the prosecutor's office a threat of serious violence directed at Šarović following police action against the KTV team in Zrenjanin.
Photo: KTV

Members of the police prevented Zrenjanin's KTV from reporting during the campaign rally of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) the previous day. Šarović, the cameraman, and KTV's editor-in-chief Danijel Radić, along with assistant Milorad Malešev, attempted to reach the center of Zrenjanin where a public support rally for the United Serbia list and its leader Aleksandar Vučić was taking place, but they were stopped by plainclothes police officers who ordered them to leave. In addition to numerous plainclothes police officers, a cordon of the Ministry of Interior's intervention unit was also deployed, which forcefully pushed back the KTV crew and the attending citizens. During the live broadcast, Šarović spoke about the blows he received from police officers using shields, hands, and feet, as well as being pressed against a pole with shields. Attempts to obstruct filming and endanger equipment were also recorded, while plainclothes police officers pushed the journalist team away.

Such police conduct contributes to creating an atmosphere in which violence against journalists and political actors is perceived as justified and acceptable, thereby increasing the risk of threats and attacks. The KTV team has been under the pressure of police repression and parapolice forces from the SNS security, composed of convicted aggressors and criminals, for many years.

ANEM will inform the ODIHR observation mission, the European Commission, and international organizations that protect freedom of speech and media freedoms about the methods and patterns of discrimination against journalists and media in Serbia during the electoral campaign, as well as the threats and attacks they face while attempting to report on events organized by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

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