ANEM: Stopping foreign reporters at the border with Serbia is a sign of continued isolation and a campaign of violence against journalists.

ANEM demands that all foreign journalists who wish to cover the elections in Serbia be allowed entry into the country immediately and to carry out their journalistic work without obstruction.

“Preventing foreign correspondents from following the electoral process in Serbia exposes the regime's intention to continue isolating the country, as well as to carry out a campaign of violence, intimidation, and threats against journalists. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues from Croatia and North Macedonia who were turned back at the border today. It is absolutely unacceptable for law enforcement officers to treat foreign journalists as a security threat and to obstruct their work. It is particularly unacceptable that journalists are required to have accreditations to report on the elections as a condition for entering the country. Serbia is obliged to respect freedom of expression and the media, including the right of domestic and foreign journalists to report without intimidation, discrimination, and political pressure,” stated Veran Matić, president of ANEM.

Journalists from the Croatian Telegram were held at the border for 45 minutes, during which they were asked for accreditations to cover the elections. They were presented with a decision denying them entry into Serbia on the grounds of “protecting the security of the Republic of Serbia and its citizens,” which they refused to sign because, as they stated for Telegram, they did not want to participate in a farce where their reporters are presented as a danger to the citizens of Serbia. Unlike the Telegram journalists, the crew from ALSAT television in North Macedonia was not given any document or written decision regarding their denied entry into Serbia. After being held for about an hour and a half at the border, the journalists were returned to North Macedonia without a written explanation for such a decision.

ANEM demands that the Ministry of Internal Affairs publicly announce without delay the basis on which the journalistic teams from the Croatian portal Telegram and ALSAT television from North Macedonia were denied entry into Serbia, reassess these decisions, and allow them to carry out their journalistic work without obstruction.

We remind you that Telegram journalist Denis Mahmutović was subjected to a public attack by Aleksandar Vučić in March last year, when he was insulted during an appearance on Pink television, reacting to Mahmutović’s appearance on RTL Direkt, where he commented on the protests in Serbia and the actions of the President of Serbia. Vučić then accused Croatian journalists of acting on the orders of foreign security services to undermine him.

ANEM emphasizes that this is not the first time foreign journalists have been denied entry into Serbia. In April 2025, ANEM reacted to the denial of entry for Croatian journalistic teams intending to report on protests, while in July 2026, entry into Serbia was denied to journalist Petar Komnenić from the Montenegrin television Vijesti and the director of BIRN Montenegro Vuk Maraš. In September of this year, researcher Massimo Morati, who deals with media freedom, was also expelled from Serbia, with a one-year entry ban; however, this decision was later revoked, allowing him to remain in the country. ANEM warns against the recurrence of such actions and the use of security reasons to restrict the freedom of movement and work of journalists and media workers.

We urge all journalists and editorial offices who have been denied entry to the Republic of Serbia to contact us at the email address: veran.matic@fondb92.org

The secure hotline for reporting threats and attacks on journalists is 0800 100115

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)