Frequent targets of threats and attacks: Let’s protect journalism professors and students.

Professor Milinkov has had a profound impact on generations of journalists through her pedagogical work and today, along with current and former students, leads the fight for the fundamental principles of the profession, democracy, and the protection of the public interest.

In recent days, a series of death threats have been directed at Professor Dinko Gruhonjić from the same faculty. Professors Jelena Kleut, Bojana Bodroža, Nevena Jevtić, Professor Marko Škorić, and assistant Ksenija Pavkov have also been regularly targeted, with Ksenija having been threatened multiple times and attacked while reporting for TV N1. The police have detained Professor Miloš Jocić as well.

Due to fabricated charges of terrorism, without any evidence, students Mila Pajić, Branislav Đorđević, Anja Pitulić, Jovan Dražić, Dejan Bagarić, and Doroteja Antić are currently in exile. Students Lazar Dinić and Mladen Cvijetić were initially in custody, and are now under house arrest. A criminal complaint has been filed against Nikola Popović, Natalija Petrović was taken in for questioning, and Vuk Vitković was brought before a misdemeanor court.

At the same time, Assistant Professor Dušan Aleksić from the Department of Communication and Journalism at the Faculty of Philosophy has been under attack in Niš, with a campaign against him being conducted on the illegal TV Niš.

Threats, publication of phone numbers and home addresses, as well as constant targeting through regime media, have become a "common arsenal" of pressure tactics. Numerous students from this and other faculties across Serbia have been detained and beaten in the past ten months.

– The future of professional journalism depends on the autonomy of universities, the quality of work in journalism departments, as well as the overall level of education. Therefore, it is important that, in addition to protecting journalists, we also protect teachers, professors, and students. We must enable them to pursue education without repression and work in professional media. We call on the citizens of Serbia to actively engage in the fight for these goals, so that journalists and media can continue to protect the public interest, investigate corruption, and expose human rights violations. We also urge the international community to condemn and sanction all instances of brutality and violence by the authorities in the past ten months, both against journalists and professors, as well as against the citizens of Serbia, stated Veran Matić, Chairman of the Management Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media.

Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM)

The project "System for the Prevention of Violence and Protection of Journalists" is being implemented by ANEM in partnership with Insajder TV and the Center for the Development of Local Media, with the support of the European Union and the Balkan Fund for Democracy.