Mounted Process: The Case of the Zoomer Journalist Being Tried for "Shouting" at the Protest
The first hearing in the trial of Zoomer journalist Darko Gligorijević was held today at the Misdemeanor Court in Belgrade. He was arrested on June 5 of last year on charges of "disturbing public order and peace with shouting and commotion" in the Student City, during an event attended by Miloš Pavlović, a "student who wants to learn."
Gligorijević, at that time, recorded the event as a journalist using his mobile phone camera, and the footage was subsequently published on the Instagram profile of the Zoomer portal.
In this case, it is worth recalling that there was an abuse by the police, which, the day after the protests on June 5, came to the Zoomer editorial office, did not identify itself, and took the journalist to the prosecutor's office to provide a statement as a citizen (witness) about the event he was reporting on.
After fulfilling his civic duty, half an hour later the police called the lawyer to come and supplement the statement, also in the capacity of a citizen. However, the duty judge for misdemeanors ordered Gligorijević to be detained and confiscated his mobile phone, which is his working tool.
Only the next day did the judge issue a ruling stating that there were no grounds for detention, after which the journalist from the Zoomer portal was released, but his phone was returned only after two weeks, raising suspicions of potential data abuses, especially considering that a trend of installing spyware was recorded during the previous year.
The sharp reaction from the expert public was not absent. Journalistic associations deemed the detention of the journalist as unacceptable. There was a demand for the journalist's property to be urgently returned and for the practice of abusing procedures to cease.
In the same operation during which Gligorijević was detained by the police, at least 18 students were apprehended, and lawyer Ivan Ninić, representing one of them, pointed out numerous irregularities that occurred during the arrests.
"This abuse of police, prosecutor's office, and court institutions is evidence that they have been completely misused by the authorities. Drastic violations of journalists' human rights have already occurred. Today's hearing was conducted correctly. The presiding judge, Ana Janković, was the one who lifted the measure of completely unjustified detention of journalist Darko Gligorijević after he spent the night in custody. However, the damage has already been done, and it is important that all those who violated their powers and unjustly accused the journalist, unjustly ordered detention, and confiscated the mobile phone, are held accountable..." stated Veran Matić, president of the Management Board of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, after today’s hearing in this court case.
He added that the evidently malicious actions have caused significant harm to both the journalist and the editorial office and represent a threatening message to other journalists.
"We have long been living in a time where it is the victim that is persecuted, while the perpetrators, the aggressors, those who break the laws and abuse institutions are completely protected and preemptively amnestied," Matić assessed.
**Further details on this case can be found in ANEM's** [**Media Scene Monitoring in Serbia for June 2025**](https://bezbedni-novinari.mpanel.app/storage/files/documents/2025-06-anem-monitoring-fin.pdf).
