The Ministry of Internal Affairs responded to the Independent Journalists' Association: The police recorded 63 attacks on journalists and media workers in 2025.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia (MUP) recorded 63 attacks on journalists and media workers while performing their professional duties last year, including 30 physical attacks and 33 verbal attacks, as stated by the Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS).
UNS requested data from the Ministry of Interior (MUP) regarding cases in which individuals performing public interest jobs, namely journalists and media workers, are considered victims.
The Police Administration responsible for Belgrade recorded 15 physical assaults, six in Novi Sad, three in Čačak, two each in Niš and Užice, and one each in Kraljevo and Valjevo.
The highest number of verbal assaults—15—was recorded in Belgrade, followed by four cases in Novi Sad, three in Pirot, two each in Niš, Valjevo, and Sombor, and one each in Užice, Čačak, Vranje, Kraljevo, and Sremska Mitrovica.
According to MUP's response to UNS, criminal charges were filed for 17 criminal offenses. Seven criminal charges were filed for the offense of endangering safety, with two each in Belgrade and Novi Sad, and one each in Niš, Valjevo, and Čačak.
Two cases of the offense of insult were recorded, with criminal charges filed in Čačak and Pirot.
In Užice, two criminal charges were filed due to violent behavior at a sports event or public gathering.
In Novi Sad, one criminal charge was filed for causing panic and riots, one for violent behavior, one for robbery, and one for attempted grand theft.
In Belgrade, one criminal charge was filed for illegal production, possession, carrying, and trade of weapons and explosives. Additionally, one charge was filed in Belgrade for the offense of coercion.
MUP stated in its response to UNS that requests for initiating misdemeanor proceedings were submitted in 15 cases based on the Law on Public Order and Peace, and once under the Law on Identity Cards, while in other cases, reports were submitted to the competent prosecutor's office.
Six requests for initiating misdemeanor proceedings due to violations of the Law on Public Order and Peace were submitted in Belgrade. In Novi Sad, five such requests were filed in 2025, while one was submitted in Valjevo, Užice, Sombor, and Sremska Mitrovica.
One request for initiating misdemeanor proceedings due to violations of the Law on Identity Cards was filed in Belgrade.
The police received reports of 23 threats made via mobile phones and social networks, with journalists and media workers listed as victims.
According to police administrations, the data is as follows: six reports in Belgrade, three each in Vranje and Pančevo, two each in Prokuplje, Pirot, and Zrenjanin, and one each in Jagodina, Požarevac, Kraljevo, Čačak, and Novi Sad.
In these cases, three criminal offenses were recorded—two related to endangering safety in the territory of Belgrade, and one was an insult reported in Novi Sad. In other cases, MUP stated in its response to UNS, reports were submitted to the competent prosecutor's office.
Statistics on Attacks on Journalists from the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office for 2025
As a reminder, the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office recently published its statistics on proceedings initiated in the past year in basic public prosecutor's offices due to endangering the safety of journalists during the previous year.
According to information from the prosecutor's offices, including the Special Department for the Fight Against High-Tech Crime of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, in 2025, 140 cases were formed related to "events to the detriment of individuals performing public interest jobs in the field of information," with only 3 cases resulting in a conviction. Thirty were closed due to the dismissal of the criminal charge or an official note stating that there was no basis to initiate criminal proceedings, and 101 cases are still ongoing, of which in 13, the perpetrators have not yet been identified, while in more than half of the 'active' cases (58), necessary information from the police is still awaited.
According to the database of the Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS), at least 379 cases of attacks, threats, insults, and endangering the safety of journalists and media workers were recorded last year, with the assumption that there are many more since many media representatives do not report all incidents due to a lack of trust in institutions.
Source: UNS / Bezbedninovinari.rs
