A Danas journalist summoned for questioning by the police to reveal their source.

The prosecution has instructed the police to question Bokić regarding the circumstances of the criminal complaint, which was personally filed by lawyer Aleksić against an unidentified individual for the criminal offense of Violation of Procedural Secrecy.

His criminal complaint has been accepted, and the prosecution has initiated a pre-investigation procedure.

The editorial staff of Danas learned from a source in the prosecution that the police have been ordered to ask Bokić who provided him with the official note, when it was delivered, whether he still possesses the note, and to instruct him to submit it to the police if it is still in his possession.

In the summons, which was served to him, it was specified that he would be forcibly brought in if he did not respond to the questioning.

The editorial board of Danas considers this move by the prosecution to be an unacceptable pressure on our journalist and the editorial staff, as well as on free journalism, especially since, according to the Law on Public Information and the Code of Journalists of Serbia, a journalist is not obliged to disclose their sources. The court can only require this in cases where the information pertains to a criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence of five years or more.

Let us recall that the Appellate Court in Novi Sad suspended the proceedings against Nemanja Aleksić in September, who was accused by the Basic Prosecutor's Office in that city of assault and obstructing two traffic police officers in the performance of their duties, as well as endangering the safety of a driver in Veternik, to whom he threatened with a golf club after a traffic dispute. Aleksić's name has been associated with numerous controversies over the years, and he is also publicly known as the defender of former minister Goran Vesić in the "canopy case."

Lawyer Aleksić was arrested in early April of this year due to a traffic incident, during which he initially entered into a verbal conflict with another driver and then exited his vehicle with a golf club in hand. At that moment, a police patrol arrived and subdued Aleksić, knocking him to the ground, as evidenced by recordings published on social media and in the media. He was subsequently taken to the police station, where he was detained for up to 48 hours. While in police custody, he underwent a rapid drug test which indicated that he was **positive for amphetamines**, after which he was placed in detention for up to 30 days. Today, he came into possession of this official note from a source within the Novi Sad prosecutor's office, after which a text regarding this was published, authored by none other than Uglješa Bokić.

However, a later drug test from a blood sample showed otherwise, namely that lawyer Aleksić tested negative, which Danas was also the first to report.

Furthermore, Aleksić has filed as many as five private lawsuits against the publisher of Danas and its editor-in-chief Dragoljub Petrović over the past year due to articles about him, and the proceedings are ongoing.

The submission of a large number of lawsuits, so-called SLAPP lawsuits, is also a form of pressure on the media, journalists, and editors, according to the editorial board of Danas and the portal danas.rs.

The editorial staff of Danas will inform domestic and international journalistic organizations about all of this.

**NDNV: CALL FOR THE INTERROGATION OF DANAS JOURNALIST IS A DIRECT THREAT TO SOURCE PROTECTION**

The Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) today strongly condemned the summons of Uglješa Bokić, a journalist for the daily Danas, to police questioning with the aim of revealing his source of information.

Such actions represent a direct attack on media freedom, the protection of journalistic sources, and the public's right to be informed. Summoning a journalist to police interrogation, with the threat of coercive detention, due to the publication of information of obvious public interest, constitutes a gross violation of domestic and international standards of freedom of expression and journalistic work.

The protection of sources is one of the fundamental principles of journalism and an essential condition for the existence of free and professional media.

NDNV reminds that a journalist is obliged to protect their source, even at the cost of personal responsibility, and that no institution has the right to demand that a journalist reveal their source of information, except in exceptional and strictly legally prescribed circumstances, which clearly do not exist in this case.

It is particularly concerning that the police and the prosecution in this case are not addressing potential abuses that are the subject of journalistic investigation, but rather the focus is shifting to the persecution of journalists.

Such practices have a chilling effect on the entire journalistic community and send a message that those who publish information of public significance will be subjected to police pressure, while sources will be further discouraged from speaking in the public interest.

NDNV demands:

- that all pressure on the Danas journalist be immediately halted, and the summons to reveal sources be withdrawn;
- that the competent prosecution and police respect the legally guaranteed protection of journalistic sources;
- that institutions refrain from actions that constitute intimidation and criminalization of journalistic work;
- that instead of persecuting journalists, the content of published information and the potential responsibility of those to whom it pertains be investigated.

NDNV warns that without source protection, there can be no talk of free media, and a society where the police interrogate journalists for their work is sliding towards open authoritarian control of information.

**Source: [Danas](https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/novinar-danasa-pozvan-na-saslusanje-u-policiju-kako-bi-otkrio-svoj-izvor/)**