The editorial team of Glasa Zaječara is asking why and under whose orders the recording of Miljko Stojanović's yard and Anđela Risantijević's apartment is being carried out?
In recent weeks, several citizens of Zaječar have reported seeing drones in their immediate vicinity and in their backyards, as well as near their apartments. According to the claims made by the citizens, the drones were recording them and their immediate surroundings. To our knowledge, there has been no response from the police regarding the submitted reports.
In the yard of the family home of our colleague journalist Miljko Stojanović, where the media outlet “Glas Zaječara” is also located, a drone has been spotted multiple times, mainly in the evening hours.
The drone was also seen last night, causing members of Miljko Stojanović's family to experience anxiety and fear, as well as a violation of their right to privacy and personal property.
“How can they not be scared? My mother is ill, and my wife and her brother are from Ukraine. Imagine how comfortable it is for them to have drones flying over their house, coming from a country at war where one of the main weapons is precisely the drone,” says Miljko Stojanović.
Through observation, we established the location from which the drone was launched, after which our colleague Miljko Stojanović went to that location.
The case was reported to the Zaječar Police Department, and a patrol soon arrived at Bore Milića Street number 1, from where, allegedly, the drone was launched from the roof of a building.
They stated that "everything is fine" and that the recording is not being done by the police, but by someone else. We asked why the police have been saying for months that they don't know who is launching drones, and now that we have "caught" them, it is being done by "some" part of the police or some agency.
In close proximity to the location from which the drones are launched is the apartment of Anđela Risantijević, editor of Glas Zaječara, which raises reasonable suspicion that her apartment is also being recorded by the drone.
“We have nothing to hide and our conscience is clear, yet we believe that you are exerting illegal pressure on us in this way, that you are persecuting us and disturbing our families, which is unacceptable,” says Anđela Risantijević.
The editorial board of Glas Zaječara hereby requests an explanation as to why and by whose order the recording of Miljko Stojanović's yard and Anđela Risantijević's apartment, as well as many activists from the informal group Zaječarci in Blockade, and the home of BBC Serbian journalist Nemanja Mitrović, is being conducted? Are we being charged with a criminal offense, and what offense is being attributed to us? Are we under surveillance, or is this an individual observation?
We request a response through this channel, and we also inform you that we will report this case to journalistic associations in Serbia and abroad, of which we are members, and that we will notify the public, both domestically and internationally.
We publicly ask whether the BIA has been recording journalists and activists?
Source: Glas Zaječara
