Press Release: The cameraman who was attacked in Novi Sad has filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office.

Todorović requests that the objection be adopted and that the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office issue a binding instruction to the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad to undertake or continue criminal prosecution based on the mentioned report (the criminal offense of Violent Behavior as per Article 344, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code).

In the document that ANEM reviewed, Mirko Todorović also states the following reasons:

"The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad correctly established that the reported individual, Vuk Raonić, participated in a public gathering in front of the SNS offices on Bulevar Oslobođenja in Novi Sad on November 5, 2024, and that on that occasion, without any reason, he knocked me down onto the sidewalk by tripping me and pushing me.

However, the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad incorrectly determined that no prohibited consequence occurred, meaning that there was no significant disturbance to the peace of the citizens or serious disruption of public order and peace, as the behavior of the reported individual did not have serious consequences for the peace of the citizens or public order and peace.

Although the prosecutor's office heard witnesses Žarko Bogosavljević and Nataša Kovačev, who expressed in their statements that they felt disturbed by the incident, it reached the wrong conclusion that 'none of the present citizens were disturbed.'

Such a stance from the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad is incorrect because the disturbance of citizens' peace does not have to occur at the moment the event takes place, nor is the disturbance of citizens' peace limited to those citizens present at the critical event.

Starting from the fact that I was, at the critical moment, on an official assignment as a cameraman for TV Euronews, and that I was thus performing tasks of public significance related to public information, and considering the role that public information and individuals who perform tasks of public significance in the field of public information play in a democratic society, it is clear that any attack on a person performing tasks of public significance in the field of public information, related to the work they do, significantly undermines the peace of the citizens.

All domestic and international legal instruments guarantee that individuals performing tasks of public significance in the field of public information must carry out these tasks freely. If these individuals are not able to perform their work freely, or if they are physically prevented from doing their job by being thrown to the ground through wrestling holds, it has a direct negative impact on freedom of expression. Therefore, every attack on a person performing tasks of public significance in the field of public information affects, or significantly undermines, the peace of the citizens.

The above does not apply only to journalists but also to all other individuals working in the field of public information, such as cameramen.

Otherwise, if the stance of the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad were accepted, suggesting that an attack on a person performing tasks of public significance in the field of public information related to their work at a public gathering—where the inherent purpose is to report on public events—would imply that such an attack is not a serious matter and can go unpunished."

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