Brnabić: A sad day for the media scene in Serbia VIDEO

Brnabić: A sad day for the media scene in Serbia VIDEO

That's how she assessed the imprisonment of Dragan Vučićević, editor-in-chief of the "Informer" newspaper, and pointed out that as prime minister she has no right to comment on court verdicts.

"A sad day for the media scene in Serbia and for the entire journalism profession. Since as Prime Minister I am not allowed to comment on court verdicts and interfere in the work of the judiciary, I can say that the most impressive thing in all of this is the silence of the journalistic and media associations - thunderous silence. I think it's a great shame and if I were in their place, I would be ashamed," she said.

She recalled the recent case of Dejan Zlatanović, who, as the prosecution says in the indictment, called for a violent change in the constitutional order at a public meeting.

"You recently had requests from all media and journalist associations, including UNS, to release Dejan Zlatanović, who publicly called for the assassination of the president. The editor of the portal 'Srbin Info', who during the coronavirus pandemic said that vaccines are not good and that they are invalid, thereby directly endangering the lives of the citizens of Serbia. They wanted to fight for him, but not for Dragan Vučićević. Because Zlatanović is a journalist, and Dragan Vučićević is not? And that is journalism today, those are journalistic associations today? So let it be their honor," said the Prime Minister.

She pointed out that she thinks that "their silence will follow them for many years and decades and that this case is an indication that something is deeply rotten in our judicial system."

"Someone who calls for people to be kicked out of their homes, for the rape of their wives and daughters is free, and the journalist who dared to say that this is not normal and that it is sick, is in prison today. Something is deeply rotten in our system and it's up to all of us to ask ourselves what exactly that is. On all those media and journalists who agreed that today a newspaper on the front page mocks a fellow journalist just because he disagrees with editorial policy of that journalist. And it was that media that demanded the release of the man who called for the assassination of the President of the Republic of Serbia. Well, those are the standards today," said Brnabić.

She predicted that today's event will have consequences in the future.

"Unfortunately, I think that everything that happened today will only lead to even greater polarization in our society. People are fed up with the fact that you can live however you want over people who are fighting for their principles, just because they support the policies of today's state leadership. And those who call for the assassination of the president, they deserve that all media and journalist associations stand up for them. Extremely sad and I fear that this is a day that will mark a turning point for the media scene in the Republic of Serbia," Ana Brnabić concluded.