Matic: It's important that journalists face bullies bravely

Matic: It's important that journalists face bullies bravely

"As you know, along with Brankica Stankovic I am also under police security assessments which show that we need police protection 24 hours a day, in my case for more than five years, and in the case of Brankica Stankovic for almost seven. We have quite a developed safety culture and a required chain of moves," B92 RDP News Editor-in-Chief Veran Matic has told Cenzolovka in an interview.

A statement issued on Tuesday by the media outlet said that its legal team had filed two criminal charges against unknown persons for threatening to beat its employees to death.

"The threats are addressed to the collective of RDP B92, while one of the threatening messages explicitly singled out Veran Matic," the statement said.

Noting that this is not an isolated case, it is recalled that in April this year the legal team of B92 filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons also for endangering the safety of Veran Matic.

"The threatening message was signed by Nemanja Ristic, who then spoke through the media to say that, in addition to Veran Matic, similar messages were received by Zagorka Dolovac, Michael Kirby and others," said the broadcaster.

Cenzolovka: In which way have these threats been sent, through the internet, as was the case in April, or in some other way?

Matic: The threats that we are receiving these days have been sent to our website as comments. They reached the moderators, who forwarded it to us. In April it was a direct message, a threat addressed to me personally, in an attempt to continue the communication with me after the criminal charges were filed.

Cenzolovka: Can the reason they were sent be seen in the content of the threats?

Matić: I am forwarding you the threats so you can draw your own conclusions:

(Comment sent to the article, "Russians will occupy countries that are not NATO or EU members")

"Veran Matic you Jesuit. What kind of Vatican propaganda are you spreading?! Conclusion: those who do not stand under the bloody gay dress of the enclave of Vatican (Read: NATO) will be occupied by Russians. We must (put) Veran's head... in the middle of Terazije (square) and put an apple in his mouth as... an example to others!"

This one is from last week:

(Comment sent to the article, "Pusic: Serbia should wait rather than aggravate bilateral relations" - expletives removed by Cenzolovka)

The First journalist/worker of B92 I meet I'll beat to death, I don't give a f*** even if I go to jail, but you trash that are chums with Ustashas and publish exclusively Ustasha comments should be exterminated. We'll f*** your mother for this, and then go be saved by Pusic, Iggy and Antonija in particular, who just like that accuses Serbs of being responsible for the Ustasha movement and for being slaughtered, and you publish that, just like that! Well how can one not f*** you up whenever one sees you!!!

For that threat also, we filed a criminal complaint.

This message is from last year, when we filed the complaint. We were informed by the police that the sender has been identified these days and we expect them to be prosecuted:

(Comment sent the article, "Man arrested for attack on B92")

Where will all of you from B92 go when we drive your bosses out of Serbia soon? Do you people have any brains? Well we'll chase you to the end of the world to hang you in squares. F*** your fascist traitorous mother. Not even St. Peter will save you.

Cenzolovka: Have those who have made the latest threats shown similar brazenness as this, making almost no effort to effort to hide their identity?

Matic: One of these once again on Tuesday commented on the very news about the threats, not knowing that he had been reported, too. Through the comment he has helped the police to more closely locate the place from where he send the message, that is - where he lives. Of course, he showed brazenness stating that he knowingly sent the threat, along with an invitation to be arrested.

Cenzolovka: Are you satisfied with the way the authorities, that is, the police, are responding to these threats?

Matic: I have frequent contacts with the prosecutor for cyber crime and the head of the service for high-tech crime of the MUP. I think it's very important to establish close cooperation with them, because this is a sensitive area, a relatively new field, so it is necessary to give as much information, cooperate as intensively as possible in order to be successful. So far I am satisfied with the cooperation. I do not know how the judges will behave in these cases. In one case a few years ago we had a threat from Pancevo and a local court ordered compulsory treatment in a closed institution.

Cenzolovka: What are the reactions, yours, and those of the B92 collective, to these and similar threats you are exposed to?

Matic: We have quite a developed safety culture and a required chain of moves that we follow in these situations: our legal adviser, the law firm Zivkovic-Samardzic that has represented us for years, has excellent expertise and responds by urgently filing the complaints. In parallel, we contact the police to immediately start the search in cyberspace.

We regularly monitor how far the investigations and trials have progressed. We simply do not allow cases to be pushed into the background.

After all, since the threats are very frequent, we also have communication on the new cases ex officio.

Within B92 there is certainly harassment of people: from moderators, who are on the first line to receive these insults and threats, to the people in newsrooms that are emphasized. And if we did not react with a strong legal support, as well as by informing the public, the uncertainty would certainly be higher.

Often journalists, editors and media managements avoid reporting such threats because it is necessary to personally make a statement to the prosecutor, to the investigating authorities, and thus incur additional inconvenience, loss of time, and also wonder what will happen if a perpetrator is released, or when they are set free after serving a sentence.

I understand the dilemmas, but I think it is necessary to very courageously go into these processes because it is the only way to make progress in sensitizing the judicial system and the public.

Of course, activities of organizations that protect freedom of speech, of journalists and of media are very important in order to change the laws, so that the double victimization is avoided and an effective mechanism to help all those who are threatened found. Starting with legal assistance to always informing state authorities of the reasons why it is necessary to act more efficiently on these complaints.

"Irreparably vulgar"

Here is a fresher, as Matic says, "view of the reason" why threats are sent to B92. This email message was received through the contact form "Contact-TV- Suggest topics for the news program" on Tuesday, August 25. The sender here also did not bother to hide their identity:

"Threats" and LIES
Stop lying, imposing fagotry and defending the Islamic invasion, and people will not threaten you.

Matic showed us messages that testify that persistent threats are also coming from Montenegro. The content of these messages will not be published - because it is irreparably vulgar.