IM: Attack against columnist investigated

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that police are taking the attack on columnist Teofil Pancic very seriously. Dacic said that the investigation is ongoing and that an attack on Pancic, who writes for Belgrade-based weekly Vreme, is treated as an attack on a public official. IM: Attack against columnist investigated Police are investigating, taking into consideration the small number of direct witnesses at the scene of the crime, Dacic said. He said that none of the potential witnesses were there when the police arrived to the scene. Dacic said that new information had surfaced, but that it could not be made public, adding that security cameras on a bank recorded people who could be suspects in the brutal attack. Pancic was attacked on Saturday night in a bus heading towards the Belgrade neighborhood of Zemun by two persons with metal bars. None of the passengers in the bus tried to help him during the attack. Serbian authorities must thoroughly investigate the brutal attack on Teofil Pancic, a reporter for the independent weekly Vreme, and consider journalism as a potential motive, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Two masked assailants followed Pancic aboard a Belgrade bus at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, attacked him with metal rods, and quickly fled, according to regional and international press reports. Pancic, briefly hospitalized after the attack, suffered a concussion and arm injuries, news reports said. Pancic told B92 he believes the attack was in retaliation for his journalism. Zoran Stanojevic, a Vreme colleague, told CPJ that Pancic often criticized nationalism and the spread of violence in Serbian society. CPJ condemned this vicious attack on Pancic and urged Serbian authorities to bring his assailants to justice, said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. "The promised investigation into this assault must be thorough and consider journalism as a motive," he added. CPJ is a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.

IM: Attack against columnist investigated

Police are investigating, taking into consideration the small number of direct witnesses at the scene of the crime, Dačić said.

He said that none of the potential witnesses were there when the police arrived to the scene.

Dačić said that new information had surfaced, but that it could not be made public, adding that security cameras on a bank recorded people who could be suspects in the brutal attack.

Pančić was attacked on Saturday night in a bus heading towards the Belgrade neighborhood of Zemun by two persons with metal bars. None of the passengers in the bus tried to help him during the attack.

Serbian authorities must thoroughly investigate the brutal attack on Teofil Pančić, a reporter for the independent weekly Vreme, and consider journalism as a potential motive, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Two masked assailants followed Pančić aboard a Belgrade bus at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, attacked him with metal rods, and quickly fled, according to regional and international press reports. Pančić, briefly hospitalized after the attack, suffered a concussion and arm injuries, news reports said.

Pančić told B92 he believes the attack was in retaliation for his journalism. Zoran Stanojević, a Vreme colleague, told CPJ that Pančić often criticized nationalism and the spread of violence in Serbian society.

CPJ condemned this vicious attack on Pančić and urged Serbian authorities to bring his assailants to justice, said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

"The promised investigation into this assault must be thorough and consider journalism as a motive," he added.
CPJ is a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide.