SEEMO calls on authorities to protect journalists in RS

Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organization (SEEMO) has called on Republic of Srpska (RS) police to protect journalists from physical threat. On June 13, 2011 a group of journalists from Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia gathered in a village near the town of Bijeljina in order to cover a funeral procession. Police officers were deployed in order to keep the reporters away from the family compound of a well-known athlete, whose family organized the funeral. SEEMO calls on authorities to protect journalists in RS However, while the reporters were waiting for the procession to pass by, unidentified civilians threatened them with beatings and even death if they tried to take photographs or write about the procession. Eventually, the journalists were chased away, while the police did not intervene. In the same incident, two civilians approached Vladimir Mitric, a journalist for the Belgrade-based Vecernje novosti, who is stationed in the western Serbian town of Loznica, and threatened to come to his home town and kill him. This case is of particular concern to SEEMO. As SEEMO reported on September 15, 2005, Mitric was severely beaten by a former policemen and judicial procedures are still ongoing. Since then, Mitric has been living under 24-hour police protection. However, Serbian police are not responsible for his safety when he travels to RS. Mitric has written on crime and corruption in western Serbia and the RS. This latest death threat against the journalist needs to be taken seriously. “The unidentified civilians knew about his police protection and said that they would kill him anyway if he wrote about the funeral procession,” Mitric told SEEMO. Police officers observed the situation without reacting. "The police authorities in the RS have to guarantee the safety of all journalists working in the area under their jurisdiction. It is not acceptable that police officers look the other way while unidentified civilians threaten journalists with death," SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said.

SEEMO calls on authorities to protect journalists in RS

However, while the reporters were waiting for the procession to pass by, unidentified civilians threatened them with beatings and even death if they tried to take photographs or write about the procession. Eventually, the journalists were chased away, while the police did not intervene.

In the same incident, two civilians approached Vladimir Mitrić, a journalist for the Belgrade-based Večernje novosti, who is stationed in the western Serbian town of Loznica, and threatened to come to his home town and kill him. This case is of particular concern to SEEMO. As SEEMO reported on September 15, 2005, Mitrić was severely beaten by a former policemen and judicial procedures are still ongoing. Since then, Mitrić has been living under 24-hour police protection. However, Serbian police are not responsible for his safety when he travels to RS. Mitrić has written on crime and corruption in western Serbia and the RS. This latest death threat against the journalist needs to be taken seriously.

“The unidentified civilians knew about his police protection and said that they would kill him anyway if he wrote about the funeral procession,” Mitrić told SEEMO. Police officers observed the situation without reacting.

"The police authorities in the RS have to guarantee the safety of all journalists working in the area under their jurisdiction. It is not acceptable that police officers look the other way while unidentified civilians threaten journalists with death," SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujović said.