Interview with Milica Vojinović, Belgrade, Serbia (May 2023)

Albanian media company Top Channel from Tirana. A vehicle belonging to the TV Syri team was hit by bullets. In the same town journalists from KOHA from Pristina and Top Channel from Tirana were attacked. Additional a team of the media company Periskopi was attacked and the shirt of one crew-member was torn as a result of the attempted assault.

Finally, three masked individuals knocked down the camera of Gazeta Papirus while they were filming vehicles belonging to the NATO-led international peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR).

There was also an incident in the Municipality of Zubin Potok involving the vehicle of media outlet Tëvë1. The vehicle was vandalized and later set on fire. Images reveal broken windows, punctured tires, and the vehicle engulfed in flames.

According to Serbian sources, Serbian media journalists working for Kosovo online media outlets and Radio KIM were banned from entering the building of the Zveçan / Zvečan Municipality. This happened while Kosovo Police officers invited Albanian-language media journalists to enter the premises for their safety.

During the protests in Zvečan, as they were reporting from the protests inside a group of Kosovo-Serbs who came in conflict with Kosovo-Albanians and KFOR, cameramen from two Belgrade TV channels were attacked and the local correspondent of the Belgrade news agency Tanjug got a minor injury.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech#southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo

On Friday 26 May, 2023 Belarus’ Supreme Court in Minsk has upheld an eight-year prison sentence for a prominent member of the country’s Polish minority and a correspondent for a Polish newspaper.

Andrzej Poczobut (Андрэй Пачобут), born 1973, reporter for GazetaWyborcza, and former journalist for several media in Belarus, was convicted 8 February, 2023 of harming Belarus’ national security and “sowing discord.” He had been arrested on 25 March 2021 and has been in custody since then. It is the second time that he was arrested. In 2011 he was arrested for allegedly libeling Belarus President Aleksandr Grigorievich Lukashenko in his reports

Poczobut extensively covered the mass protests that erupted in Belarus in 2020 following the disputed presidential election, which both the opposition and the West denounced as manipulated.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech#southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo#journalist #journalistunderattack #belarus #poland #minsk #AndrzejPoczobut #GazetaWyborcza#journalistinjail #imprisionedjournalist #journalistinprison#SEEMO #pressfreedom#mediafreedom #freemedia

Journalists and editors of Novosti and Vida TV, Croatian media representing the Serbian national minority in Croatia, have been targeted in an incitement campaign lasting over a month by right-extremist groups in Croatia. As part of this campaign, the Croatian state is accused of funding media that are supporting a special war against the country. Both media are described as media that are spreading anti-Croatian propaganda, and inciting terrorism. According to Goran Borkovic, editor of the Novosti portal, their staff was described as “Great Serbs,” “Chetniks,” and “Yugoslavs,” making them vulnerable targets.

The Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA), represented by Hrvoje Zovko, expressed concern over the dangerous attacks against these two media.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech#southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo#journalist #journalistunderattack #serbia #croatia #novosti #vidatv #cja #novinari #napadnanovinare#SEEMO #pressfreedom#mediafreedom #freemedia

A Moscow court extended on Tuesday 23 May 2023 the jail sentence and the pretrial detention for Evan Gershkovich, an US- journalist working for The Wall Street Journal.

Gershkovich was arrested in Russia on 29 March 2023 on spying charges, which he, his newspaper, and the U.S. government vehemently deny. He was detained in the city of Ekaterinburg / Yekaterinburg, while doing his job. The Lefortovo district court ruled on 23 May, 2023, behind closed doors, that Gershkovich must remain in custody until at least 30 August this year.

The U.S. government has declared Gershkovich’s detention to be wrongful and has demanded his immediate release.

Gershkovich, who had been reporting on Russia for over five years, is the first American journalist detained on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech#southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #journalistunderattack #russia #ukraine #ukraine #EvanGershkovich #WallStreetJournal #warinukraine #journalistinjail #jailedjournalists #journalist #SEEMO #pressfreedom #mediafreedom #freemedia

The allegedly main suspect in the murder of Slovak journalist Ján Kuciak is free. This is the decision by the Specialized Criminal Court in Bratislava from 19 May 2023.

One allegedly suspected person who was accused of murder of the journalist and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová was found not guilty of ordering the assassination, while his close associate, was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison. The verdicts can still be appealed. The killing of Kuciak and his fiancée on 21 February 2018 remains a grave injustice, and the families of the victims continue to seek justice and accountability.

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CALL FOR APPLICATIONS 2023

“Investigative reporting in times of crises”

more: https://seemo.org/cei-award-2023

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Judge at the Higher Court in Belgrade, has issued a verdict against journalists from the Serbian online investigative journalist platform KRIK (Crime and Corruption Reporting Network) over an article in which they revealed that several SLAPP lawsuits had been filed against the editorial team.

KRIK had published an article a year and a half ago, listing individuals who had filed lawsuits against the publication and stating that these so-called SLAP lawsuits are mostly filed by people close to the regime in Serbia and that their goal is to silence journalists.

In that text, among other things, it was mentioned that KRIK was also sued by three police officers. All three sued KRIK again.

As result of this case the KRIK journalists have to pay to police officers a sum of 374,200 dinars (around 3,200 euros) as compensation for mental anguish and costs. Furthermore, KRIK has to remove the part of the article that mentioned the lawsuits filed by the police officers.

The verdict is a first-instance decision, and KRIK has appealed it to the Court of Appeal in Belgrade.

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Threats were made against Serbian journalist Nikola Krstić following his article in the Belgrade Danas newspaper. Krstić’s article (https://www.danas.rs/dijalog/licni-stavovi/spc-kao-gnezdo-oholosti-zlobe-bahatosti-i-ratnog-huskanja-licni-stav-nikole-krstica/ ) expressed criticism of the inappropriate remarks made by Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) regarding women. Soon after its publication, a wave of threats flooded social media platforms, calling for Krstić to be hanged and suggesting that he should be eliminated. An orchestrated campaign against Krstić started

Patriarch Porfirije made unsettling remarks, including in which women are called deplorable persons.

The South East Europe Media Organisation is alarmed about threats against Krstić

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech #southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #journalistunderattack #serbia #belgrade #nikolakrstic #danas #nuns #novinari #napadnanovinare #SEEMO #pressfreedom #mediafreedom #freemedia #serbianchurch #church #patriarch

On Tuesday, 16 May 2023 local police in Kazan (Казань), the capital of Russia’s Tatarstan republic, searched the apartment where the freelancer and former activist Nailya Mullayeva (Наиля Муллаева) lives. The police confiscated her journalist equipment, including mobile phones and laptop, as also some letters.

The officials investigate Mullayeva connected to an anti-war comment against the Russian army posted by one other person on the social media platform Vkontakte (Вконтакте). According to Mullayeva, she does not know this person. According to the authorities, Mullaeva is a witness in a criminal case.

Mullayeva runs also a Telegram channel called BIRDS (https://t.me/birdsrf). This is not the first case of harassment Mullayeva has faced, as she has previously last year been detained and fined. In 2022 her apartment was also searched by police and her passport was seized. Also, another search at Mullaeva’s apartment took place in March this year.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech#southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo#journalist #journalistunderattack #russia #NailyaMullayeva #Kazan #tatarstan #vkontakte #BIRDS#journalistattacked #journalist #journalistassaulted #SEEMO #pressfreedom#mediafreedom #freemedia