On Monday 28 August 2023, numerous vehicles ascended Hisar, a hill, near the town of Leskovac in southern Serbia, awaiting the presence of Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and Minister of Construction Goran Vesić. However, the police denied the JUGpress (https://jugpress.com/) team access by car to this place, despite an invitations from the Prime Minister’s and the Leskovac Mayor’s offices to journalists to park at the repeater station on the hilltop.
Over thirty cars were parked in the designated area. However, the JUGpress team was stopped by police and could not use this parking and had to walk to the destination where the politicians spoke.
SEEMO strongly condemns the selection made by authorities and the fact that the JUGpress team as critical media, was denied the right to use the parking –area for their journalistic assignment.
We call upon the authorities in Serbia to ensure equal treatment for all journalists and media outlets in Serbia, allowing them to fulfill their essential role in informing the public. SEEMO stands for the principles of free and unobstructed journalism, advocating for fair and equitable access to information for all citizens.
South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is a regional non-governmental, non-profit network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in Southeast, South, East and Central Europe. SEEMO members are in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova (with the territory of Transdnestria), Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Türkiye / Turkey, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Austria, Italy, Vatican and San Marino have a special status in SEEMO. SEEMO has over 3000 individual members, and additional media as corporate members.
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