January 18, 2025

18.01.2025 – Personal Data Of A Croatian Journalist Publicly Distributed In Serbia

In a concerning incident one Serbian politician revealed personal data of the Croatian Journalist Matej Devčić, working for Telegram portal (https://www.telegram.hr/). He was in covering student protests in Belgrade, Serbia. The Serbian politician presented in the public a copy of Devčić’s Croatian ID card, suggesting, without evidence, that Devčić was training student protest leaders in Serbia. The journalist was in Serbia solely for reporting purposes.

This incident follows a troubling trend. Recently also in the Serbian public were presented personal data of dual-citizenship students with Croatian citizenship, falsely linking them to Croatian intelligence services.

The backdrop to these incidents involves large-scale student protests in Serbia. The demonstrations, began as reaction after a tragic accident that happened on 1 November 2024 in Novi Sad, Serbia. On 1 November 2024, a concrete canopy at the main railway station in Novi Sad, Serbia, collapsed, killing 15 people and seriously injuring two. Despite the peaceful nature of these student protests, the politicians in power in Serbia have sought to discredit them by alleging foreign interference, particularly from Croatia.

The misuse of personal data and public targeting of a journalist raises serious concerns about press freedom and safety of foreign journalists in Serbia.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns the publicly disclosing personal information about Croatian journalist Matej Devčić. This blatant violation of journalistic safety and personal privacy is a dangerous attempt to intimidate and discredit independent reporting. Such practices are unacceptable and undermine press freedom and democratic principles. SEEMO calls on Serbian authorities and media outlets to respect the rights and safety of journalists and will closely monitor this situation to ensure accountability. An urgent response from the Serbian police is required regarding this illegal use of personal data, as well as the discovery of how the politician was able to obtain a copy of the journalist’s ID card.

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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