On 11 September 2024, Mreža za istraživanje kriminala i korupcije (Crime and Corruption Reporting Network – KRIK – https://www.krik.rs/) journalists Bojana Pavlović and Milica Vojinović took the stand to testify in a defamation case brought by a former Serbian state secretary. According to the lawsuit filed in July 2022, six published articles allegedly violate the presumption of innocence as well as the honor and reputation of the former State Secretary, and she is demanding 6,000 EUR in damages from the KRIK editorial staff and publisher Stevan Dojčinović.
Pavlović and Vojinović, who authored some of the contested articles, explained during their testimonies that the reports were based on information drawn from legal investigations and indictments. They emphasized that the former State Secretary was not the main focus of the articles; instead, the pieces inspected the prosecution’s work.
In a previous hearing on 23 January 2024, KRIK’s editor-in-chief, Stevan Dojčinović, clarified that the newsroom never directly accused the State Secretary, but questioned why she was never interviewed in cases where her subordinates were under investigation. According to him, the State Secretary was not the focus of these articles, but they are more of a criticism of the work of the prosecution. Dojčinović further described the lawsuit as an attempt to silence critical reporting and discourage further scrutiny.
The trial is set to continue in December when two more KRIK journalists are expected to testify.
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) will follow this case and developments connnected to this case.
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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