December 13, 2017

13/12/2017: CROATIA – SEEMO CONDEMNS THREATS AGAINST CROATIAN JOURNALIST

Vienna, 13/12/2017

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed harsh condemnation following the death threats and verbal attacks N1 TV journalist Natasa Bozic Saric (Nataša Božić Šarić) received on 10 December.

In her Sunday weekly show, where she comments on current events, the presenter expressed her view that General Slobodan Praljak, who was recently convicted as a war criminal by The Hague International Criminal Court, should be stripped of his medals. This was followed by a slew of insults and verbal threats on social media, with several threatening Bozic Saric’s safety and well-being, including one suggesting that “she should be decapitated” followed by an insult.

SEEMO expressed shock for the behavior of all individuals that used hate speech and insults and applauds the quick reaction and investigation of Croatian authorities who detained an individual yesterday, 12 December, after which it was revealed that he admitted to making the threat. Protection of journalistic safety and human rights is crucial for press freedom, and we call authorities to act in this proactive manner in all cases of attacks and threats against media workers.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South, East and Central Europe and its press freedom work is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.