Vienna, 30/10/2017
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) was horrified to learn that a journalist working for Croatia’s public broadcaster HRT received a death threat via Facebook on Sunday, 29 October.
HRT journalist Maja Sever recently did a story about a refugee from Nigeria who came to Croatia in 2011 and has now opened a restaurant in Zagreb serving African cuisine. Shortly after this aired, she received a message from a man accusing her of promoting “freemason multiculti” politics in Croatia for doing a piece on a refugee, while “thousands of Croats are leaving the country”, and ended with the statement that “it will be a good day when we execute you”.
SEEMO condemns this atrocious and vile threat, and asks authorities to make their investigation as transparent and swift as possible. It is necessary to at once show that journalistic rights and safety will be protected as soon as dangerous threats or attacks happen to them. SEEMO expresses support for Maja Sever and all other media workers facing similar difficulties
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.