Vienna, 13/08/2014
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), is urging the authorities in Montenegro to react immediately to threats the journalist Jelena Jovanovic has been receiving from an anonymous profile page on Facebook.
The journalist of daily Vijesti has been receiving threats in her inbox since 9 August this year from an unknown person.
Jovanovic and her colleagues believe the threats began because of an article she recently wrote regarding a protected witness testimony, in the murder case of the editor-in-chief of daily Dan Dusko Jovanovic who was killed in 2004.
The police in Danilovgrad and Podgorica were notified of the threats, but have said that Facebook is an American company and in order to obtain the IP address of the attacker, they must contact Interpol. The messages also contained references to the protected witness, so it is possible that another person is in danger.
Considering previous cases, SEEMO and its members are supporting the daily Vijesti and insist on the immediate investigation of this case.
There have been numerous physical and verbal attacks, as well as threats and blackmail of journalists in Montenegro, and this daily paper has been a target of attacks for years.
”I hope that the country’s authorities will bring the attacker to justice,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “Journalists have a right to work without fear of attack or pressure or threats of any kind”.