29/09/2015: SERBIA – SEEMO CONCERNED OVER GROWING NUMBER OF MEDIA RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SERBIA

Vienna, 29/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) expressed growing concern over the rise in media freedom violations in Serbia.

Dejan Crnomarkovic, editor-in-chief of Palanacke Novine in Smederevska Palanka reported that on 26 September, all four tires on his vehicle were slashed only meters away from his family home. The incident occurred after the daily paper published a story with details about the work of several public officials in that city. Crnomarkovic added that he does not know who is behind this incident, but sees his articles as the only potential reason for such an attack.

SEEMO recalls that this is not the first instance of intimidation directed at Dejan Crnomarkovic; earlier this year he was the target of hate speech by local members of the political party in power.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East and Central Europe. SEEMO’s 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.

Vienna, 29/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is appalled by a recent raid and the arrests of journalists by the government in Turkey.

On 28 September, Turkish state security forces raided several offices in Diyarbakir, south-eastern Turkey: the DIHA news agency, Azadiya Welat daily, Aram Yayınları book publisher, and KURDİ-DER (Kurdish Language Research and Development Union).

Following the raid, the identification and mobile phones of all the journalists were confiscated. 32 journalists were allegedly arrested on the DIHA premises, including: Meltem Oktay, Ramazan Olcen, Zafer Tuzun, Zeynel Abidin Bulut, Mujdat Can, Dicle Muftuoglu, Omer Celik, Resit Bayram, Devren Toptas, Mazlum Dolan, Siyabend Yaruk, Ercan Bilen, Ferah Kılıc, Nurettin Akyıldız, Besalet Yaray, Ferit Koyluoglu, Mahmut Rubanas, Aziz Oruc, Ayse Nevroz, Suzan Toprak, Mehmet Ali Ertas, Nazemin Cap, and Diyar Balkas. Along with them, two reporters from Jinha woman’s news agency and Ozgur Gun TV were arrested.

All of the media workers were arrested on grounds of “reasonable doubt”.

On 29 September, 31 out of the 32 reporters were released. According to DIHA, there was a child among those detained.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East and Central Europe. SEEMO’s 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.

Vienna, 29/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is alarmed by the treatment of media workers in Serbia by members of state authorities.

On 24 September, journalists from the web portal Istinomer.rs conducted an interview with activist Dobrica Veselinovic, a member of the “Ne davimo Beograd” (Let’s not drown Belgrade) campaign. The campaign is a response to the Belgrade Waterfront project.

Dobrica Veselinovic and members of Istinomer.rs were at the location of the future construction site when they were approached by police officials, who demanded that they leave the premises. When the journalists and activist refused to leave the public space, verbal and physical assaults ensued. Following the confrontation, police officers checked the identifications of the journalists and activist, charging them with obstruction of an officer while performing official duties.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East and Central Europe. SEEMO’s 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.

Vienna, 16/09/2015

According to information received by SEEMO, several journalists have encountered problems reporting freely from territory that is controlled by the government in Kiev during recent months. As of today, 16 September, there is an official list of journalists who are considered “unacceptable” by officials in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree introducing sanctions against more than 350 foreign individuals and legal entities, including numerous journalists and bloggers from West Europe and Russia. According to this document, the persons on the list pose a “threat to national interests” or promote “terrorist activities”. This list includes BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg, BBC cameraman Anton Chicherov and producer Emma Wells, as well as numerous other Western and Russian journalists. The list includes also two Spanish journalists, Antonio Pampliega and Angel Sastre, despite the fact that Sastre went missing in Syria two months ago and has not been seen since.

“This is a shameful attack on freedom of expression and the freedom of movement of journalists”, SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “President Poroshenko must remove the names of all journalists and bloggers from the list as a matter of urgency. Even if officials in Ukraine do not like the way that some media, especially from Russia, are reporting, freedom of the press means the freedom to report on matters that are in the public interest, and every journalist must have the right to carry out his or her work without pressure from state officials. Every state has the right to fight against terrorism and to protect their national security, but this should not be used as an excuse to prevent journalists from doing their work”.

“Propaganda is being used in war and conflicts by all sides, and there have been many cases of unprofessionalism on the part of both Russian and Ukrainian media reporting on the conflict between Kiev and Moscow. We have reports of journalist who cannot report freely on the territory controlled by pro-Russian authorities in the east of Ukraine (so called DNR – Donetsk People´s Republic and so called LNR – Luhansk People´s Republic), as well as of journalists who had problems reporting from the territory controlled by the government in Kiev. However, it is not the job of state authorities or paramilitary groups to decide who can and who cannot report”, Vujovic added.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe. SEEMO’s 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.

Vienna, 16/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is concerned by the latest police attacks on journalists reporting about the refugee situation in Hungary.

On 16 September around 5.30 pm, Serbian public broadcaster RTS staff members, including journalist Jovana Djurovic, cameraman Vladan Hadzi Mijailovic and technical staff member Miroslav Djurasinovic were reporting from the Hungarian–Serbian border crossing at Röszke / Horgos. The team was documenting the Hungarian police while they prevented refugees from entering Hungary, when the media workers were suddenly physically attacked by the Hungarian police.

The media workers later stated that they were standing among other TV crews and journalists between the police cordon and the refugees, when officers suddenly pushed Mijailovic and Djurasinovic, injuring them with bats and breaking their equipment. Journalist Jovana Djurovic suffered an injury to her left hand during the attack. The TV crew claim that they were ignored when they repeatedly identified themselves as a TV crew working for RTS. They were later taken to Subotica, Serbia, where they received further medical aid.

On the same day, Jacek Tacik, a Polish reporter from Poland’s public broadcaster TVP, was accused by the Hungarian officials of illegally crossing the border between Hungary and Serbia close to Röszke/ Horgos while reporting about a group refugees who entered Hungary. Tacik was beaten by officers before being arrested by the border police. He was struck in the head with a baton and detained for more than ten hours.

The Hungarian police also allegedly attacked Australian photographer Warren Richardson, Swedish photographer for the Swedish daily Expressen Meli Petersson Ellafi, and reporter for Slovak newspaper Denník N Tímea Beck. Also on 16 September a crew from the media outlet B92 from Belgrade, Serbia, suffered from tear gas fired at the refugees by the Hungarian police while covering the events on the border.

Associated Press cameraman Luca Muzi said that he was attacked by Hungarian police on 12 September near Röszke and that the police forced him to delete photos he took of a police dog threatening a refugee. The Hungarian police deny the allegations.

“I call the Hungarian authorities to stop attacking and threatening journalists who are reporting about the refugee crisis as an issue of public interest. This is a clear attack on freedom of expression by the Hungarian authorities”, Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General said. “The police in Hungary are committing brutal acts of violence. The safety of journalists must be guaranteed by the Hungarian state. The fact that police in Hungary were beating journalists, destroying technical equipment and forcing journalists to delete their footage violates international standards that protect journalists reporting on matters that are clearly of public interest. Those who are responsible must be investigated and punished by the law”, Vujovic added.

SEEMO is a network of editors, media executives and leading journalists in South East Europe. SEEMO’s 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.

Vienna, 16/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) marks today 15 years since the Georgian-born Ukrainian investigative journalist Georgiy Ruslanovich Gongadze (Heorhiy Ruslanovych Gongadze) disappeared. On 3 November 2000 his body was found in a forest in the near of Kiev; Ukraine.

Who ordered the murder remains unsolved. Three former officials of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior Affairs were arrested 2005, and one more in 2009 with accusation of killing Gongadze. A court in Ukraine sentenced Valeriy Kostenko to 12-year, Mykola Protasov to 13 years and Oleksandr Popovych to 12 years. Olexsiy Pukach was sentenced 2013 to life in prison. Former Minister Yuriy Kravchenko was killed on 4 March 2005, just hours before he was to begin providing testimony as a witness in the Gongadze -case. In November 2000, an opposition politician publicised secret tape recordings which he claimed implicated former President Leonid Kuchma in Gongadze’s murder. Doubt was cast on the tapes’ authenticity. Kuchma denies any involvement, and threatened a libel suit, against the opposition politician. Gongadze’s family got a political asylum and lived there since the year 2001.

Ukraine is the most dangerous country in Europe for journalists: Seven journalists were killed in 2014 and at least four in 2015 till today, additional SEEMO has documents of many cases of attacks and threats against journalists in Ukraine.

“The organisers behind this crime and killing of Gongadze. must be brought to justice. Also all other cases of killing journalists or attacks on journalist in Ukraine must be investigated, independent if this cases happen on the territory controlled by the government in Kiev or on the territory controlled by the pro-Russian groups”, Oliver Vujovic SEEMO Secretary General said.

Vienna, 13/09/2015

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is calling for an investigation into threats that were allegedly made over social media against journalist Dusan Vojvodic, who works for public broadcaster RTS.

A local political activist in East Serbia recently made comments using his private Facebook page that referenced a lawsuit the journalist brought against him, saying that another “Crystal night” would occur the day after his party won local elections. The alleged threats have been understood as referring to potential violence directed against Vojvodic and others.

“We all know what happened during the Crystal Night in November 1938, so using it in such a comment is both unacceptable and in bad taste. Additionally, it should be investigated whether the elements of a threat were present in this incident”, SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said.

The press freedom work of the South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is supported by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) project, as part of a grant by the European Commission.