16.03.2023 – This year marks the 24nd anniversary of the murder of Slavko Curuvija

This year marks the 24nd anniversary of the murder of journalist Slavko Curuvija, who was shot dead in front of his apartment building in Belgrade, Serbia on 11 April 1999. Curuvija was a prominent critic of the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, and his murder is believed to have been politically motivated. Slavko Curuvija was founder of the newspaper Dnevni telegraf, Serbia and was the owner of the publishing company, which published several prominent Serbian print media.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech #southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #journalistunderattack #novinari #serbia🇷🇸 #balkan #slavkocuruvija

On Saturday, 25 February 2023, a group of journalists gathered in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to protest in front of the police station after their colleague Nikola Morača was arrested and interrogated the day before on Friday for publishing information about an ongoing investigation. Nikola Morača works for ‘EuroBlic’ and a website based in Banja Luka. The police took Morača his mobile phone. The Ministry of the Interior of Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia and Herzegovina, made a statement accusing journalists of attempting to influence judicial proceedings.

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Freelance journalist Mir Ali Koçer from Turkey posted videos on social media in which the victims of the February 2023 earthquake stated that they had not received proper aid and now he is under investigation on suspicion of spreading “fake news” and could face up to three years in jail. He is one of several journalists being investigated for reporting or commenting on the earthquake that hit several parts of Turkey and Syria killing around 50,000 pesons.

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The Independent Journalists Association of Vojvodina (NDNV) condemned on 24 February 2022 the pressure exerted by a high level local police representative on journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the Serbian website Pancevo Si Ti, Nenad Zivkovic, as well as on the citizens association Citizens Action Pancevo – the founder of that media outlet, according to the association.

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According to the Belarusian Association of Journalists, as reported by Tbibuna.com Belarus, sports journalist Alexander Ivulin has been released and has already left Belarus as of 17 February, 2023. Ivulin had been detained at home on 3 June 2021, on charges of ‘organizing and preparing actions that grossly violate public order, or active participation in them.’ On 19 January 2022, the judge of the Soviet district of Minsk sentenced Ivulin to two years in prison. His YouTube-channel was declared by the Minsk officials as extremist on 17 September 2021 and he was included by the officials in the list of extremists in Belarus.

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On Monday, 6 March, 2023, journalist Marko Dragoslavić from the Fonet agency in Serbia was physically attacked after a “Students for Kosovo” protest in Takovska Street in Belgrade.

The incident took place near the Serbian government building. According to witnesses the attacker had a black jacket.

After the attack, Dragoslavić was examined in a hospital.

The protest was organised by persons who are against the EU plan for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia. The protest, where also some representatives of Serbian right-wing parties and groups participated, started at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade.

This was the second attack on Fonet journalist Dragoslavić in this year.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns both attacks and is alarmed about attack and threats against journalists in Serbia.

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The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) has been declared as an “extremist grouping” by the Belarusian officials.

This decision, that became public on 7 March 2023, has serious implications for the members of the association, as they could now face criminal prosecution and harsh prison sentences. ^

BAJ is a professional journalist organization that has been advocating for press freedom and independent journalism in Belarus for more than 25 years. BAJ is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), as laureate of the UNESCO World Prize in 2022.

This decision by the officials is the follow up of pressures against BAJ since years. After a search in the office of the organisation in 2021, some BAJ representatives were forced to leave Belarus. In August 2021, the Supreme Court decided to dissolve the organisation with over 1300 members.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns Belarusian authorities for this new attack on professional journalists and shows solidarity with Belarusian Association of Journalists. “This is a new step against media freedom in Belarus”, said Oliver Vujovic, SEEMO Secretary General.

#fyp #mediafreedom #seemo #freespeech #southeasteuropemediaorganisation #ngo #journalist #journalistunderattack #belarus #BAJ

Stevan Dojčinović, editor-in-chief of KRIK, received a death threat after appearing on 27 February 2023 on the “Snaga uma” podcast on Nova.rs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkQ1oXi1Y_s).

During the podcast, he discussed the lives of criminals in Serbia, as well as how young men recruited by football fan groups often “get involved in murders at a very young age.” He also noted that the prices of ordered killings have drastically decreased in Serbia.

A public threat was posted under a video by one TikTok user. The case was reported to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime.

The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) is asking the Serbian authorities to urgently investigate the case and protect Dojčinović.

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One individual has been sentenced in the first instance by a court in Niš, Serbia, to six months in prison for the criminal offense of stalking/harassing Aleksandar Stankov, a journalist at the web news outlet Južne Vesti, over the phone. The incident occurred towards the end of August 2021, and the court’s decision came after a year and a half.

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Seyhan Avşar from Halk TV (@seyhanavsar ) is under investigation by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for her reporting on the death of a suspected individual who was detained in the southern province of Hatay, Turkey on 11February 2023. The individual was arrested on suspicion of looting and vandalism in the aftermath of two powerful earthquakes in the region and allegedly beaten to death by members of the local authorities in Altınözü and one of his family members who was also detained and reportedly subjected to maltreatment is still recovering. Seyhan informed the public about the investigation against her by the authorities over her Twitter account on 23 February this year.

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