Vienna, 27/01/2018
The South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO) condemns all threats against Dragan Janjic (Dragan Janjić), editor in chief of news agency BETA.
Janjic, who is also the vice-president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), has been receiving threats since 16 January, when he expressed a personal opinion on his Twitter profile.
During a press conference held after the murder of Serb Kosovo politician Oliver Ivanovic, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic explicitly mentioned and then criticized Janjic, after which a hate speech and threat campaign against Janjic began.
Over Facebook and other social media Janjic was insulted, threatened with physical violence and eventually received death threats. Some of the Facebook users stated that he should be “ shot in the forehead” and “hung in the town square”, followed by inquiries about his address of residence.
SEEMO deeply condemns this campaignes aganist a journalist in Serbia and ask that Dragan Janjic receives immediate police protection until the persons who have called for his murder and attacks are found and penalized.
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.