September 29, 2015

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.