The president of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (IJAV), Ana Lalić Hegediš, received a death threat, and the journalist of the Nova.rs portal, Ana Marković, was physically attacked at the “Stop, Serbia” rally.
Lalić Hegediš received a threat via Facebook. Along with the death threat, the journalist was addressed with an offensive sexist word. Namely, the person behind the account, Milenko Protić, sent a message to the journalist on Wednesday with the following content: “B**ch, you will be slaughtered.” IJAV’s lawyer reported the threats to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime, which responded that they would investigate the entire case within the day.
Ana Lalić Hegediš says that it is not uncommon for her to receive threatening messages and that she does not know what could provoke such a threat.
“We react when there is a direct death threat like this, so the IJAV’s lawyer immediately reported the threat.” I just got a call from the High-Tech Crime Squad, who, they say, will order the police to investigate the whole case within the day. As I said, unfortunately, this is more or less one of the average days in my life in the last couple of years”, says Ana Lalić Hegediš.
She adds that she has the impression that the institutions are finally taking threats to journalists more seriously and that they are reacting quickly, but that things get stuck when the perpetrators need to be found and arrested.
“I literally have two cases that have come to trial, out of countless reported cases.” Well, we also have that case where a man escaped from the police from house arrest and has not been found yet, nor do we have information on whether anyone is looking for him. “It is obvious that he is at large,” says the journalist.
Nova S journalist Ana Marković was attacked today at the “Stop, Serbia” rally near the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in New Belgrade, where a fight broke out between demonstrators and drivers. As a sign of protest, the citizens blocked the intersection near the Faculty for 15 minutes, which provoked the reaction of some car drivers.
One of the angry drivers punched the Nova.rs journalist who was recording the event with his fist on the forearm and knocked her phone onto the ground. “People who paid their respects jumped to my defense, saying to ‘leave’ the girl alone. Those gathered tried to explain to the drivers why they stopped on the street, but someone started hitting them again, and then retreated. Despite the circumstances, none of the people present moved from their place,” says Ana Marković.
The Coalition for Media Freedom and the SafeJournalists Network strongly condemn the new death threat addressed to the president of the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina, Ani Lalić Hegediš, and the physical attack on journalist of Nova S Ana Marković. We expect that the competent institutions will take all measures within their jurisdiction and resolve the case of threats against Ana Lalić and violence against the journalist Ana Marković as soon as possible. It is especially important that the case of direct threat of death be urgently processed and resolved, bearing in mind the previous experience and mistakes of the competent authorities that enabled the escape of the accused from house arrest. In this way, the judiciary must send a direct message to the attackers that death threats and physical attacks cannot and will not go unpunished.
We remind that threats are increasingly followed by offensive sexist comments, which are becoming an almost regular form of hate speech addressed to female journalists. Although they produce enormous consequences, such cases unfortunately remain in the shadow of more serious threats and attacks, they are not sufficiently recognized by the competent institutions and there is no responsibility for them.
SafeJournalists Network: Association of Journalists of Kosovo, Association of Journalists of Macedonia, BH Journalists Association, Croatian Journalists’ Association, Independent Journalists Association of Serbia, Trade Union of Media of Montenegro
The Coalition for Media Freedom: the Association of Media, the Association of Online Media (AOM), the Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of Local and Independent Media “Local Press”, the Slavko Curuvija Foundation and Branch Trade Union of Culture, Arts and Media ‘Nezavisnost’
