The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS/NUNS) strongly condemns a series of new threats made over the past week against N1 newsroom journalists via comments on the website. The messages contain violent elements and terms directly referring to killing, destruction, expulsion, bodily harm, and other forms of violent behavior.
Specifically, the reported messages include the following:
- User account Petrović Dušan wrote: “If only the police would storm N1, arrest and, in the process, give a good beating to the traitors who work there!!! At least let citizens in with pitchforks.”
- A user signing only as “B”: “N1 Ustashe, die.”
- Bojan: “I’m warning you clearly: if the Expo gets canceled here, the building you work in will no longer exist, I guarantee that.”
- Dragan, among other things, wrote: “…we will destroy this N1.”
- Uroš threatened the author of the article “How Croats and Slovenes Overnight Became an Alleged Military Threat to Serbia”: “As the editor of the article, you’re on the list, write while you still have time.”
Such messages and statements constitute unlawful behavior and cannot be tolerated; they must not become a usual and colloquial form of communication from one person to another, and if we fail to respond to them, they may lead to physical attacks and even more serious consequences. Some threats were made in the most direct manner, while others were expressed in a way that is impermissible in public communication and speech, and therefore all cases have been reported to the competent Public Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime.
We demand that the Public Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime, within its competences, examine all the circumstances related to these threats and take all available measures to identify the persons behind them. We also demand that it investigate the existence of the criminal offense of endangering safety and any other offenses prosecutable ex officio, bearing in mind that journalists are being targeted because of the work they do.
We remind the public that threats of murder and other severe violence constitute the criminal offense of endangering safety, while messages that incite hatred and violence also constitute offenses punishable under the Criminal Code. We expect a timely and effective legal qualification of these acts by the competent authorities.
IJAS will continue to provide legal and professional support to the affected colleagues and insists on an urgent and effective response by the relevant institutions. The safety of journalists is a prerequisite for freedom of information and the public interest.
Belgrade, 11 September 2025
Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia
