The Coalition for Media Freedom expresses serious concern over the police treatment of Vojkan Kostić, editor-in-chief of the Beta News Agency, who yesterday, while reporting as a journalist from the search of the apartment of military analyst Aleksandar Radić, was served with a summons to report to the Criminal Police Directorate over suspicion of activities linked to the alleged preparation of acts against the constitutional order and security of Serbia.
Kostić was at the scene performing his journalistic duties. As he explained, he was with Radić when the police called Radić to come to his apartment. After arriving at the scene, Kostić continued reporting on an event of public interest, which is why the summons was served to him.
What is particularly concerning is that the police were initially unpleasant towards Kostić, with messages that he understood as intimidation and a warning that, if he continued reporting, he himself could be suspected of committing a criminal offence. Such conduct represents unacceptable pressure on journalists reporting from events of public importance.
The Coalition for Media Freedom recalls that journalists have the right and the obligation to report on the actions of state authorities, especially when it comes to events concerning the work of the police and the prosecution, including searches, questioning and investigations in cases of major public interest. The mere presence of a journalist at the scene, asking questions and reporting must not be treated as suspicious activity, nor as grounds for intimidation, detention, questioning or seizure of equipment.
After receiving the summons, Kostić went to the Criminal Police Directorate, where he gave a statement as a citizen about how Aleksandar Radić’s mobile phone came to be in his possession. Kostić explained that Radić had given him the phone before entering the apartment for the search. The phone was seized from him, and he was issued a receipt.
The cases of Aleksandar Radić and Vojkan Kostić show that one of the aims of the statement issued by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office and the accompanying media campaign about the alleged “simulation of the sound cannon” is to intimidate journalists and abolish the right to freedom of speech and opinion.
The Coalition also points to concerning claims that certain pro-government media published information about the search of Radić’s apartment before he had even arrived at the scene. We expect the competent authorities to urgently determine how information from the proceedings reached those media.
This case fits into an increasingly frequent pattern of pressure on journalists reporting on the actions of institutions, protests, police operations and issues of exceptional public interest. When journalists become the subject of police action, media freedom and citizens’ right to be informed are directly endangered.
The Coalition for Media Freedom demands that the Ministry of the Interior, the Criminal Police Directorate and the competent prosecutor’s office explain to the public why the editor of Beta was served with a summons in proceedings concerning one of the most serious criminal offences against the constitutional order and security of Serbia, and on the basis of which facts his journalistic presence at the scene was linked in any way to those proceedings.
We also demand that journalists be allowed to work without obstruction and that the practice of intimidating media representatives be stopped.
Any attempt to present journalistic reporting as a security threat represents a serious attack on media freedom, democratic oversight of the authorities and the public’s right to know.
Coalition for Media Freedom: the Media Association, the Online Media Association (AOM), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (IJAV), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS), the Business Association of Local and Independent Media “Lokal Pres,” the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, and the “Nezavisnost” Branch Trade Union of Culture, Art and Media.
