In the first eight months of 2026, 99 cases related to threats to the safety of journalists and other media workers were opened, according to information presented by the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office at a meeting of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists (SRG), the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) said on Friday.
ANEM noted that this was nearly 18 percent more than in the same period last year, which was a record year in terms of the number of cases since the prosecution began keeping records. Of the 99 cases mentioned, only one has resulted in a final conviction of the perpetrator of a crime against journalists, ANEM said.
At the same time, the police failed to respond to 58 requests from public prosecutors for necessary information and other data, which hampers effective investigations, participants at the meeting warned.
Branko Stamenkovic, a prosecutor from the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office and a member of the Working Group, said that the number of cases involving attacks, threats and other forms of endangering journalists’ safety has been increasing year on year, and that the trend suggests that 2026 could set another record.
The meeting also addressed the parliamentary elections scheduled for October 25 as a potential serious risk to journalists’ safety.
It was concluded that Working Group representatives should be present in certain cities and municipalities in the run-up to the elections and on election day, and that additional mechanisms should be activated to ensure a rapid response and faster information sharing among journalists, police and prosecutors.
Representatives of journalists’ and media associations stressed the importance of reporting every attack or threat, even when journalists involved doubt that the case will be resolved quickly, or at all, ANEM said in a press release.
The Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, established in January 2017, consists of representatives of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, as well as representatives of the Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS), the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Media Association, ANEM, the Association of Online Media, and the OSCE Mission to Serbia, which has observer status.
Source: N1
