September 2025 will mark exactly 20 years since Vladimir Mitric, a correspondent for Vecernje Novosti covering Loznica and Sabac, was attacked with a baton in front of his home by an officer from the New Belgrade Police Station. The assault left Mitric with serious bodily injuries. Since the attack, Mitric has lived under 24-hour police protection, a situation believed to be unprecedented in Europe, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) said.
The Association explained that the Basic Court in Loznica initially sentenced the assailant to six months in prison, that the Belgrade Court of Appeals increased the term to one year, but that the officer never served the full sentence, as he was granted presidential amnesty.
It added that there are four final judgments against the former officer, but that he has successfully avoided settling his financial obligations to the journalist for the past decade and a half.
“Mitric announced that yesterday, a court executor finally and for the first time carried out a largely symbolic inventory of the assets in the house where the former officer lives, who was convicted for inflicting serious bodily injuries on him in 2005, brutally, in the entrance of the building where he lived. Mitric stated that the debtor was again not at home, which has frequently been the case, but family members were present along with their lawyer, a former high-ranking official of the Belgrade Police and the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs,” the Association said in a press release.
The fact that the assailant’s lawyer is a former police chief came as no surprise to Mitric. He says that in 2010, while the trial was still ongoing, the attacker’s lawyer was appointed as a judge of the Basic Court in Loznica. According to Mitric, a series of incidents throughout the proceedings points to the involvement of influential figures within police circles.
“When I look back at everything now, including the details I haven’t mentioned, it is clear that those who were the ‘architects’ of the attempts on my life at my doorstep were very, very influential and remained so in various ways. I publicly offered the attacker to reveal them and that I would forgive him everything, but he either did not want to or could not. Interestingly, the police chief in Sabac told me that there was significant obstruction from the Belgrade police to prevent the attacker from being arrested, as well as that the local police chief opposed the order for the police to provide me with protection. Considering all this, it is clear to me that I cannot live without protection, not out of fear, but to prevent a crime that would go unpunished, simply for writing about crime, just as the case of Milan Pantic’s murder remains unsolved to this day, and I was attacked in almost the exact same way. I was simply luckier,” ANEM quoted Mitric as saying.
Since the proceedings began, Mitric has had to regularly pay court fees and advances for enforcement procedures to prevent the statute of limitations from expiring. Thus far, every attempt at collection has failed. Mitric estimates that he has spent at least two million dinars (1 euro – 118 dinars) in his pursuit of justice – the equivalent of two years’ gross salary – to pursue a perpetrator who has already been convicted.
“Full enforcement is still a long way off. Most of the debt relates to my own costs, from legal to experts’ fees, which long ago exceeded my gross income. I have repeatedly requested that the background of the attack be investigated, but nothing has been done,” Mitric emphasized.
ANEM said it once again calls on the judicial authorities, the Ministry of Justice, and other relevant institutions to ensure the administration of justice. This includes enabling victims to receive effective compensation for court costs and damages, and preventing secondary victimization during the legal process.
The Association also calls on the Chamber of Public Executors to supervise the work of the executor responsible for Vladimir Mitric’s case, and to determine in accordance with the Rules on the Supervision of the Work of Public Executors whether there have been any violations of the Public Executors’ Code of Ethics and the Rules on the Standards of Professional Conduct of Public Executors.
The Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists continues to closely monitor the development of this case, ANEM said.
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