The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate, the BH Journalists Association (BHJA) in expressing deep concern over the intention of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina to obtain prohibitory measures for the journalist Nataša Miljanović Zubac, which include the prohibition of leaving Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and contacts with two employees of the BIH Border Police, who, like Miljanović Zubac, are suspected of the criminal offense of “deceiving official secrets.”
Miljanović Zubac was arrested on 7 August in Trebinje after her family house was raided, in connection to her investigation into potential crimes within police infrastructures.
On 13 August, Sanela Imamović, the prosecutor leading the investigation in this case, sent a request to the BIH Court to impose injunctive measures, thereby continuing the institutional torture of Miljanović Zubac, ignoring the provisions of the Bosnian criminal legislation, as well as the role of journalists and investigative journalism in a democratic society. International and Bosnian freedom of expression standards require the suspension of investigations against journalists who discovered important public information during the performance of professional tasks and published it in the public interest. Despite this, prosecutor Imamović demonstrates judicial superiority over women journalist Miljanović Zubac, and also consciously avoids prosecutorial practice on the suspension of investigations against journalists and media who published confidential documents to the public interest.
BHJA and EFJ remind that the prosecutor Sanela Imamović and other authorized officers of the Prosecutor’s Office deliberately launched rigid and illegal proceedings against Miljanović Zubac in order to obtain verbal approval from the Court for the search and confiscation of her two mobile phones and a laptop, allowed the use of the seized phone contrary to the mandatory measures to protect confiscated items, and in clear violation of the protection of the journalistic sources. The handcuffing of the journalist during her escort to the Prosecutor’s office for questioning was also approved. Such procedures represent a disproportionate use of institutional force against a women journalist that has not been recorded in BiH, which is why BHJA and EFJ will submit a complaint to the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council (VSTV).
BHJA and EFJ expect a public decision on the proposed measures to ban Nataša Miljanović Zubac and the action by the BIH Court in accordance with the available evidence and not with the assumptions of the prosecutor Imamović so that this journalist could leave the country or contact other persons involved in the case in question. During the hearing before the BIH Court, we also demand that the provisions of the Bosnian criminal legislation, which protect the journalistic profession and investigative journalists will be strictly applied, and respects Miljanović Zubac’s right to freedom of expression and information in accordance with the European Convention´s principals and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights.
The journalist and media community in BIH, as well as numerous international organizations and institutions, are witnessing a dangerous precedent in the judicial practice of democratic states : the criminalization of a journalist who discovered and publicly pointed out the crime and its perpetrators. For this reason, BHJA and EFJ call on the media and journalists to show solidarity with Nataša Miljanović Zubac, but also to follow the session before the BIH Court on the request of the State Prosecutor’s Office on prohibition measures. In the scenario the BIH Court accepts the request by the Prosecutor’s Office, no journalist or media in BIH would be able to investigate and publish information to the public interest freely, safely and without fear of prosecution.
Finally, we reiterate our calls for the charges against the journalist to be dropped and for an independent investigation to be carried out into her mistreatment, including the unlawful use of her phone in violation of the protection of journalists’ sources. These clear demands were submitted by the EFJ on the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform.
Journalism is not, and should never be, considered a crime.
We demand the BiH Court uphold European standards of freedom of expression and the right to inform in Nataša Miljanović Zubac’s case.
Source: EFJ
