Serbian authorities rejected a residence permit application from Massimo Moratti, a researcher for the Italian media freedom organization Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT) and banned him from entering the country for one year, announced the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Safety of Journalists, calling for the decision to be overturned.
The Platform shared on X that it received the alert on Moratti’s case – which it classified as a serious state-level threat to media freedom by Serbia – from the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and the International Press Institute (IPI).
According to the alert, published on the Council of Europe Platform’s website, Massimo Moratti, a researcher for the Italian media freedom organization (OBCT), was notified on 4 September 2026 that the Serbian Ministry of the Interior had rejected his application for a residence permit, that he was ordered to leave the country within 15 days of notification and given a one-year entry ban.
The Ministry’s decision came seven months after Moratti submitted his application for a residence permit in the course of which he was interviewed by the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA), the Platform stated.
According to Moratti, the decision cited an “unacceptable security risk for the country” without providing further details about the grounds for that assessment or whether the assessment was related to his work for OBCT. The decision also risks separating Moratti from his wife, who is employed in Belgrade, and their two-year-old child, the Council of Europe Platform stated.
It added that on 10 September, Moratti appealed against the decision, and later also requested to stay its enforcement until the appeal is decided.
Platform seeks clarification from Serbian authorities
The Platform called on the authorities to provide clarification regarding the legal basis and the factual grounds for the rejection of Massimo Moratti’s residence permit, including whether his media freedom activities or commentary on matters of public interest played any role in the assessment that he poses a security risk for the country.
“The authorities are also invited to ensure that any restrictions affecting foreign journalists and media workers are applied in a transparent, proportionate and non-discriminatory manner, with due process guarantees and full respect for freedom of expression and media freedom under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The authorities are invited to grant the appeal and lift the decision and the entry ban,” the CoE Platform said.
The Platform reported that, starting in 2005, Moratti was an OBCT correspondent in Sarajevo and later in Belgrade and that, from 2011 to 2018, he worked in Serbia on multiple EU projects and later moved to London.
In 2022, Moratti relocated back to Belgrade with his family and contributed to media freedom advocacy efforts in the Western Balkans, including Serbia, the Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform pointed out.
It noted that OBCT is also part of the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium, which conducted in March 2026 a joint mission in Belgrade in cooperation with the partner organizations of the Safety of Journalists Platform.
The Platform added that Moratti joined this mission on behalf of OBCT, resulting in the publication of a mission report, published in July 2026.
Source: N1
