The Basic Court in Nis convicted two employees of the city’s public utility company Naisus for attacking N1’s correspondent Milan Stojanovic. Each man was fined 30,000 dinars (1 euro – 117 dinars).
The incident took place on February 21, 2022 while Stojanovic was filming roadworks in Nis where water was gushing up through the tarmac. He was standing about 50 meters away from the unmarked and unfenced excavation site when one of the workers climbed out of a truck belonging to the municipal company Naisus and began aggressively approaching him, shouting at him to stop recording.
Even after Stojanovic identified himself as a journalist covering the works, the men surrounded him, got in his face, shouted and lunged at him in an attempt to force him to leave.
Stojanovic called the police, who insisted that he explicitly say whether he had been threatened.
“It was a classical case of intimidation. They didn’t make any death threats, but what else do you call it when five men surround you, scream in your face and move in aggressively? It’s completely unacceptable behavior, especially from people who are supposed to show a higher degree of responsibility because, in the end, we the public are their employers. They work for a public utility company. And that’s without even mentioning the fact that nobody should ever behave like that on the street,” said at the time N1’s correspondent.
The two Naisus employees were found guilty of the criminal offence of preventing the printing and distribution of printed materials and the broadcasting of programs.
Source: N1
