[ad_1]
This is the year of the journalist Jelena Zorić. She became famous for reporting during the demonstrations in front of the assembly and during the Kovid-19 epidemic. It has been awarded several times in recent months. In no time, it became known even to those who do not watch or watch H1 television. Through professional information, as a standard of respect for the journalistic code of ethics, he managed to reconcile and create consensus within the divided media scene and the journalistic and media associations in conflict.
The editorial decision to entrust him with the report of Predrag Koluvija’s trial was somewhat taken for granted, taking into account the environment in which this trial is taking place, in which we have been bombarded for days by the statements of the accused who is in custody and prosecuted for owning a marijuana plantation near Belgrade. The defense is led by the deputy and high representative of the ruling party, Vladimir Djukanovic, president of the Judicial Committee of the National Assembly. During and around the trial, there was a significant discrepancy between what the pro-regime media reported in relation to police records and statements. Everything seems to be a well-established mechanism by which the accusation is gradually relativized. Happiness is spoiled by a couple of means, writes Veran Matić for Javniservis.net.
The “bone in the throat” of the defendant Predag Koluvija’s legal team is a way of informing Jelena Zorić, whom, according to her, lawyer Svetislav Bojić transmits the defendant’s messages twice, expresses dissatisfaction with her work and suggests that it should do its job.
The problem exists because Jelena Zorić is trusted. When he reports, but also when he estimates that habitual communication turns into threats.
Jelena does not decide to simply make public the information that she feels threatened. I once asked her about a case of pressure and she told me that it did not go beyond a limit that she can tolerate as a professional and that she would not create a theme from there. When he called me after speaking with attorney Bojić in the Coluvia case, it was clear to me that he had exceeded the limit of his patience, and when I heard what the attorney told him, it was clear to me that it was a cleverly packaged threat, which made me irresistible. He recalled the mafia culture of conservative believers who dedicate themselves to family and church while committing the most horrible crimes. We agreed to follow the procedure that we constructed through the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, and only after that to release the information to the public.
I informed the members of the working group, Slobodan Malešić, Deputy Director of Police, and Branko Stamenković, Deputy Prosecutor of the Republic. The following day, Jelena testified for the Office on the notification received from the citizens in which she described the event, provided quotes, information that the cameraman testified in the interview and stated that her safety was in danger, given the case and the criminal group . he is working, and that for the first time in his life as a journalist he is filing a complaint against someone.
The Ministry of the Interior immediately sent the official note to the Second Basic Prosecutor’s Office, the prosecutor that is the point of contact for reports on attacks on the safety of journalists. The competent prosecutor immediately sent a request to collect the necessary information from the Ministry of the Interior, and yesterday, lawyer Bojić joined the police following a subpoena. We heard from the media who denied having threatened. The prosecution awaits a report for a new decision in accordance with the law.
Such an urgent reaction is the first according to the new mandatory instruction of the Public Ministry of the Republic, and when it comes to endangering the safety of journalists.
***
At the same time, Jelena hired an attorney she trusted and chose not to make statements on her own in order to do her job, not to become an issue. The statements will be made by an expert who can articulate the case in a legal format, taking care not to involve the politicization of either party. And he actually managed to make another move that creates a standard in reaction to all actions that are considered to endanger the safety of journalists.
We await reactions from the competent prosecutor. It is encouraging that there has been an effective response and that due attention has been paid to this case. Because many cases like this have passed us by. With impunity. I have already written about the fact that journalists from the Danas newspaper, reporting on the war crimes trial from the same building in front of which this threat occurred, were also threatened by the accused, lawyers, extremist observers, such as Vojislav Seselj . With effective reactions, we must impose the feeling that it is inadmissible to threaten journalists in any way, hinder them in their work, humiliate them, put them in danger by gender. And when it comes to whether this is a threat, these days we might see reactionaries who know very well from personal experience what threats are:
When someone from the prison “greets” a journalist (in this case Jelena Zoric) it is a threat and not a cordial greeting. A lawyer should know when the “greeting” is broadcast! https://t.co/6EqzqqaBt5
– Brankica Stankovic (@brankica_st) December 30, 2020
That is why it is important that the public be informed and alerted to the government working group for the safety of journalists in the prescribed procedure.
Judge Miodrag Majic was right when I posted the following message on Twitter:
These claims need to be urgently verified. An opportunity for the Illustrious Bar Association, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Working Group for the Safety and Protection of Journalists to convince us that there are facts behind the big words. This never, nowhere, not even here! https://t.co/0cq9bUEwZR
– Miodrag Majic (@misamajic) December 30, 2020
The prompt reaction, the denial of threats and the tone of the announcement of the Belgrade Bar Association are a continuity of the form of communication in which I have personal experience of other processes, such as the trial for the murder of Slavko Curuvija or the arson from Milan Jovanovic’s house.
The reactions of the Bar Association and the defense lawyer of the accused are revealed on Twitter by Jugoslav theosić, director of the N1 program:
Tintor, President Lawyer. You. BG, media inquisitor and author of the idea of prison sentences for journalists in connection with the violation of the presumption of innocence of the H1 attack and defends lawyer Bojić, who transmitted the threats of client Jelena Zorić. Tintor is also a defense attorney in the “Jovanjica” case. That says a lot. pic.twitter.com/rx3gdyO8yC
– Jugoslav Cosic (@ JugoslavCosicN1) December 30, 2020
Now it is the turn of all those who should dissuade the “unfaithful Tom” who, with denial or skepticism, express their opinion on the formation of the Government working group for the safety of journalists.
If nothing else, then this case would have to serve to create a new criminal policy for acts that are often cleverly packaged threats, made in a way that existing criminal law and criminal policy do not cover it. Although there are clearer threats that we could hear from Jelena Zorić’s testimony. “Svetislav Bojić kindly says: Please be precise when reporting because my client Predrag Koluvija is an honest man and a great believer, here he tells me that when I went to visit him, Zorićka destroys me and breaks her with his reports, but I ask him to God for his health, while I pray for the health of the prosecutor Sasa Drecun and the one who arrested Slobodan Milenković. He continues to address me with the words that Pedja is praying for your health, and I am constantly in contact with the monks of Hilandar and to tell you that whoever sinned against Pedja didn’t do it right, God gave him back. “
In practice, we have had a large number of open threats to journalists that were rejected because it was assessed that they were made in a way that does not cover the provisions of criminal law. That is why it is important to talk about how to solve this problem and how to criminalize the pressure from politically powerful circles towards journalists and the media. That should be a priority for the new government’s Working Group for the Protection and Safety of Journalists.
***
What scares me the most are the statistics from Reporters Without Borders published yesterday, which say that up to 50 journalists were murdered during the year, the majority in countries that are not at war.
We are not at war and we have the experience of dead colleagues. Reason enough to show that the system works with the example of the threat to Jelena Zorić. If you can’t do that for the most awarded journalist in 2020, I don’t know what to expect from your colleagues who do their job honestly and professionally every day.
[ad_2]
