
The International Press Institute (IPI) today welcomed the guilty verdicts handed down to three defendants accused of ordering and carrying out an arson attack which destroyed the home of Serbian investigative journalist Milan Jovanović in 2018.

“It is high time for Serbia to face the legacy of the past, to protect media freedom and freedom of assembly, and to fulfil its commitments on women’s rights and gender equality” said today Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, at the end of a visit to the country carried out from 13 to 17 March 2023.
"For more than two decades families have been left in the dark and those responsible for the killings, kidnappings and disappearances of our colleagues have never been held accountable. Still, to this date, no effective investigations have been held despite a raft of resolutions, pledges and declarations to put an end to impunity. It is time for the International Commission of Experts to investigate the killings, kidnappings and disappearances of journalists and media workers in Kosovo between 1998 and 2005," Anthony Bellanger, Secretary General of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).
Harassment, intimidation and smear campaigns have become normalised to the point where some journalists no longer even report them, with the highest number of cases recorded in Russia, Serbia, Italy, Poland, Croatia and Greece.
The International Press Institute (IPI) said on Monday that it would closely follow the Appeals Court closing in the trial for the 1999 murder of newspaper publisher Slavko Curuvija.

The trial for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija will definitely be a strong test for the judicial system and democracy in Serbia. Murder of a journalist is an extreme case and the punishment should be proportional, of course. We need to break the vicious circle of crimes and impunity, says the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, for Cenzolovka, just before the opening of the process before the Court of Appeal on Monday, 6 March.
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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the police and international security forces in Kosovo to provide journalists with better protection and to safeguard the right to information in the north of the country, where at least four media crews have been attacked by unidentified individuals since mid-November amid heightened political tension between Kosovo and neighbouring Serbia.
The staff and Board of Directors of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Mirko Klarin, founder and editor-in-chief of SENSE News Agency and the SENSE Transitional Justice Center—and lifelong advocate for peace in southeast Europe.

Justice in Serbia for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, journalist and publisher, founder of the newspapers "Telegraf", "Dnevni Telegraf" and "Evropljanin" has been awaited for 23 years. The Court trial has been going on for eight years. And it's not over yet. In the week of December 5, the Court of Appeal in Belgrade heard the appeals of the prosecution and the defense. Unofficially, according to daily “Politika”, the Appellate panel has just decided to open hearings over four days for submission of evidence in March of 2023. The Court of Appeal verdict would be final. A decision is pending. Justice awaits.

Slavko Ćuruvija, Serbian journalist and publisher, founder of the newspapers "Nedeljni Telegraf", "Dnevni Telegraf" and "Evropljanin" was killed on Orthodox Easter Sunday, April 11, 1999. He was shot from behind. One shot hit him in the head. The second went through his heart. A total of 17 bullets were fired at him. The killers pistol-whipped Slavko's wife Branka Prpa unconscious.
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The undersigned international media freedom and journalists organisations today express dismay over the recent attempts by deputy Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič to denigrate the country’s media and warn they were undermining wider efforts by the government to improve the landscape for media freedom.
The current history of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media is a chronology of the continuous struggle for freedom of expression and media transition in turbulent times of constant political and economic challenges. During the quarter century of the institution's existence, the current five representatives on freedom of the media are witnesses, actors and, I can freely say, accomplices in the constant struggle for the survival of free speech, the preservation and promotion of public interest in the media, while making them professionalin accordance with the proclaimed ethical standards.
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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Serbian authorities to guarantee the safety of the journalists at OK Radio, a leading local radio station in the southeastern town of Vranje, whose work is being obstructed by increasingly violent threats from Dejan Nikolic, a powerful local businessman known as Kantar.