Physical and verbal assaults on journalists during elections

In the build up and during the course of the general elections in Serbia, which were held on 21st June, physical and verbal attacks against journalists were recorded, as well as intimidation and discrimination.

Sports journalist Saša Mikić was physically attacked on election day at a polling station in Kikinda. He went to the polls accompanied by a colleague from internet-based Radio DIR, which conducts training for work in journalism. Upon leaving, he was attacked by three men and sustained injuries.

Election day also saw a journalist and photojournalist from Niš-based portal Južne vesti [Southern News] verbally attacked whilst giving a report, prompting them to file criminal charges in response. A team from Zrenjanin’s KTV television was discriminated against during its reporting on the elections, while a journalist of the portal Glas Zaječar, from the town of the same name, abandoned plans to follow the course of the elections after being threatened a few days earlier by representatives of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.