12. Apr 2017
Press release
A coalition of NGOs, Civic Vojvodina, believes that the attack at journalists, done by the Head of the parliamentary group of the ruling party in the National Assembly, Aleksandar Martinovic, is only a part of a broad campaign led by the government and tabloids under its control that has been on for some time, against the leaders of the Independent Journalists’ Association (IJAV) Nedim Sejdinovic and Dinko Gruhonjic.
Civic Vojvodina expresses its great concern about the serious threats that the two of them, as well as other journalists and public figures had been receiving in the previous period, and, if the perpetrators are not urgently identified and punished, it will be considered that both of the above mentioned actions are part of the same campaign.
We believe that blaming journalists for organizing the protests aims to conceal the basic reasons of the spontaneous mass protests in Serbia and justifiable anger of citizens who are no longer able to silently suffer long tremendous political and media manipulations, which were characterized as the persecution of political opponents, and that it reached its peak during this year’s completely irregular election process.
Civic Vojvodina is concerned that this government, to which is the concept of the political and media pluralism completely vague and unacceptable, may in the forthcoming period dramatically increase the pressure on those who are critical towards it and even organize a sort of reprisal against them.
Civic Vojvodina are:
Center for Regionalism, Novi Sad
Civic Action, Pančevo
Green Network of Vojvodina, Novi Sad
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Belgrade
Center for Intercultural Communication, Novi Sad
Vojvodina Civic Center, Novi Sad
Center civic values, Subotica
Independent Journalists’ Association, Novi Sad
