Open season on journalists during Serbia’s municipal elections

The victims of the attacks on journalists on 2 June included Mašina news site reporter Marko Miletic, who was subjected to intimidation outside the local branch of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in the north Belgrade suburb of Zemun Polje by SNS activists, who surrounded him and tried to grab the phone he was using to film their branch office.

The victims also included Ugljesa Bokic, a reporter for the Danas newspaper, who was physically attacked by a former policeman in Novi Sad, the capital of the autonomous northern province of Vojvodina, when he tried to interview youths fleeing a fair in the city after an opposition group accused them of conducting fake polls designed to favour the SNS. Punches to the chest left Bokic with bruising around his sternum. SNS activists meanwhile attacked several other journalists with pepper spray to prevent them from working.

As well as physical attacks, journalists were also subjected to smear campaigns in pro-government tabloid media. The victims included 021.rs news site reporter Zarko Bogosavljevic, who was accused of violent behaviour in polling stations – accusations that were unfounded, according to local independent media. Dinko Gruhonjic, a freelance reporter who was already threatened in March, was the target of defamatory leaflets distributed outside polling stations.