Month: March 2023

The Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina has condemned the attacks on the vehicles of two journalists from Banja Luka, a day after they criticised a law that threatens freedom of speech.

The attacks on the cars of two journalists from Banja Luka, administrative centre of Bosnia’s Serb-dominated Republika Srpska entity, discovered early on March 9, a day after they criticised a new law on defamation, was “extremely worrying,” the Delegation stated. 

Nikola Moraca, journalist of EruoBlic and SrpskaInfo, and Aleksandar Trifunovic, editor-in-chief of online magazine Buka, found their cars damaged in the same neighbourhood where they both live. 

“It is yet another example of the difficult conditions that journalists in Bosnia and Herzegovina operate in, and the ongoing hostile environment for media freedom in the country,” the EU office added. 

A day prior to the attack, Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik slammed those who criticised a proposed law which would criminalise defamation, imposing huge financial fines, naming several individuals, including Moraca and Trifunovic. 

“This is a typical attempt at intimidation; the day after Dodik called us scoundrels and marked targets, it was only a matter of time before someone would interpret this as an instruction,” Trifunovic posted on Twitter after discovering the damage. 

“Verbal attacks by political leaders that seek to discredit journalists can also contribute to increased hostility and risks for them,” the UN mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina wrote on Twitter, among many reactions by local and international human rights and media organisations.

Jutros su meni i komšiji i kolegi novinaru Nikoli Morači brutalno izgrebana auta na parkingu ispred zgrade. Šteta je ogromna. Izgrebane su haube, vrata, krov. Policija od jutros radi uviđaj
Ovo je tipican pokušaj zastrašivanja, i to dan nakon nas je Milorad Dodik nazvao spodobama pic.twitter.com/Vo8JAVPEKE

— AleksandarTrifunović (@AlexandarT) March 9, 2023

Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, condemned the attack on Thursday but also suggested they had “organised” the damage to their cars themselves.

“The government is asking for an imminent police reaction and prosecution of the perpetrators,” he said, adding in the same sentence: “There are some indications that they have organised the attack by themselves, and we will see if it is correct or not.” 

“So the investigation has not officially even begun, and Dodik seems to want to help solve the case by accusing us,” Trifunovic shared on social media on Thursday evening. 

The EU Delegation recalled that freedom of expression and freedom of media are among 14 key reform priorities for Bosnia, as stated in the European Commission’s Opinion on the country’s EU membership application.

“In any democratic society, journalists must be able to do their important work without fear or intimidation,” the EU office said. 

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine occurred against the backdrop of a continued degradation in press freedom across Europe in 2022 and it has had far-reaching consequences for the continent’s journalism, according to the annual report published by the Council of Europe Platform to Promote the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists.

The platform, which through alerts submitted by partner organisations seeks to document the serious threats to the safety of journalists and media freedom in Europe, said in its report published on Tuesday that 289 alerts were posted in 2022 concerning 37 countries, a figure comparable to that of 2021, which saw 282 alerts.

At one end of the scale, apart from the 12 journalists and media workers who died on active duty covering Russia’s war in Ukraine, the platform recorded one journalist killed in the exercise of their work, Gungor Arslan in Turkey, compared to four who died the previous year outside of a war zone. Yet there was a 60 per cent rise to 127 in the number of journalists in prison at the end of 2022 in Europe.

At the other end of the scale, continuing unabated were the harassment and smear campaigns, both online and offline, targeting journalists; the rise in surveillance; the continued use of abusive court proceedings; and the use of the war as ammunition for governments trying to restrict journalists’ right to report on matters considered national security.

Harassment, intimidation and smear campaigns have become a “new normal” up to the point that some journalists no longer even report them, noted the report titled “War in Europe and the Fight for the Right to Report”. A total of 94 alerts were posted on the platform, compared with 110 in 2021. The highest number of cases were recorded in Russia, but also in Serbia, Italy, Poland, Croatia and Greece.

“Press freedom in Europe continues to be undermined by restrictive legislation,” Flutura Kusari, senior legal advisor for the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) told a press conference. “Surveillance, the fight against disinformation, legislation on state secrets or the fight against terrorism are all used to pressure journalists.”

This is the third year that the annual report has dedicated a chapter to the rising use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and other legal actions aimed at intimidating and silencing journalists, which have become a favourite tool of powerful individuals and corporations. At least 20 defamation and other types of legal proceedings were documented against journalists in 2022, with hundreds of thousands of euros sought in damages in the name of reputational harm.

The European Commission published a directive last year in which it tasked the Council of the EU and European Parliament to develop anti-SLAPP legislation to protect journalists, activists, academics, and others from legal battles intended to stop their work. “Now is the time for member states to start taking actions against SLAPPS,” said Kusari.

The threats posed to journalists and their sources from surveillance increased in 2022 as fresh allegations and evidence emerged about the abuse of sophisticated spyware tools by governments in the region.

Particularly noteworthy cases occurred in Hungary, where investigations continued into the use of Pegasus by state intelligence agencies to surveil at least five journalists and media owners. And in Greece, 2022 saw the emergence of a new spyware product, Predator, with revelations about its use to surveil journalist Thanasis Koukakis, as well as leading politicians. On November 6, in yet another development of what is being called the “Greek Watergate”, the newspaper Documento published an article alleging that numerous journalists, media owners and figures connected to the Greek media industry were among persons targeted with Predator.