The Centre for Investigative Journalism in Serbia (CINS) editor-in-chief told N1 that he received threats on social networks following accusations coming from a Bosnian Serb leader that the Centre, sponsored by international organisations, was working on the destruction of political structures in the region.

Dino Jahic said that it was a mystery why Milorad Dodik, the President of the Serb-dominated entity in Bosnia, Republika Srpska (RS), chose him since the CINS reporters “haven’t dealt with the RS or Dodik for years,” but added that both the RS and Serbia used a similar mantra in exercising pressure on journalists.

Dodik mentioned Jahic and pointed at CINS, but the editor said it was confusion since the Sarajevo-based CIN published the database of politicians’ property, including Dodik’s, which is a usual practice ahead of elections. The vote in Bosnia is scheduled for October.

Jahic said he believed that the attack on him and the CINS was an attempt to divert attention from real problems in the pre-election period.

Before coming to Belgrade, Jahic was a CIN journalist and the deputy editor, so he assumed that Dodik mixed up everything, “deliberately or not.”

“An idea is probably to create an atmosphere of fear to stop the investigative reporters and other colleagues from doing what we do, but that won’t happen,” Jahic said.

His next step will be to talk to lawyers because, as he has said, “it is important that when someone does things like that, they face legal consequences.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) condemned Dodik's attack on Jahic as shameful and groundless.

“The NUNS feels that Dodik’s public offensive attack on the editor in chief of the Serbian Centre for Investigative Journalism (CINS) is the most direct pressure on freedom of journalists and the media which also endangers Dino Jahic and his co-workers,” the association said in a statement. NUNS is the founder of the CINS.