The European Union (EU) strongly condemns all threats and physical attacks against journalists and media freedom, the EU’s office in Bosnia and Herzegovina said on Monday, following the attack on BN Television’s (BN TV) reporter in Banja Luka.
“Journalists must be able to perform their work in full safety in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Attacks on media, as in the most recent case of Vladimir Kovacevic, are violations of journalists’ rights, as their safety is a precondition for free speech and free media,” said the EU Delegation/Office of the EU Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kovacevic was physically assaulted Sunday evening in front of the building where he lives, when two still unidentified men approached him and, as Kovacevic described, started beating him with expandable batons.
The attack triggered a series of reactions by media associations and foreign institutions in the country, who called on the police and authorities to find the perpetrators and punish them adequately.
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The EU’s office in Sarajevo also urged the law enforcement agencies to fully investigate such cases “to ensure safe working conditions for all journalists.”
“Freedom of expression, freedom of media and safety of journalists are major priorities for the European Union and, as part of the Copenhagen political criteria, a key aspect of the EU integration process of the Western Balkans countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina”, the EU Delegation said.
The international community’s top official in the country, the Office of the High Representative (OHR), strongly condemned the attack and urged competent institutions to conduct a thorough investigation into this “act of violence” in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“Violence against anyone, including journalists, cannot be tolerated in any democratic society. Journalists have the right to work without fear. The society as a whole is judged by the environment they are working in,” said the OHR, the institution overseeing the implementation of the civilian part of the peace agreement which ended the 1992-95 armed conflict in Bosnia.
“This brutal attack against Mr Kovacevic is the latest in a series of attacks on media representatives throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina. Such acts are a direct result of politicians’ irresponsible rhetoric which creates tensions and taints the public discourse in the country, and – in the long run – cannot go on without consequences,” the OHR stated.
