Journalists in the northern city of Banja Luka have gathered on Tuesday to demand answers from institutions regarding an investigation into the August assault on journalist Vladimir Kovacevic.
Two men wearing hoods had beaten BN TV journalist Vladimir Kovacevic with batons in the evening of August 26. The journalist was hospitalised and the Banja Luka Prosecutor’s Office said the assault will be characterized as a case of attempted murder.
But more than two months later, local journalists say that authorities have still not solved the case. One suspect was arrested, but another one remains at large.
The journalists demand that authorities reveal the perpetrators’ motives, who ordered the assault and why no international arrest warrant was issued for the second suspect, who it seems has left the country.
The Journalists Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina expressed its full support to those gathered in Banja Luka and to Kovacevic.
The lack of progress in investigating this case, which is only one in a line of cases of attacks against journalists, not only puts the credibility of institutions intoquestion, but also raises legitimate doubts over whether institutions truly want to solve the case, the Association said.