The Management Board of the Association of BH Journalists demands that the Federation (FBiH) entity Police Administration (FUP) and the FBiH Interior Minister, Aljosa Campara, urgently sanction Zoran Cegar, head of the FUP Uniformed Police Sector, for brutal threats to journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) from Sarajevo!

Working on the story about the way in which Cegar acquired the multimillion-euro property in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, CIN journalists contacted Cegar to get the necessary information. In a telephone conversation, they asked Cegar for an interview, but he refused, with threats and curses. Cegar ended the conversation with journalists by saying: “Don't even think of calling me again, don't make me find you from where you’re calling”, and while cursing called the journalist a “Chetnik” (a member of WWII Serb paramilitary that corroborated with the NAZIs).

A similar attack on CIN journalists was repeated Wednesday in front of the Dubrovnik Municipal Court, where Zoran Cegar's trial for the criminal offence of fraud began. After the CIN journalist asked Cegar for a comment, he reacted violently and threatened: “Don't make me rip your throat out!”.

“Such monstrous threats and insults to journalists come from a high-ranking individual in the police hierarchy, who should be responsible for law enforcement and protecting citizens from all kinds of brutality, physical and verbal attacks, and not be the one who will attack and threaten others, the Association said.

“If the FUP and FBiH Minister Campara have not already found it appropriate to react due to the fact that the indictment against Cegar for the criminal offence of fraud was brought up in Croatia in 2019, justifying their inaction by saying that they “did not know” about it because “Cegar did not inform them about it”. (?!), then brutal threats and violent behaviour towards journalists should be reason enough to dismiss such an individual from official duties and sanction them in accordance with the law,” the Association warns.

BH Journalists and the Journalists Helpline will report this case to the FUP, as well as other competent domestic and international institutions, and insist on the sanctioning of the police officer Cegar and his prosecution for assaulting and threatening the safety of journalists.