A court in the central Serbian city of Kragujevac handed down a suspended four month prison sentence to a man who assaulted an N1 TV crew covering a protest.

The court said that it had sentenced Milovan Ivanovic from the town of Jagodina for verbally assaulting the N1 cameraman and reporter and grabbing the camera while they were covering a road block in the Rekovac municipality which was put up to protest plans to build a lithium mine. The sentence was passed for serious violations of public order with intent on November 27, 2021.

The court said that Ivanovic can appeal the sentence.

N1 reporter Milan Nikic said “this is a sentence that motivates people who assault journalists, cameramen and photographers in Serbia to continue the violence knowing that they will get suspended sentences.”