BH JOURNALISTS: Municipality Kakanj and local police are stifling freedom of expression, immediately withdraw the misdemeanor charge against the journalist

(Patria) - The Steering Board of the BH Journalists Association and the Helpline for Journalists are issuing a public protest to the Kakanj Police Department, whose officers questioned journalist Džana Omerović Zec, employed at Radio Stari Grad, and filed a misdemeanor charge against her with the Municipal Court in Kakanj for publishing a comment on the social network Facebook.

The Kakanj Police Department conducted an investigation and filed a misdemeanor charge against Džana Omerović Zec based on a complaint by Edin Bjelopoljak, director of the city's Tourist Board. The complaint states that Omerović Zec called the "Kakanjski dani" (Kakanj Days) event "Kakanjski dani jada i čemera" (Kakanj Days of misery and bitterness) on her Facebook profile, and quotes a long list of unresolved problems and needs of this city that the journalist listed, criticizing the organizers of the event and the spending of public money. "And the icing on the cake is the tourist board and its promotion. An invented position for a good-for-nothing who will use the budget for nonsense," wrote Omerović Zec.

In the interpretation of the police inspectors, the journalist's comment is "colloquial speech" which, as they state in the charge, "is considered a derogatory or mocking expression for an incapable, lazy, irresponsible, or useless person." They also claim that the journalist "insulted and belittled the efforts of the employees in organizing the Kakanj Days event".

The Steering Board of BH Journalists considers the initiation of this misdemeanor procedure unacceptable and illegal, as it restricts freedom of expression, as well as the right to criticize public officials. It is particularly worrying that police inspectors interpret the content of the written comment in a manipulative way, and present the feeling of offense of the director of the Kakanj Tourist Board as an insult and belittling of all employees.

The Steering Board of BH Journalists emphasizes that the misdemeanor procedure was initiated based on a municipal Decision, adopted at the beginning of 2025, some provisions of which are contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and other international acts protecting freedom of speech and opinion.

BH Journalists have previously warned about attempts by cantonal authorities in Sarajevo and Bihać to enact legal norms contrary to the principles of the BiH Constitution and European standards for protecting freedom of expression in the media and on social networks. Thanks to the opposition of journalistic organizations, media, and civil society, such attempts have been stopped, but clearly, the ideas of disproportionately restricting freedom of expression through the engagement of police and inspectors have not been completely abandoned. In this context, the question arises about the future of freedom of speech and opinion in the entire country, if the example of Kakanj is followed by local authorities in nearly 150 municipalities and cities in BiH?!

The Steering Board of BH Journalists publicly demands that the Kakanj Police Department immediately withdraw the controversial misdemeanor charge against journalist Džana Omerović Zec. By doing so, they can make an institutional contribution to the protection of freedom of expression, and remove the justified doubt that police structures in Kakanj are being misused for the director of the Tourist Board, who has other legal mechanisms for protecting personal reputation, such as civil proceedings for defamation.

At the same time, BH Journalists call on the local authorities of Kakanj to urgently repeal the provisions of the Decision on Public Order and Peace that are contrary to European standards for the protection of freedom of expression.