ATV's YouTube channel shut down, US sanctions already taking effect

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - After the US Department of the Treasury supplemented the OFAC list of sanctioned individuals and legal entities from BiH, the first repercussions are that YouTube has shut down the account of Alternativna televizija from Banja Luka.

This was confirmed by the media house, and they said they noticed it a few days ago by accident. When you try to view a video report from the ATV channel, a message appears:

"This account has been terminated for violating YouTube Community Guidelines".

"Those who imposed sanctions on us should answer what we did to be sanctioned. To claim something like that, they need to have evidence. They don't have evidence. In my opinion, this is typical pressure on the media and an attempt at censorship. I don't know where they found a basis for these claims. When it comes to Mr. Dodik, we are accused of him doing something. We rejected that after the sanctions and said what we thought," says Kos.

She added that she always has the support of her colleagues, and that they report on the BiH Presidency member Milorad Dodik as an institution, just as they do with the other two members of the BiH Presidency.

The President of the Assembly of the Association of Journalists of Republika Srpska, Branimir Đuričić, says that he is principled against sanctions on colleagues, and that in the case of sanctions against ATV, he sees no evidence on the basis of which the American administration could justify them.

The President of the Banja Luka Club of Journalists, which operates within the BH Journalists Association, Siniša Vukelić, says that the US sanctions against ATV are not clearly explained, nor has evidence been presented for such a measure:

Earlier, the well-known journalist and editor of this media house, Milijana Kos, commented on the US sanctions, emphasizing that it is an unacceptable pressure on the media:

"If any media outlet violates laws, there are ways to sanction them within the system," said Vukelić.

Businessman Slobodan Stanković paid around four million KM for a 56 percent stake in ATV at the end of 2017. The media outlet, which had the aura of an independent TV since its founding, overnight began to be associated with the Dodik family and tycoons close to the Dodiks.

The company "Prointer ITSS", which is associated with Igor Dodik, the son of Milorad Dodik, subsequently took over full ownership of ATV.