European Union Awards for Investigative Journalism Presented

SARAJevo, (Patria) - Semira Degirmendžić, Nino Bilajac, Mubarek Asani, and Džana Brkanić are the winners of the 2021 European Union Award for Investigative Journalism, for stories published in 2020. The European Union awards in BiH were presented on Wednesday, December 15, at BIRN's Reporters' House venue.

The first prize for the best investigative story in 2020 was won by journalist Semira Degirmendžić with her investigation "A Farm Received a 10.5 Million Mark Contract for the Procurement of Ventilators," which resonated with the public last year. After a comprehensive investigation, Degirmendžić discovered that the supplier did not have the necessary permit from the Agency for Medicines to import the aforementioned ventilators from China. Involved in this affair, besides Fikret Hodžić, the owner of the company "Srebrna Malina" which appeared as the supplier in this case, were also Prime Minister Fadil Novalić and the head of the crisis headquarters Fahrudin Solak, who were arrested.

Mubarek Asani and Nino Bilajac, journalists from the Center for Investigative Journalism, received the second prize for their story about a network of vote traders in Brčko District. The CIN journalists' investigation, "The Network of Vote Traders," was conducted in cooperation with the Police and the Prosecutor's Office, and they infiltrated the organizers as intermediaries between vote sellers and a local politician to whom those votes were supposed to bring victory, which led to the arrest of the local politician and the seller. This investigation resulted in the additional arrest of eight people, three parliamentary representatives and five intermediaries.

Finally, the third prize was awarded to Džana Brkanić, a journalist from BIRN BiH, for her story about fake humanitarian organizations that defrauded citizens and collected donations for building wells in African countries. The relevance of the investigative story "From BiH to Africa: A Million-Mark Well-Building Project Without Associations and Reports" lies in uncovering the misuse of humanitarian funds, the lack of transparency in their collection and spending, amounting to over four million convertible marks. The lack of adequate controls over such humanitarian actions and associations is precisely one of Moneyval's recommendations to BiH, making this investigation extremely timely in the context of BiH. The investigation led to the termination of such projects, the closure of social media accounts used for fundraising, and the admission by the main actors that the evidence of well construction in African countries was photoshopped.

The Head of the EU Delegation and EU Special Representative in BiH, Johann Sattler, addressed the attendees, emphasizing the importance of the work of investigative journalists who reported on irregularities that occurred even during the pandemic. Ambassador Sattler stressed the importance of investigative journalism and the fact that journalists are the ones who, through their work, bring important topics to the fore in society, including those related to the EU integration process.

The jury's justification this year, consisting of Zlatan Musić, Davor Glavaš, and Slavoljub Šćekić, states that all three stories are of crucial importance to the BiH public. The jury president, Zlatan Musić, particularly highlighted the courage of the journalists and their dedication to the topics, reflected in the very method of research and presentation with numerous details and data. All three investigations are socially responsible and point to many irregularities, which the authorities not only ignore but also participate in. He noted that the number of attacks on journalists is increasing due to the specific nature of their work and urged them to use all protection mechanisms.

The director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Marija Ristić, said that responsible journalism that brings about change and has a greater public impact is needed now more than ever.

The awards were presented at the Reporters' House venue, which will be BIRN's regional museum dedicated to journalists and media during the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia, and will also serve as a meeting and learning place for all journalists.

The focus of the EU Award for Investigative Journalism is to celebrate and promote outstanding investigative journalism in the Western Balkan countries and Turkey, as well as to improve the visibility of investigative journalism among the readership in these countries, it was announced.