BH Journalists' Association: Unacceptable Police Treatment of Journalist Nikola Morača

(Patria) - The BH Journalists' Association considers the treatment of journalist Nikola Morača from the Banja Luka office of Srpskainfo.com unacceptable. He was questioned as a suspect for the criminal offense of violating the confidentiality of proceedings, in connection with an article he published about the rape case of an 18-year-old in Banja Luka.

"Morača received the status of a suspect after he refused the status of a witness and the disclosure of the source of his information. This police procedure can be qualified as intimidation of a journalist, which is contrary to the Guidelines for Police-Media/Media-Police Cooperation of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Let us recall, the Guidelines state, among other things: 'The police cannot confiscate equipment or materials from journalists, unless it is the execution of a court order. Materials and equipment that are confiscated in accordance with applicable laws and that may serve as evidence in court proceedings may be temporarily seized and handed over to the court for safekeeping. The police must not use methods of coercion and intimidation against journalists to reveal the source of information.'

Journalists have the right and obligation to protect their source during police checks, and Morača was denied this right, and his mobile phone was confiscated.

Protection of journalistic sources is one of the most important conditions for media freedom, and according to the criminal legislation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, international instruments of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the European Federation of Journalists, as well as the Code of Conduct for Print and Online Media in BiH, all journalists have the right to protect their sources of information.

The BH Journalists' Association will stand in defense of our colleague and the profession. Also, we publicly demand from those responsible for this situation an explanation as to why (or for whom) they violated all of the above," the BH Journalists' Association stated.