Physical attack on N1 and FTV journalists based on ethnic hatred

 

The Press Council in BiH strongly condemns yesterday's ban on reporting and the brutal physical attack on N1 and FTV crews by members of the Ravna Gora Movement. It is unacceptable that there was no police presence at such a public gathering and that journalists could not be properly protected, states the announcement of the Steering Board of the Press Council in BiH, as reported by the Patria news agency.

This savage attack and physical injury of a female journalist and a cameraman is not only a brutal prevention of journalists from performing their professional duty of reporting to the public from a public gathering. This attack and harassment of journalists is all the more terrifying because it is an attack based on ethnic hatred and intolerance.

This is not only a threat to the freedom of media reporting and free journalistic work. It is a severe disturbance for citizens in BiH, intimidation through a demonstration of brutality and force, and a message that even more than 20 years after the end of the war in these areas, freedom of movement, freedom of reporting, and the freedom to show a personal ID in certain parts of the country can be a reason for beating and lynching.

The Press Council in BiH sends a request to all competent institutions in the RS, police agencies, and prosecutor's offices to seriously address the issue of increasingly frequent and unpunished attacks on journalists, as well as the problem of overall insecurity in BiH and those who cause it, the statement reads.