Independent Board on SIPA's Raid of Dnevni avaz Newsroom: No Impact on Journalistic Freedoms

The Independent Board of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina discussed today the information regarding the raid by members of the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) on the premises of the daily newspaper „Dnevni avaz“ and concluded that SIPA, given that in performing tasks within its competence it is responsible for the legality, purposefulness and safety of the execution of operational actions, has full autonomy in assessing how and by what means to achieve these goals, which also applies in this case, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria.

Furthermore, it was concluded that an analysis of the facts highlighted in the submitted SIPA report and the submitted complaint by „Avaz roto - press“ shows that there was no disproportion in the use of human and technical resources, nor was there any influence on journalistic freedoms of expression in that media house.

Finally, it was concluded that the mere public display of members of the SIPA special unit with long-barreled weapons in the official premises of the daily newspaper „Dnevni avaz“ could have unnecessarily created a public impression of pressure on media freedom, but that in essence this is not the case, and this should be taken into account in the future.