Open Letter from the Editorial Board of the Patria News Agency

On  01.10.2014, the Patria News Agency received a letter from the director of ”Energoinvest” stating that the “lease agreement is unilaterally terminated” and that Patria must vacate the premises by 29.10.2014.

Since there were no valid or legal reasons to deny us the use of the premises, we tried to find out the real reasons, but we were only told that it was “ordered from above”.

We remind that our agency uses space in the “Energoinvest” building, where many other companies, organizations, medical practices, political parties BPS Sefer Halilović and SNSD Milorad Dodik also have their offices.

On this occasion, we also want to highlight the situation from a few months ago when Irfan Ljevaković and Aljoša Čampara attempted, through the then editor-in-chief of Patria, on several occasions, to buy it and take it over for their own needs. In doing so, they claimed that for that job – the purchase of Patria, they had the approval of the member of the Presidency of BiH Bakir Izetbegović, and that “money is not a problem”. Since they did not succeed, we strongly suspect that on several occasions they organized hacker attacks – blockades of the agency, about which we informed the FUP, and which were also recorded by other media.

We consider such behavior unacceptable, and we call on Izetbegović and his associates to stop the persecution of Patria. Such pressures and other forms of hindering our work, no matter who they come from, only confirm that we are on the right track and that we are doing our job professionally.

On this occasion, Patria calls on all independent media, the Association of Journalists of BiH, international institutions, primarily the OSCE, OHR, the EU Delegation to BiH, the US Embassy in BiH, and other institutions that have, in numerous previous cases of pressure on the media, stood up for the protection of independent, truthful and professional reporting.

Freedom of the media is one of the key pillars of democracy and a fundamental right protected by relevant European and international agreements and law.

Regardless of such brutal unprecedented pressures and the obvious persecution to which the journalists and editorial board of Patria are exposed, further work and publication of the truth about crime and corruption, socially deviant phenomena, and all other topics that will help build a better society will continue.

NAP - Bh. news agency PATRIA