HNK Police Once Again Serving Thugs

Senad Pećanin, attorney for the editor of the portal Tacno.net, Štefica Galić, and journalist Amer Bahtijar, sent a press release to the public regarding the statement issued today by the HNK Canton Police Commissioner, which the Patria News Agency transmits in its entirety.

- Today's press release from the Office of the Police Commissioner of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, Ilija Lasić, regarding the attack on the editor-in-chief of the portal Tacno.net, Štefica Galić, her three-year-old granddaughter, and journalist Amer Bahtijar, represents an attempt to grossly deceive the public in order to cover up the responsibility of the attackers.

We remind you that on January 2, 2015, the editor and journalist of the portal Tacno.net were attacked without any reason in the MEPAS MALL shopping center by Marin Kordić, Josip Čuljak, and Antonio Vrljić, who insulted, threatened, and cursed them with "balija mother", stating that they would end up like Professor Slavo Kukić, who was recently brutally beaten in his university office. Instead of immediately prosecuting the attackers, Police Commissioner Lasić informed the public that the police had filed a misdemeanor charge against journalist Bahtijar and only one of the attackers, Mr. Marin Kordić.

It is clear that Commissioner Lasić has two goals: to hide the responsibility of the attacker Antonio Vrljić, an employee of the Agency for Education and Training of Personnel of the Ministry of Security of BiH, and the second, to initiate misdemeanor proceedings to avoid the legal obligation to file criminal charges against all attackers.

The attack on the editor and journalist of the portal Tacno.net represents a primitive act of endangering their physical safety, as well as an attack on the freedom of journalistic work. The fact that the police authorities of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton have once again been placed at the service of thugs, instead of performing their legal function to protect the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of BiH and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is particularly worrying.

The attacked employees of the portal Tacno.net will, through their attorney, use all legal means to protect their rights and legally prosecute the attackers and their police accomplices, the statement concludes.