Press Council: No justification for sending long guns into media editorial offices

The Press Council is issuing a public statement regarding the brutal raid by armed and masked members of the Agency for Investigation and Protection (SIPA) into the editorial office of the newspaper "Dnevni avaz", which the Patria agency is reporting in full:

- The Management Board of the Press Council emphasizes that positive investigative actions by the Agency and the Prosecutor's Office aimed at uncovering and preventing criminal activities and acts of certain individuals cannot justify sending police officers armed with long guns into media editorial offices, interrogating journalists, and hindering their free work.

We witnessed such a situation a year ago, when a group of armed special forces raided the same editorial office, justifying it by searching for a published interview. If any kind of investigation requires certain documentation from media archives, it can be obtained through legitimate channels, not by intimidating journalists and demonstrating force in the media editorial office.

Such intimidation has consequences for the work of journalists, their sense of personal safety, and freedom of work.