Serbia

We issued the following statement after Croatian and Serbian prosecutors announced that they have charged eight men in an October 2008 car bombing that killed Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, and Niko Franjic, the paper’s marketing director...

New York, June 3, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the arrests of three additional suspects in the October 2008 murders of Ivo Pukanic, owner and editorial director of the Zagreb-based political weekly Nacional, and Niko Franjic, the publication's marketing director. Three other suspects had been arrested in November 2008. 

Nationalists suffered a series of political defeats in 2008 and responded by lashing out against independent journalists and liberal reformers with threats and physical attacks. A reformist-nationalist coalition government led by the conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica during the first half of the year and by liberal President Boris Tadic during the second half failed to adequately protect journalists from these abuses. The nationalists targeted independent journalists, rights activists, and reformist politicians for "betraying" Serbia, while police and prosecutors regularly turned a blind eye.

Dear Mr. President, The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned about the recent attacks on the Belgrade-based independent broadcaster B92 and its founder, Veran Matic. The attacks started in the wake of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence on February 17--culminating in the siege of the station by angry protesters on February 21--and have continued since.

SERBIA: New York, February 22, 2008—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces yesterday’s siege in Belgrade of the independent radio and television station B92. Threats have been waged against the broadcaster since violence flared as a result of Kosovo’s declaration of independence on Saturday. Also, CPJ is appalled by a...

CPJ research indicates that the following journalists have disappeared while doing their work. Although some of them are feared dead, no bodies have been found, and they are therefore not classified as "Killed." If a journalist disappeared after being held in government custody, CPJ classifies him or her as "Imprisoned"...

Attacks and developments throughout the region...

New York, October 18, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists denounces the attack on Vesna Bojicis, Kosovo correspondent for the Serbian-language service of Voice of America (VOA) radio. An unidentified assailant stormed into Bojicis’ home Tuesday night, beat her, and threatened to kill her because of her reporting, according to local...

August 9, 2007 POSTED September 12, 2007 Stefan Cvetkovic, TNT, Bela Crkva THREATENED On August 9, Cvetkovic, editor in chief of the independent radiotelevision station TNT in the city of Bela Crkva, about 100 km (62 miles) east of the capital, Belgrade, received two anonymous phone calls from an unidentified...

New York, April 17, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by an attack against Dejan Anastasijevic, an investigative reporter and editor for the Belgrade weekly magazine Vreme. One of two hand grenades planted on a window sill outside the journalist’s bedroom exploded at 2:50 a.m. Friday, Anastasijevic told CPJ....