Dear IFEX Representatives, Below is text from and a link to a SEEMO statement on Montenegro posted to IPI’s website today. Best, Steven Ellis http://www.freemedia.at/home/singleview/article/journalist-assaulted-in-montenegro.html Journalist assaulted in Montenegro SEEMO demands investigation into attack, other recent incidents VIENNA, Jan 7, 2014 – The South East Europe Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute […]
Dear IFEX Representatives,
Below is text from and a link to a SEEMO statement on Montenegro posted to IPI’s website today.
Best,
Steven Ellis
http://www.freemedia.at/home/singleview/article/journalist-assaulted-in-montenegro.html
Journalist assaulted in Montenegro
SEEMO demands investigation into attack, other recent incidents
VIENNA, Jan 7, 2014 – The South East Europe Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), today condemned the latest physical attack on a journalist in Montenegro.
On Friday evening in the town of Niksic, an unknown assailant attacked daily newspaper Dan correspondent Lidija Nikcevic in the street, repeatedly striking her in the head with a stick causing injuries that required hospitalisation.
“We demand that authorities – including the police, the state prosecutor and the courts -immediately open an investigation into this incident,” SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic said. “Further, we call on the prime minister and the president of Montenegro, as well as the president of Parliament, to use all powers available to them to support an investigation in this case and in all other cases of attacks on and threats against journalists and media companies in Montenegro in recent years.”
He added: “This case is only the latest in a string of numerous incidents. In most cases, the perpetrators or the masterminds of the attacks have not been arrested. High-level officials in Podgorica have promised SEEMO representatives during meetings that the Montenegrin state will use its full power to stop attacks on journalists and to support investigations in unsolved cases. However, we still have no results.”
Attacks on or threats against journalists in Montenegro in past years include:
-2013: someone threw a stone at the window of commercial TV station Montena in Podgorica on Dec. 30. Four days earlier, a bomb exploded under windows of the office of daily Vijesti’s editor-in-chief, Mihailo Jovovic. The explosion damaged the building, but did not injure Jovovic or the more-than-15 other Vijesti staff members who were there at the time.
On Aug. 11, a device exploded in front of the home of Montenegrin journalist Tufik Softic in the town of Berane. Softic, a local correspondent for Vijesti, was at home with his family at the time. The incident was not the first attack on Softic: on Nov. 1, 2007, two individuals beat and injured him in front of his home. Softic at that time was working for Radio Berane and as a local correspondent for the daily Republika.
-2012: someone attacked Olivera Lakic, an investigative reporter with Vijesti, on March 12 at the door of her apartment building, hitting her several times in the head. Lakic was hospitalised following the attack. Lakic and her daughter also received serious threats one year earlier while Lakic was conducting an investigation into organised crime and tobacco.
-2011: two clearly marked Vijesti company cars were set ablaze on July 14. Another car belonging to the daily was torched on July 23 and then a fourth on Aug. 27.
-2010: Zeljko Ivanovic, one of Vijesti’s founders, and several other journalists received death threats by post in September containing statements such as: “It is over, you are next”.
-2009: the mayor of Podgorica and his son attacked Mihailo Jovovic and Boris Pejovic, a Vijesti daily photojournalist, on Aug. 6 as they documented the men’s improper parking of vehicles in the town. The mayor’s son reportedly threatened the journalists with a gun and Jovovic was treated at a hospital for a head injury.
-2008: sports journalist Mladen Stojovic was severely beaten in his apartment in Bar, a port town less than a 100 kilometres south of Podgorica on May 23. Stojovic suffered numerous fractures and required surgery. He suffered amnesia for four days. Some analysts speculated that the attack might have been connected to his reporting on the alleged fixing of soccer matches.
-2007: in September, several assailants physically attacked Vijesti founder Zeljko Ivanovic near a restaurant where the newspaper was celebrating its 10th anniversary. Ivanovic was injured and received medical treatment. Although the perpetrators of the attack were identified, the masterminds remain at large.
-2006: masked assailants attacked Jevrem Brkovic, a leading novelist in Montenegro, on Oct. 24. Brkovic’s driver, Srdjan Vojicic, was also shot dead in the centre of Podgorica.
-2004: the founder and editor-in-chief of Dan, Dusko Jovanovic, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Podgorica in the night between May 27 and 28 in front of his office building. The masterminds of the killing have not been identified.
# # #
Steven M. Ellis
Senior Press Freedom Adviser
Focus: Europe and North America
International Press Institute (IPI)
Tel: + 43 1 512 90 11
Fax: + 43 1 512 90 14
E-mail: sellis@freemedia.at
Web: www.freemedia.at
Twitter: @steven_m_ellis
Join IPI on Facebook
We’re on Twitter
__________________________________
This message contains confidential information about the International Press Institute and is intended only for the individual(s) named. Even if you are one of the named addressees, it is vital that you do not share, disseminate or distribute the contents of this email, nor copy it except for your personal use. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system.
Dear IFEX Representatives,
Below is text from and a link to a SEEMO statement on Montenegro posted to IPI’s website today.
Best,
Steven Ellis
http://www.freemedia.at/home/singleview/article/journalist-assaulted-in-montenegro.html
Journalist assaulted in Montenegro
SEEMO demands investigation into attack, other recent incidents
VIENNA, Jan 7, 2014 – The South East Europe Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), today condemned
the latest physical attack on a journalist in Montenegro.
On Friday evening in the town of Niksic ,
an unknown assailant attacked daily newspaper Dan correspondent Lidija Nikcevic in the street, repeatedly striking her in the head with a stick causing injuries that required hospitalisation.
“We demand that authorities – including the police, the state prosecutor and the courts –immediately open an investigation into this incident,” SEEMO Secretary
General Oliver Vujovic said. “Further, we call on the prime minister and the president of Montenegro, as well as the president of Parliament, to use all powers available to them to support an investigation in this case and in all other cases of attacks on
and threats against journalists and media companies in Montenegro in recent years.”
He added: “This case
is only the latest in a string of numerous incidents. In most cases,
the perpetrators or the masterminds of the attacks have not been arrested. High-level officials in Podgorica have promised SEEMO representatives during
meetings that the Montenegrin state will use its full power to stop attacks on journalists and to support investigations in unsolved cases. However, we still have no results.”
Attacks on or threats against journalists in Montenegro in past years include:
-2013 : someone threw a stone at the window of commercial TV station Montena
in Podgorica on Dec. 30. Four days earlier, a bomb exploded under windows of the office of daily
Vijesti ‘s editor-in-chief, Mihailo Jovovic. The explosion damaged the building, but did not injure Jovovic or the more-than-15 other
Vijesti staff members who were there at the time.
On Aug. 11,
a device exploded in front of the home of Montenegrin journalist Tufik Softic in the town of Berane. Softic, a local correspondent for Vijesti ,
was at home with his family at the time. The incident was not the first attack on Softic: on Nov. 1, 2007, two individuals beat and injured him in front of his home. Softic at that time was working for Radio Berane and as a local correspondent for the daily
Republika .
-2012 : someone attacked Olivera Lakic, an investigative reporter with Vijesti ,
on March 12 at the door of her apartment building, hitting her several times in the head. Lakic was hospitalised following the attack. Lakic and her daughter also received serious threats one year earlier while Lakic was conducting an investigation into organised
crime and tobacco.
-2011 : two clearly marked Vijesti company
cars were set ablaze on July 14. Another car belonging to the daily was torched on July 23 and then a fourth on Aug. 27.
-2010 : Zeljko Ivanovic, one of Vijesti ‘s founders,
and several other journalists received death threats by post in September containing statements such as: “It is over, you are next”.
-2009 : the mayor of Podgorica and his son attacked
Mihailo Jovovic and Boris Pejovic, a Vijesti
daily photojournalist, on Aug. 6 as they documented the men’s improper parking of vehicles in the town. The mayor’s son reportedly threatened the journalists with a gun and Jovovic was treated at a hospital for a head injury.
-2008 : sports journalist Mladen Stojovic was severely beaten
in his apartment in Bar, a port town less than a 100 kilometres south of Podgorica on May 23. Stojovic suffered numerous fractures and required surgery. He suffered amnesia for four days. Some analysts speculated that the attack might have been connected to
his reporting on the alleged fixing of soccer matches.
-2007 : i n
September, several assailants physically attacked Vijesti founder Zeljko Ivanovic near a restaurant where the newspaper was celebrating its 10th anniversary. Ivanovic was injured and received medical treatment. Although the perpetrators of the attack
were identified, the masterminds remain at large.
-2006 : masked assailants attacked
Jevrem Brkovic, a leading novelist in Montenegro,
on Oct. 24. Brkovic’s driver, Srdjan Vojicic, was also shot dead in the centre of Podgorica.
-2004 : t he
founder and editor-in-chief of Dan , Dusko Jovanovic, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Podgorica in the night between May 27 and 28 in front of his office building. The masterminds of the killing have not been identified.
# # #
Steven M. Ellis
Senior Press Freedom Adviser
Focus: Europe and North America
International Press Institute (IPI)
Tel: + 43 1 512 90 11
Fax: + 43 1 512 90 14
E-mail:
sellis@freemedia.at
Web:
www.freemedia.at
Twitter: @steven_m_ellis
Join IPI on
Facebook
We’re on Twitter
__________________________________
This message contains confidential information about the International Press Institute and is intended
only for the individual(s) named. Even if you are one of the named addressees, it is vital that you do not share, disseminate or distribute the contents of this email, nor copy it except for your personal use. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail
if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system.
