German media about the attack on Olivera Lakić: Cigarette smuggling, Kalić, Đukanović...

The entire leading German press reports that he is in Montenegro an attack on "Vijesti" investigative reporter Olivera Lakić.

Frankfurter allgemeine zeitung (FAZ) states that this is already the second attack on her, and that she wrote about organized crime and cigarette smuggling in her articles.

FAZ also states that there have been a lot of attacks on journalists in Montenegro, but that not one of them has been investigated.

ARD (the first TV program of the all-German federal public service) reports that attacks on journalists in Montenegro, a candidate country for membership in the European Union (EU), are common and very frequent.

ARD states that Lakić was wounded in the leg and that several hundred people gathered on the street in solidarity with her. Demonstrators carried "Stop the violence" placards.

The German Federal Public Service also announces that the Council of Europe received with horror the news of the attack on a well-known Montenegrin journalist and that it demands that this established practice in Montenegro be finally stopped. General Secretary Thorbjorn Jagland stated that "everything must be done to stop this terrible trend" in Montenegro, because it is an attack on journalists and an attack on democracy.

Deutsche Welle (DW) also reports that a Montenegrin journalist was again the target of an attack last night, this time armed. It is also stated that she is not the only journalist who has recently been attacked in Montenegro. DW also confirms that Lakić was constantly receiving threats and that she had a police escort for almost three years, and writes that the reason for the previous attacks was the fact that she wrote about a specific Montenegrin company that produces and smuggles cigarettes. DW also writes that so far not one of the numerous attacks on Montenegrin journalists has been covered.

The Viennese daily newspaper "Die Presse" states in the headline that a journalist from "Štirije" was shot in Montenegro, and that the associates of "Vijesti", the leading Montenegrin newspaper, believe that the most powerful man in Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, the permanent regent whom he protects, is responsible for the attack. the west.

"Die Presse" states that Lakić wrote about the MTC tobacco factory in Mojkovac, which smuggles cigarettes, and that she also wrote about the mafia drug boss Safet Kalić, who was released early from prison.

"Die Presse" quotes the director of "Vijesti" Željko Ivanović, who says that it is not only the mafia but also the most powerful man in Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, who is jointly responsible for the attack because that all-powerful ruler has been creating an atmosphere for years in which he has declared all critical journalists to be wild animals. free to shoot: "He contributed, at least indirectly, to the attack on Oliver."

"Die Presse confirms that Montenegro, as the best candidate for joining the EU, is in 103rd place on the list of media freedom, together with countries like Mozambique or Kyrgyzstan, and that in Montenegro, journalists' cars are regularly set on fire, bombs are thrown at them, beat and threaten them. Since independence in 2006, 24 attacks have been carried out on the property of "Vijesti" alone, and "none of them have been fully investigated". The editors doubt that this attack will ever be investigated, and Ivanovic says: "Montenegro is mafia state, and it is protected by Đukanović".

Đukanović was recently enraged by a news article about the affairs of his son Blaž, so this man, recently re-elected as head of state, accused "Vijesti" of "spreading fascist propaganda, and there is no compromise with fascists".

Civil rights fighters also believe that Đukanović, "Tsar Milo", is specifically calling for the lynching of his critics, who for him are exclusively "unscrupulous fighters for power and foreign donations".

Đukanović, says Ivanović, "is an authoritarian ruler, whom Brussels forgives everything, because for the EU, the alleged stability is more important than its own values."

The leading daily newspaper in the German-speaking area, the Swiss "Neue zuercher zeitung" (NZZ) also states that this is already the second attack on Olivera Lakić, and that the Montenegrin authorities have not yet caught the perpetrators, even though the police blocked off the entire city and that it is already a common occurrence in Montenegro.

Translated by: Mirko Vuletić