The SafeJournalists network announced today that it is deeply concerned about the brutal physical attack on journalist Ana Raičković from Montenegro and her family members.
That network said in a statement that it calls on the authorities to prosecute the attackers without delay and to give them the most severe punishments.
"It is particularly alarming that one of the attackers is an active employee of the Montenegrin Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), and therefore we call on the authorities to prosecute the attackers without delay and give the most severe punishments, in order to send a clear message that there are no untouchables in society. Businessman Zoran Bećirović, his son Luka and his security guard Mladen Mijatović, who is an active MUP officer, brutally attacked Ana Raičković, the editor of the black chronicle in the daily newspaper Pobjeda, as well as members of her family, in Podgorica "The security guards first verbally attacked the journalist, and later physically attacked her, her son and her fiance who tried to defend her. On that occasion, they were attacked and their car was demolished," the statement reads.
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The SafeJournalists network added that Raičković, who at the time of the attack was in a fast food restaurant in the Block Five neighborhood in Podgorica, stated that after the initial barrage of threats, insults, and curses, she reported to the police that she was being openly harassed by a group of men who at the time of the attack did not could recognize with certainty.
"The verbal attacks continued even after the arrival of her fiance and son, and soon the violence escalated into a physical confrontation. Raickovic, her son and fiance managed to get to the car, but the attackers followed them there as well. 'Mijatovic grabbed my neck and said: 'Tell me the name of the guy [the journalist's son]'. I didn't want to say it, because he threatened to find him, and if I didn't speak, he would kill me,' Raicković told Pobjeda, adding that , while Mijatović held her by the neck, Bećirović grabbed her by the hair and slammed her head against the door of the vehicle. bruises, lacerations on the head, as well as swelling of the hand," said the SafeJournalists network.
They also said that the Media Union of Montenegro (SMCG) demands that the authorities urgently prosecute Bećirović and the other participants in the attack and that they be punished in accordance with the Criminal Code, which prescribes greater penalties for attacks on journalists.
"Bećirović has a history of attacks and intolerance towards journalists, which makes this case particularly serious, the SMCG pointed out. After reporting the journalist, the attackers were taken into custody and ordered to be detained," the SafeJournalists network said in a statement.
They state that they welcome the fact that the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Podgorica ordered the detention of up to 72 hours for all three attackers of the journalist and her family.
"The announcement that one more person who participated in the attack will be heard is also encouraging. The network further calls on the authorities to prosecute the attackers without delay and to give the most severe punishments, in order to send a clear message that there are no untouchables in society and that this kind of treatment of media workers and women workers is unacceptable. The SafeJournalists network will inform the relevant national and international stakeholders. Every attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy and the rights of all citizens," concludes the statement of the SafeJournalists network.
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