The Misdemeanor Court in Bijelo Polje believes that Sakib Čindrak was right when he prevented journalist Alisa Hajdarpašić, then a correspondent for TV Vijesti, in the Orahovica settlement near Bijelo Polje, from recording the activities of the Special Police Department in connection with the arrest of Zoran Lazović, a former intelligence official, the Association of Professional Journalists (DPN) announced.
The DPN statement says that in the verdict, which was delivered to the journalist today, the judge of the Court of Misdemeanors Andrijana Bulatović stated that it was a "legitimate reaction to filming on private property". The judge assessed the statements "don't film, don't film" and the pushing of the journalist's hand while filming with her phone as indisputable. She explained that it was not a violation of the Law on Public Order and Peace, nor was it violent behavior or an attack on life and limb.
"The sentences 'this is private property, please don't film Alice' and 'don't film, don't film' represent a legitimate reaction to unauthorized filming on private property and cannot be interpreted as a criminal act within the meaning of the Public Order and Peace Act. The act of touching the phone itself, as evident from the recording, cannot be qualified as an attack on the life and body of the injured party, nor as a form of violent behavior," the verdict states.
The association states that the verdict itself, as well as the earlier decision of the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Bijelo Polje, not to criminally prosecute Čindrak and several other individuals who prevented the journalist from doing her job, surrounded her, insulted her on the basis of gender, and thus caused fear and stress in her, is discouraging for the DPNCG.
"It shows that the prosecutor at the Bijelio Polje ODT, as well as the judge of the Minor Offences Court, do not know the standards of the European Court of Human Rights, the specifics of the journalistic profession, and least of all the public interest. Because, if they do not understand that preventing reporting on the suspected high-ranking security sector official Zoran Lazović is in the public interest, then they do not understand the nature of their job. And that, among other things, is to work in the public interest," the DPN announced.
They emphasize that the media is a pillar of democracy, and the public has the right to know.
"However, with such decisions, the prosecution and the Court for Minor Offenses in Bijelo Polje are creating a practice where anyone can take a journalist's phone and camera and prevent them from reporting. The journalist was not secretly filming someone for it to be unauthorized filming, or should Lazović's godfathers have given her authorization to monitor the police action? The journalist will of course appeal the court's decision, because it is dangerous for everyone who works in the media. And we expect that the authorities will take this into account. At least the Constitutional Court," the statement reads.
Bonus video:
