Ivanovic wrote to Janovic: You will not silence journalists with reports, you will not intimidate them with interrogations

The executive director of the non-governmental organization (NGO) 35mm, Darko Ivanović, told the director of the National Security Agency (ANB), Ivica Janović, that journalists will not be silenced with reports and that they will not be intimidated with interrogations.

According to the NGO 35mm, Ivanovic sent an open letter to Janovic regarding the fact that the director of the ANB filed criminal charges against journalists from the Center for Investigative Reporting of Montenegro (CIN-CG) Andrea Perišić and Đurđe Radulović, as well as against unidentified persons, for allegedly disclosing classified information in the article. "SECURITY CHECKS IN THE ANB: Are hirings being done more at the behest of the powerful" which was published on the CIN-CG website on May 31st.

We are quoting Ivanovic's letter in its entirety:

"Mr. Janović,

For years, we have been hearing that the biggest threats to the security of the state are organized crime, foreign influences, corruption, and abuse of power.

We didn't know that two female journalists with a dictaphone had been included among them in the meantime.

When the director of the National Security Agency responds to journalistic research with criminal charges, then we have a serious social problem.

People who are confident in their work respond to facts. People who are unsure of their work respond to reports.

Journalists are not ANB operatives. Their job is not to protect you from questions. Their job is to ask questions you don't want to hear.

The idea of ​​journalists revealing sources is particularly worrying. Is the next step for doctors to reveal the condition of patients and lawyers to denounce clients? If we are already dealing with the destruction of the basic principles of the profession - let's see how far this experiment in this drama of democracy goes.

Democracy is not a system in which the state controls and instructs journalists, and journalists remain silent before the secret service. Democracy works exactly the opposite.

There is no function in this country that is above the public interest. Especially yours.

And there is something that every director of the ANB should know: trust and position are not built on fear. Fear produces silence, and silence produces dictatorship. In a dictatorship, there are no questions, only followers. Nobody wants such a Montenegro.

That's why the question hanging in the air today is very simple:

If there is nothing in the published text that threatens state security, why did it upset you so much?

You won't silence journalists with reports.

You won't intimidate them with interrogations.

You will not commit a crime in the public interest.

With this move, you confirm what every democratic state must beware of - that individuals in positions of power quickly begin to believe that criticism of themselves is an attack on the state.

The only attack on a state is when you attack its journalists. We hope you understand, and to make sure that you do, we will be asking these, and many other, questions - on a weekly basis.

Until you enter the EU.

Since Montenegrin journalists are already there, all that remains for us is to direct you and the rest of the repressive apparatus you represent towards the EU and its values.

It took some 30 years, we expect that this painful process will take less time for you."