Photo: Tanjug/OMK Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of SerbiaJudge Nataša Petričević Milisavljević condemned KRIK for quoting the eavesdropped conversation of members of Zoran Jotić Jotka's criminal group, in which it was heard that BIA director Bratislav Gašić was "in trouble" with Jotić. The judgment was made based on Gašić's lawsuit for violation of honor and reputation
On the website of the Ministry of Justice, where the course of court cases can be followed, the information that he is in the lawsuit was published Bratislava Gašića against KRIK for the violation of reputation and honor. The reasons for which Judge Petričević Milisavljević condemned KRIK are not yet known, as is the amount of the fine, since the verdict has not yet reached the newsroom.
Bojana Jovanović from KRIK writes that Gašić sued KRIK in May of last year and demanded that he be paid half a million dinars due to the alleged injury to his honor and reputation due to the text Political connections of the Kruševac criminal group: "Gašić near Jotka on the cauldron". KRIK reported on the news what was happening in the courtroom - as evidence, they released wiretapped conversations in which one of the defendants says that Jotić does not have to worry about his safety because "Gašić is with him on the cauldron" - an expression that in criminal circles means that one person receives money from another.
KRIK journalists respected all the principles of the journalistic profession: before publishing the news, they tried to get a comment from Gašić; they announced the news a day late, so that he would have enough time to respond. Journalist Milica Vojinović continued to try to reach Gašić even after the news was published, and when he finally answered, he said that he did not want to talk to her.
The KRIK verdict was handed down in an unusually fast time frame for domestic trials - after only two hearings, Jovanović writes. The judge banned most of the questions that the editor of KRIK and his lawyer asked Gašić.
In the courtroom, Gašić refused to say whether he had ever been in Jotić's company and in contact with his associates, as well as whether he had been in the same restaurant the night before Jotić's arrest where the well-known criminal was.
During the proceedings, the judge rejected KRIK's proposal to obtain as evidence the audio recordings of the wiretapped telephone conversations that were played at the trial of Jotić, and which KRIK quoted in the news, as well as the transcript from that trial.
A dangerous precedent
KRIK editor Stevan Dojčinović pointed out that the verdict is a dangerous precedent.
"The question arises whether journalists in Serbia are allowed to continue reporting from courtrooms. We reported exactly what happened in the courtroom and that was never questioned during this litigation. There is no justifiable reason for us to be condemned since we invited Gasic, and we even postponed the publication of the news until the next day to give him enough time to respond. To this day, he has not answered the question about his potential connections with Jotko, although as an official he owes the public an explanation."
The president of the Independent Journalists Association of Serbia (NUNS) Željko Bodrožić says that this may be the beginning of even greater pressure on independent media.
"This verdict shows that the government has taken over the courts to a large extent." It is another in a series of pressures on the work of KRIK, which has shown through its previous work that it professionally follows topics of public importance, but it is also a danger for all media," says Bodrožić. "This may be just the beginning of an open trampling of the remaining free media."
Gašić's lawsuit is one of 11 that arrived at KRIK's address during the previous year and this year. The editors of KRIK, as well as domestic and foreign media associations, believe that these are SLAPP lawsuits, that is, lawsuits whose goal is to intimidate journalists and prevent them from performing their work and reporting on certain topics of public interest.
You can read the entire text of KRIK, for which he was convicted HERE.
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