The Coalition for Media Freedom condemned the statements of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić which are directed against the president of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) and a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists Veran Matić.
"Veran Matić has been dedicated to the fight for media freedom, the safety of journalists and the culture of dialogue for decades. That is why we believe that Vučić's statement, which, among other things, marks him as a person who 'hates Serbia' and acts against the state, is another direct and dangerous attempt at intimidation," the Coalition for Media Freedom stated in a statement.
Such statements by the president represent "political pressure of the highest level" on independent media actors and further worsen the situation regarding the safety of journalists in Serbia.
"The President of Serbia is using his position of power to discredit one of the most active members of the mechanism for the protection of journalists, which functions precisely with the support of state institutions. We remind you that Veran Matić has so far helped dozens of journalists to receive institutional support and legal protection," the Coalition stated.
The Coalition for Media Freedom consists of the Association of Media, the Association of Online Media (AOM), the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina (NDNV), the Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (NUNS), the Business Association of the Association of Local and Independent Media "Local Press", the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation and GS KUM Nezavisnost.
Vučić said that those who were "convicted because of Veran Matić should have it deleted from their records, and that he should apologize to them". Matić then said that he sees the president's statement as giving the green light for all those who have been reprimanded for the attack and murder of journalists "to turn to him and pay."
Matić is asking for an assessment of his security
Because of this statement by Vučić, Matić asked the police to assess his security. For Cenzolovka, he says that "the president's statement is in the spirit of the tabloids and on the trail of the defendants' defense attorneys, as well as the defendants themselves, who often blamed me for the fact that the prosecutor filed an indictment against them, the judges confirmed the indictment, and other judges ruled."
"I understand this statement by the president as a kind of green light for all those accused and convicted in cases of attacks on journalists or murders of journalists to turn to me and pay for the time they spent in detention and prison. I interpret this statement from the highest place in the country as intimidation and an attempt to stop actively defending all journalists who are threatened, attacked or unjustly tried."
Matić says that he officially requested a personal security assessment from the police, since he was already in a similar situation when he was under police protection 24 hours a day for six years.
"Even though I don't have excessive expectations from the aforementioned assessment, I want to leave a written record of the initiative to assess my personal safety," he says and adds that the solidarity of threatened journalists and media, as well as all defenders of freedom of speech, opinion, assembly and free non-violent political action, has never been more important.
"If that doesn't happen, then there won't be any basic freedoms for citizens of this country, journalists, media, let alone democracy," says Matić.
What were Verica Bradić and Vučić talking about?
The campaign against Veran Matić has been run by the pro-regime media for some time, it continued on the national TV Pink, in the show Hit Tweet in which Vučić was a guest, reports Cenzolovka.
Vučić replied to the comment of host Verica Bradić about the tweeter Marko Marjanović (known as Crystal Matt Damon, who has been in digital prison for three months, he was banned from posting on the networks after he published the phone numbers of Ana Brnabić and RTS journalists):
"If someone had done that with the N1 journalist or Verana Matić, he would have been detained and imprisoned or shot directly."
The presenter pointed out that "it is even more interesting that Mr. Veran Matić came to his defense."
"It's impossible," Vučić said.
"(Matić) claims that he (Marjanović) should be released from that digital detention, even though Matić, who is the head of the Association of Independent Electronic Media, should stand up for the protection of his colleagues. Where did Mr. Matić's turn come from?", the host asks the president, and he answers:
"Because they have nothing to do with honor and truth. It doesn't matter which of them you're talking about. You see, it would be good if those who were arrested, detained and convicted because of Veran Matić, to have it erased from their records - if he's so nice to people - and to make it as if they were never punished. And to bring whiskey or a bottle of wine to their house and apologize for the fact that people were imprisoned because of him nor obliged. How does it look different to you?"
Then he talked about "double standards", that if someone is on their side "he can kill people" and nothing to anyone, and if someone is not on the side of the tortured progressives, he "must not even catch a fly" because he will be declared guilty and responsible."
According to Vučić, we live in a time in which "shame has retreated in front of ignorance, in which knowledge has retreated in front of arrogance, and in which we have to oppose them. We have to resist them in every place, with every word, with every deed so that they don't destroy our country, so that they don't destroy our state."
Who was Vučić referring to: Radonjić, Romić, Kurak...
Vučić did not clarify who he means when he says that they were "arrested, detained and convicted because of Veran Matić", but it is possible to connect this only with Milan Radonjić and Ratko Romić, former officials of the Department of State Security, who were twice convicted in the first instance for the murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija, then acquitted last year.
The two, as well as their lawyers, repeatedly blamed Matić, that is, the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists, which he headed, for influencing the trial for the murder of Ćuruvija, which lasted nine years.
The other two accused and then acquitted for the murder of the journalist, former head of the RDB Radomir Marković and member of the RDB reserve team Miroslav Kurak, do not fit the president's description - the first is in prison for other crimes, and the second was on the run during the trial.
Special envoy for resolving the issue of missing persons with Croatia
Only a year and a half ago, when the accused for the murder of Ćuruvija were acquitted, Vučić declared: "It is a difficult situation, very unpleasant, terrible for us", and if he believed in conspiracy theories he would not rule out "that this is another step in the overthrow of the government". He labeled the acquittal as a "great injustice", "a terribly bad thing for Serbia, its legal system", and said that it was "a bad message for everyone involved in journalism".
In 2013, as the Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of Serbia, he said that he would resign if the journalist's murder was not resolved, claiming that "the state liquidated Ćuruvija". He supported this trial, promising that the state would face the crimes committed by its members.
Vučić, who came to power among other things by promising to solve the murders of journalists, in 2013 supported the work of the Commission for Investigating Murders of Journalists and attended its meeting, actively supported the investigation into the murder of Ćuruvija and the trial, saying that "a man was killed in a criminal manner and the state should do everything to find those responsible and punish them".
In 2015, asking Veran Matić to join the process of elucidating the murder of the three Bitići brothers, he said that "Matić has so far shown serious results, and in the case of the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, he managed to encourage a significant number of people to cooperate and work together."
In August 2018, Vučić appointed Matić as his special envoy to resolve the issue of missing persons with Croatia.
Source: Beta / Cenzolovka
