Journalist associations from Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Montenegro have expressed their solidarity and support for the journalists and the media workers in Macedonia who are constantly dealing with pressures, physical attacks, and death threats.
The associations from the region, after the attack on the TV 24’s reporter during the protests organized by the “For a United Macedonia” initiative, have called upon the Macedonian institutions to take appropriate measures and to come out in defense of the journalists.
-The members of this regional network, which strives for freedom of speech and physical safety for journalists, is demanding from Macedonian institutions to immediately prevent any kind of violence against journalists and for an efficient way to carry out an investigation for all previous attacks in order to reveal and punish the perpetrators – said Sasha Lekovic, the president of the Association of journalists in Croatia.
According to the president of AJM, Naser Selmani, what is worrying is the fact that in these coordinated attacks participated public officials including representatives of state institutions.
-It is sad that the violence against journalists is coordinated by party centers. These attacks have increased during a period when the political crisis in Macedonia has escalated. Without a hint of a doubt, the violence against journalists is connected with heated political confrontations that have been happening lately in Macedonia – said Selmani.
In the last four years, according to AJM’s data, in Macedonia were registered 44 attacks on journalists, out of which 19 have occurred during last year. Only in the last 30 days, six attacks on journalists were registered, out of which two have ended at the Emergency center.
