Human Rights Action (HRA) welcomes the conclusion of yesterday’s meeting convened at the initiative of Prime Minister Igor Lukšić with the director of the Police Božidar Vuksanović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice and Human Rights Duško Marković, Supreme State Prosecutor Ranka Čarapić, Minister of Interior Ivan Brajović, and Special Prosecutor Đurđina Ivanović on the need to make it a priority for the police and state prosecution to clarify and prosecute all cases of attacks on journalists and media.

HRA has appealed for years for recognition of this priority.

We expect quick concrete results in all investigations on attacks on journalists and the media, as well as public information on why investigations gave no results to date.

HRA has appealed to the Prime Minister Lukšić already in November 2011 to complement the government’s “Report on the investigations and violence against journalists”, developed on a basis of the Action Plan for Monitoring Implementation of Recommendations given in European Commission’s Opinion since the report provides only information on the cases in which there was a trial (cases of Mihailo Jovović, Boris Pejović, Olivera Lakić), while information on the cases, for which we only assume are still under investigation (murder of the editor of Daily Dan, Duško Jovanović, the attack on writer Jevrem Brković and murder of his companion Srđan Vojičić, attack on journalists Tufik Softić and Mladen Stojović, death threats to Aleksandar Zeković Researcher of Human Rights Violations, burning down Daily Vijesti car) were omitted. The lack of information in the report is surprising considering that the preparation of the report was entrusted among others to the Supreme State Prosecutor as well.

We remind that the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office since May 2011 refuses to provide to HRA information on human rights violations proceedings, including the cases mentioned above and omitted from the report. Following the decision of the Administrative Court from May 2011 and obtaining the part of the required information regarding “Komanski most”, we expect from the prosecution to publish information on cases of violations of freedom of expression as well.

Although it seems that regarding the recent attack on journalist Olivera Lakić investigation quickly revealed a possible perpetrator of the attack, it is necessary to remove any suspicion that arrested perpetrator committed the attack and to discover who ordered it.