Journalist Attacked in Belgrade, Highlighting Press Freedom Concerns

Journalist Veran Matić, president of Serbia's Association of Electronic Media (ANEM), was assaulted outside the National Assembly in Belgrade, an incident described as a recurring problem in what the country's president has termed "the freest place in the heart of Europe." Matić was photographing a gathering of citizens when several young men aggressively snatched his mobile phone. He identified one of the interveners as Đorđe Prelić, a former leader of the Alkatraz fan group, convicted in connection with the 2009 murder of a French fan.

“

Very quickly, one of those young men ran up to me and very energetically snatched my mobile phone out of my hands. I was trying to get the phone back, I was saying that I am a journalist, but that meant nothing to him, he didn't comment on anything.

Matić recounted that Prelić, after initially confronting him about past reporting by B92 and himself that Prelić claimed ruined his life, ordered the phone's return. Prelić reportedly accused Matić and B92 of being responsible for his imprisonment, rather than his own actions as determined by the court. Matić suggested that such attacks are emboldened by recent public statements from the president, which he interprets as encouraging leniency for individuals imprisoned for actions related to Matić's work.

“

He approached and said, 'I recognized this journalist, you should return his phone' - and they returned my phone, but he continued to talk about how I and B92 had ruined his life back then, that he practically accused us that because of us he was in prison, not because of what the court said.

This incident underscores a broader pattern of violence and impunity faced by journalists in Serbia. ANEM reports that more than 30 attacks on media professionals have occurred in and around Pionirski Park. Furthermore, official data indicates a concerning lack of judicial follow-through, with only five out of approximately 200 reported cases of violence against journalists being prosecuted in the last two years. The police have reportedly failed to investigate more than half of the reported incidents, leading organizations like UNS and the Safe Journalists network to condemn the attack on Matić and urge swift institutional action.

“

The attack happened on a man who, in fact, kept the Commission for Investigating the Murders of Journalists alive - meaning, we don't have any, and now people are approaching him who are repeating the words spoken by the president of this country - in the sense that their lives were ruined because of him.