Serb associations condemn attack on TV crew from Silovo
The Association of Journalists of Serbia (UNS) and Association of Journalists of Kosovo (DNKiM) have condemned in the strongest terms an attack by Independent Liberal Party (SLS) activists on a TV crew covering a story about an incident that took place during a vote in front of the municipal building of Pasjane and Partes near Gnjilane, eastern Kosovo, on Sunday.
(kosovocompromisestuff) Tuesday, December 03, 2013
Unknown attackers burst into the polling station in Partes on Sunday and started smashing ballot boxes and destroying election material.
While the Silovo-based Radio Television Puls crew arrived to cover a story about the incident, a security guard of the municipal building attacked its cameraman.“The security guard of the municipal building, Vladan Aksic, started hitting cameraman Nenad Stankovic and was soon joined by several more people who took to punching and kicking Stankovic and eventually confiscating his camera and the recorded material,” the UNS and DNKiM said in a joint release.The beaten cameraman and the rest of the crew reported about the incident to the Kosovo police, who kept them in the police station for a length of time for no apparent reason, while the attackers have neither been arrested nor questioned, the release said.The UNS and DNKIM urge for immediate response from competent bodies and for the perpetrators of this act of vandalism to be punished immediately, in order to prevent the lynch law against journalists and media workers in the Partes-Pasjane municipality that has been ongoing for several months now, the UNS said on its website.The two journalists’ associations wish to remind the public that municipal officials have threatened journalists and media workers with the message that they cannot guarantee security for them in the territory of their municipality.This attitude taken by the local “security masters” has led to the brutal beating of Stankovic, a cameraman on assignment during the second round of the local elections in Kosovo, they said.“The Kosovo police do not want to deal with bullies and by taking no direct action, they are actually helping them; and instead of questioning the perpetrator, they are questioning the victim of the attack until late in the night,” the statement said.The UNS and DNKIM demand from EULEX to launch an investigation in the incident and also to renew investigations into cases of kidnapping, murders, beatings and desecrations of memorials erected to honor journalists gone missing during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.They also want the negotiating process between Belgrade and Pristina to include these issues and the issue of the overall position of the non-Albanian media community in Kosovo and institutional discrimination faced by them.
While the Silovo-based Radio Television Puls crew arrived to cover a story about the incident, a security guard of the municipal building attacked its cameraman.“The security guard of the municipal building, Vladan Aksic, started hitting cameraman Nenad Stankovic and was soon joined by several more people who took to punching and kicking Stankovic and eventually confiscating his camera and the recorded material,” the UNS and DNKiM said in a joint release.The beaten cameraman and the rest of the crew reported about the incident to the Kosovo police, who kept them in the police station for a length of time for no apparent reason, while the attackers have neither been arrested nor questioned, the release said.The UNS and DNKIM urge for immediate response from competent bodies and for the perpetrators of this act of vandalism to be punished immediately, in order to prevent the lynch law against journalists and media workers in the Partes-Pasjane municipality that has been ongoing for several months now, the UNS said on its website.The two journalists’ associations wish to remind the public that municipal officials have threatened journalists and media workers with the message that they cannot guarantee security for them in the territory of their municipality.This attitude taken by the local “security masters” has led to the brutal beating of Stankovic, a cameraman on assignment during the second round of the local elections in Kosovo, they said.“The Kosovo police do not want to deal with bullies and by taking no direct action, they are actually helping them; and instead of questioning the perpetrator, they are questioning the victim of the attack until late in the night,” the statement said.The UNS and DNKIM demand from EULEX to launch an investigation in the incident and also to renew investigations into cases of kidnapping, murders, beatings and desecrations of memorials erected to honor journalists gone missing during the 1999 Kosovo conflict.They also want the negotiating process between Belgrade and Pristina to include these issues and the issue of the overall position of the non-Albanian media community in Kosovo and institutional discrimination faced by them.
