July 17, 2017
The police have not yet revealed who broke into the apartment of Dragana Pećo, a KRIK research portal journalist on 7th July. Despite the fact that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has announced that it is working intensively to shed light on this case, still nothing has been said about the motives and the identities of the individuals who infiltrated the journalist’s apartment and rummaged through her possessions.
Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović emphasised that “the police are doing everything in order to resolve this case of breaking into the apartment”.
We remind: the flat of Dragana Pećo, who has worked on some of the most sensitive topics in KRIK’s editorial office during the past year, was broken into and ransacked, though none of her things were taken.
Pećo said that she was shocked and scared; although she cannot say with certainty that this was done because of her work, it is indicative that only her things were ransacked, and not her boyfriend’s, and that nothing was stolen .
She also added that “Serbia intimidates journalists who investigate corruption” and that “the international community closes its eyes to that”, as well as other examples of threats to media freedom, because “Serbia is considered a factor of stability in the region”.
She reminded that KRIK journalists have in recent months been beaten, followed and bugged.
All of this happened during a week in which the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a Resolution supporting investigative journalism and emphasising its importance in the fight against corruption.
