November 16, 2022
In response to threats issued against Verica Marinčić, journalist and editor of Inđija-based portal IN Media, a man named S.J. from Beočin (near Novi Sad) has received a suspended prison sentence.
He previously reached a plea deal with the prosecutor’s office in which he admitted committing the criminal offense of endangering security, and the sentence will remain suspended unless the defendant commits a new criminal offense within the next three years.
This is the first case to actually punish the attacker of Verica Marinčić, noted the Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation, adding that “institutions should continue protecting journalists in such a way in the future”.
At the same time, the Higher Court in Zaječar overturned the first-instance verdict against the person who threatened Danas correspondent Miljko Stojanović via Facebook. The court accepted that there were grounds to support the appeal and ordered a retrial.
Stojanović announced that he was disturbed by the move and that, following the overturning of the verdict, he felt the same as “when he received the first threats” (in response to an article about a Ukrainian who fled the war and ended up in Zaječar), and reminded that he had been threatened by a neighbour. The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation assessed the overturning of the verdict as an “unnecessary and dangerous delay”.
