June 16, 2023
Brankica Stanković, a multi-award-winning journalist and editor of Insajder TV, has once again found herself targeted by the insulting and threatening chants of hooligans presenting themselves as fans of the Partizan basketball club. The recent threatening chants at a basketball game reminded her of the chanting that targeted her 14 years ago, when hooligans – then shouting from the terraces during a football match – told her: “you’re poisonous like a snake – you’ll end up like Ćuruvija” (in reference to the 1999 murder of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija). The Insajder editor subsequently received police protection that was maintained for many years.
“Every chanting of hooligans is a clear threat and I expect institutions to react. As for those who remain ‘silent’, I understand them – it isn’t clever to criticise hooligans,” said Stanković, commenting on the fact that neither politicians nor institutions have spoken out in response.
The editorial department of Insajder TV has requested not only an end to the imperilling of the safety of editor Stanković, but also for such hooligan conduct to be brought to an end once and for all. The Slavko Ćuruvija Foundation has asked whether it is necessary for something to physically happen to this journalist, who has been targeted by hooligans for years, in order for institutions to respond.
The Journalists’ Association of Serbia and the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia have both condemned the threats and called on the prosecutor’s office to launch an investigation. The threats were also condemned by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who didn’t miss the chance to remind the public that he has also been subjected to the insulting chants of sports fans for years.
Individual lady journalists have publicly expressed their willingness to attend the next game and, in a show of support for Stanković, identify those chanting about the Insajder editor, because – as they note – the institutions have yet to do anything to discover who is once again threatening this journalist from the terraces.
