Engl.
SEE Check supports KRIK after an unprecedented attack on freedom of expression and professional journalism in which the newsroom was found guilty of reporting on publicly available information that the prosecution presented before the court.
Judge Natasa Petricevic Milisavljevic condemned KRIK for publishing quotes from recordings of wiretapped conversations of members of the criminal group that were released during the trial of the criminal Zoran Jotic Jotka. The lawsuit for defamation was filed by the former director of the Security and Information Agency and the current Minister of the Interior of Serbia, Bratislav Gasic, whom one of the defendants stated in the video that he was with Jotic “on the cauldron”, and that because of this, Jotic does not have to to worry about his safety.
It follows from the verdict that KRIK injured the honor and reputation of Bratislav Gasic by accurately and precisely reporting on the evidence presented by the prosecution, clarifying the meaning of the phrase “on the payroll”, by which the accused indicated that Gasic was receiving money from Jotic.
Although KRIK received a financially symbolic sentence, the court’s message for journalism in Serbia is devastating: journalists will be punished if they do their job and report professionally on court processes against corruption and organized crime.
Therefore, this case testifies at the same time to the structural pressures on journalism, as well as to the shortcomings of the rule of law in Serbia, about which SEE Check members will continue to inform the domestic and international public.
BHSC
SEE Check podržava KRIK nakon nezapamćenog udara na slobodu izražavanja i profesionalno novinarstvo u kojem je jedna redakcija proglašena krivom zbog izvještavanja o javno dostupnim informacijama koje je tužilaštvo iznijelo tokom sudskog procesa.
Sutkinja Nataša Petričević Milisavljević osudila je KRIK zbog objavljivanja citata sa snimaka prisluškivanih razgovora članova kriminalne grupe koji su pušteni tokom suđenja kriminalcu Zoranu Jotiću Jotki. Tužbu za povredu ugleda i časti podnio je bivši direktor Bezbednosno-informativne agencije i sadašnji ministar unutrašnjih poslova Srbije Bratislav Gašić, za kojeg je jedan od optuženih na snimku izjavio da se nalazi kod Jotića “na kazanu” te da zbog toga Jotić ne mora da brine za svoju bezbjednost.
Iz presude proizlazi da je KRIK povrijedio čast i ugled Bratislava Gašića time što je naprosto tačno i precizno izvještavao o dokazima koje je iznijelo tužilaštvo, uz pojašnjenje značenja samog izraza “na kazanu”, kojim je optuženi na snimci poručio da Gašić prima novac od Jotića.
Iako je KRIK-u propisana kazna koja je finansijski simbolična, za novinarstvo u Srbiji mnogo je poraznija poruka suda da će novinari/ke biti kažnjeni/e ako rade svoj posao i profesionalno izvještavaju o sudskim procesima protiv korupcije i organizovanog kriminala.
Ovaj slučaj, stoga, svjedoči istovremeno o strukturnim pritiscima na novinarstvo, kao i o nedostacima vladavine prava u Srbiji, o čemu će članice SEE Checka nastaviti informisati domaće i međunarodne javnosti.