IFJ-EFJ/SafeJournalists: Death threats to Tanjug journalists must be investigated

BRUSSELS - The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ), together with the SafeJournalists Network, have expressed full solidarity with Tanjug journalists who have received death threats by email for reporting on Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija.

"We are grateful to the Ministry of Information, together with the High Tech Crime Department of the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, for identifying the source of the threat. The Ministry showed how it can react in the shortest possible time and we expect it to do the same in similar cases in the future, especially when threats come from territory where it has authority. Those who make these death threats must be punished. Journalists must feel protected and their right to move freely and carry out their work without fear of attack must be guaranteed," the SafeJournalists Network said.

"We condemn in the strongest terms possible the gruesome death threats received by journalists at Tanjug News Agency. Journalists must be able to carry out their work, including on Kosovo territory, without fear of being ‘shot in the head’. Death threats against media professionals are an attack on media freedom and the public's right to know. It is crucial to ensure a swift and thorough investigation into the death threat, so that the perpetrators are deterred from repeating similar criminal behavior in the future," the IFJ-EFJ said in a statement.

"The death threats represent a serious attack on media freedom and further jeopardise the safety of journalists working in increasingly difficult conditions on a daily basis. According to the latest Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) monitoring, there have been twelve incidents of death threats against journalists since January, ten of them online. It is therefore crucial that the relevant institutions show determination to protect media freedom, starting with prosecuting the perpetrators of online threats that endanger journalists' lives before they can escalate beyond the screen," it noted.

On Monday evening, Tanjug received an email signed by an individual named "Trim Bardhi" that said Tanjug journalists would get "a bullet to the back of their heads" the next time they set foot in the territory of Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija.

"Just to let you know that we follow the lies you publish daily about the state of Kosovo and Albanians, just like we follow the movement of every journalist of your pseudo-media agency in Kosovo. Be assured that one of them will get a bullet to the back of their head the next time they set foot on the soil of the republic of Kosovo. We are watching everything," the email said.

Serbian Minister of Information and Telecommunications Dejan Ristic said on Tuesday the threat had been emailed from Albanian territory and that it was the most serious one a Serbian media outlet had received in years.