{"id":17528,"date":"2022-11-02T12:55:16","date_gmt":"2022-11-02T11:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalift.org\/?p=17528"},"modified":"2022-11-02T15:22:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-02T14:22:52","slug":"freedom-from-punishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalift.org\/freedom-from-punishment\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom from punishment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Impunity<\/em>, n.: exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example: laws were flouted with impunity<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source:<\/em> Merriam Webster dictionary<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists was established in December 2013 when the UN General Assembly adopted a Resolution<\/a> that, among other things recognises that work of journalists often puts them at specific risk of intimidation, harassment and violence <\/em>and bearing in mind that impunity for attacks against journalists constitutes one of the main challenges to strengthening the protection of journalists. <\/em>The date was chosen in commemoration of the assassination of Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont in Mali on 2 November 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated by the UN<\/a>,  the landmark resolution condemns all attacks and violence against journalists and media workers, urges Member States to prevent violence against them and to ensure accountability, bring to justice perpetrators of crimes against journalists and media workers, and ensure that victims have access to appropriate remedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, every year, by the end of October and beginning of November the public is reminded of the fact that 87% of killings of journalists<\/a> between 2006 and 2020 remain unsolved<\/strong>. UNESCO\u2019s Observatory of killed journalists recorded 455 killings<\/a> of journalists between 2016 and 2021. It reports that in 2021, the majority of deaths happened in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean. The last decade hundreds of different actions aimed at straightening the judiciary were implemented throughout the world, yet the number of solved cases does not seem to be decreasing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a significant number of cases, there is a reasonable doubt that the killings were ordered, even implemented by the state, becoming a tool of oppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"02-Assassinations-of-journalists-in-the-Western-Balkans.png\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Assassinations of journalists in the Western Balkans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The culture of impunity is often associated with authoritarian regimes. But, as data shows it is present in so-called emerging democracies, such are the countries of the Western Balkans. The region has its own unfortunate record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia\u2019s legacy includes the State Security organised murder of journalist Slavko \u0106uruvija<\/a> in 1999 and while legal proceedings are underway, and members of the State Security members found guilty twice, there is still no verdict. The mastermind who ordered the execution is still unknown. Unlike \u0106uruvija case that reached the court, the cases of Radislava Dada Vujasinovic<\/a>, murdered in 1994, and Milan Panti\u0107<\/a>, murdered in 2001, are still at a pre-investigative stage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montenegro\u2019s Du\u0161ko Jovanovi\u0107<\/a> was assassinated with an automatic rifle in 2004. One person was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment but provided no information about who was behind the attack. On Oct 17, 2022, news came that a protected witness would give statement that will bring new light to this crime, and likely to connect it with the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some may say that there have been no murders of journalists in the WB Jovanovic\u2019s death, only unsuccessful attempts, all of which have one thing in common \u2013 they are yet to be solved:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, Montenegrin journalist Tufik Softi\u0107<\/a> was brutally beaten up in Montenegro. Six years later his car, parked in front of the family home, was bombed. Softic lived with police protection from 2014 till 2016 when it was withdrawn<\/a>. The journalist sued Montenegro for failing to protect his rights and enabling obstruction by the judiciary. That case is also yet to be solved<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018 journalist Olivera Laki\u0107 was wounded when she was shot in front of the house where she lived in Montenegro. In 2021 a policeman was arrested<\/a>, under suspicion of being involved in the shooting. So far, no progress was made by the judiciary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2007, one of two bombs exploded on the window seal of the Serbian journalist Dejan Anastasijevi\u0107<\/a>. What saved Anastasijevi\u0107 and his wife was the fact that they were in bed at the moment of the explosion. Faced with a lack of interest by the police, Anastasijevi\u0107 investigated this attack on his own<\/a> providing clues to who may have been behind it. Police failed to act upon his findings, and the public is yet to find out who placed the bomb and who ordered it. Anastasijevic passed away in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Serbian journalist Milan Jovanovi\u0107 and his wife woke up to find their home engulfed in flames. They escaped, but the house became uninhabitable. Based on the investigation, the president of the local self-government was charged with ordering the arson, and two men for executing it.  After two years of proceedings, the court annulled the verdict that found them all guilty and ordered retrial<\/a> which is underway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late 2020 the Albanian journalist Eldion Ndreka<\/a> was with his family, including two young daughters, when an explosion took place at their home\u2019s front door. The incident is yet to be resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These attacks targeted specific journalists due to their work, but the region bears more scares \u2013 including that of 16 media professionals who lost their lives in the NATO bombardment of the public service broadcaster building in 1999. As in other cases, this one will be solved only when the information about who the person who ordered media professionals to stay in the building knowing it will be attacked is identified. The national investigation is likely to lead to the state itself. On the other hand, the precedent of declaring a media outlet a legitimate target in times of war remains highly questionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"03-Intimidation-\u2013-verbal-and-physical.png\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Intimidation \u2013 verbal and physical<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Attacks on lives of journalists and other media professionals, luckily, remain rare in the region these days. Some journalists argue that there are better ways to influence the lives of journalists in order to deter them from informing in the public interest. These ways include physical attacks, death threats to journalists, but also their families, and other verbal threats and content aimed to intimidate them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These incidents, whether those are threats or actual attacks, also seem to indicate a high level of impunity in the Western Balkans. Safe Journalists Network<\/a> registers such incidents in its database and issues annual reports about the level of media freedoms and journalists\u2019 safety. Its most recent report, providing a comparative analysis<\/a> of the situation in the region states:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verbal threats and harassment, but more worryingly, threats to lives and threats to physical safety against journalists, are still the most prominent types of open pressure towards journalists and their media organization.<\/em> The frequency of this misconduct was highest in Serbia both in 2020 and 2021 but there was arguably a high number of these types in almost all the rest of the countries in the region.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The report goes on to provide data on numbers of incidents, verbal and physical, against journalists in the region and by country painting a grim picture and suggesting that there is a lack of political will to secure an efficient and independent judiciary that would find and sanction the perpetrators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Database maintained by the Safe Journalists Network collates information based on specific criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of 2021, there were 1074 registered incidents, 242 of which constitute an actual physical attack. In only 29 cases  – or 12% – the perpetrator was convicted. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"04-Learn-how-to-protect-yourself.png\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Learn how to protect yourself<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are a journalist who reports from peaceful gatherings or protests that may turn violent, take the course Thomson Media prepared for you. Western Balkans – Staying safe covering protests for journalists <\/em>self-paced course aims to prepare you for unpredicted situations \u2013 from what to wear to how to keep your mobile phone data safe. Check language-specific courses here: <\/p>\n\n\n\n