Serbia
TV crew attackedPosted Apr 18 2009
Two men attacked a TV crew in the town of Trebinje, in Bosnia’s Serb Republic (Republika Srpska), on March 18. The crew, led by well-known journalist Slobodan Vaskovic, was filming footage of Serbian Orthodox Church for the political TV show “60 Minutes,” which is shown on Sarajevo-based television station FTV.
The team fled from the attackers and took refuge at a local NGO. While there, an angry group of citizens found the crew at the office and attacked them again. Luckily, the TV crew had managed to call the police just before the attack.
Another TV crew reporting for TV BN, who happened to be present, attempted to film the incident, and the crowd eventually turned on the second crew and took their camera. (Police returned it a half hour later.)
Finally, the police arrived to escort Vaskovic and his crew out of the town, although the crowd continued to chase them for some time.
According to RFE/RL, the Serbian Orthodox Church condemned the journalists for “their inappropriate behavior that upset believers in the church.”
Just before the incident, Vaskovic received a threatening letter signed by a group calling itself the Serbian Avengers after he ran stories about the Serbian Orthodox Church in his paper, Novi Magazin. RFE/RL reports that Vaskovic has pledged to continue his reporting on the church.
More information
- International Press Institute
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty