Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) in a letter to Mladen Ivanic, President of Bosnia and Herzegovina has expressed concern over the attack on Vladimir Kovacevic, a journalist at BN TV, on Sunday, August 26.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali in his letter, condemned the attack on the journalist and urged the authorities to investigate the incident and hold the guilty to account. PPF also called on the government to take effective measures to ensure safety and security of journalists.
According to South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM), two persons attacked Kovacevic in front of his home in Banja Luka with telescoping metal poles and injured him gravely.
Kovacevic was covering the ongoing “Justice for David” protest at the time. For 155 days, the parents of David Dragicevic along with the citizens held ongoing protest rallies to pressurize the authorities to investigate the mysterious death of the 21-year-old man.
Suzana Radjen Todoric, editor-in-chief of BN TV, tweeted, “Before he was attacked, he sent material that will be published on Monday.”
Balkan Insight reported that on Monday, August 27, BN TV had started its morning programme with a blank screen and a message, “Open protest over the attack on a BN TV journalist. We are asking the Ministarstvo unutrasnjih poslova Republike Srpske police to reveal the attacker.”
Balkan Insight further reported that, according to the data of Bosnian Association of Journalist, 40 cases were reported this year in which journalists received threats. This includes five death threats, 15 assaults and several other forms of pressure and coercion.
