A spokesman for Reporters Without Borders told Radio Free Europe that its open season on journalists in Serbia.

The more attacks go unpunished, the more journalists are exposed to violence Pavol Szalai is quoted as saying in comments on the assaults on journalists in Serbia during the recent election campaign and on election day.

He said that the police and prosecutors have to do their jobs as do the courts to prevent the attacks going unpunished.
According to Szalai, there is an atmosphere of very strong hostility against journalists in Serbia. He said that this is one of the hardest periods for journalists and recalled the sentence handed down in the Curuvija murder case which, he added, closed the case of a journalist’s murder without sentencing anyone.

He said Reporters Without Borders sees the Serbian authorities reacting to the recent attacks as well as an increase in the number of attacks on journalists. Szalai said that it seems the assailants feel like they will not be punished.

We expect democratic politicians to condemn those attacks, he said and added that politicians who attack journalists in the European Union find themselves isolated and even sanctioned by their parties.