Serbia’s NUNS: Politicians must tolerate criticism

Worried about Serbia’s secret police chief lawsuit against investigative website, the Independent Union of Serbia’s Journalists (NUNS) said on Monday the politicians and other officials were legally bonded to tolerate criticism about their work even when they felt personally offended.

Oglas

NUNS recalled that Bratislav Gasic, the head of Serbia’s Security-Information Agency (BIA), sued the investigative KRIK website for publishing details from a trial of a criminal organisation leader.

Gasic said that he suffered both phycological and physical pains because of the alleged links he had to the organisation, demanding over four thousand Euro in compensation.

In his charges, he added that “the media should be let know there are boundaries which must be respected."

KRIK published details from the trial of Zoran Jotic Jutka, a suspected high-profile criminal from the central town of Krusevac, also Gasic’s home town, which indicated the security boss received money from Jotic.

NUNS said that the trend of 'burying’ professional media with charges aimed at narrowing already small press and freedom of expression space in Serbia.

It added it would register the case in its database and the regional SafeJournalist.net database and inform the relevant international organisations.

Teme