MANS strongly condemns last night’s attack on journalist Sead Sadiković and calls on the competent state authorities to identify and prosecute all perpetrators without delay.
The attack on Sadikovic is a continuation of the violence against journalists that has been encouraged from the highest state addresses in the past three decades, and is a direct consequence of the fact that attacks on the media in Montenegro are still not properly prosecuted.
State authorities, primarily Montenegro’s State Prosecutor’s Office, have never sent a clear message that any attempt to attack the media will be sanctioned, and have never shown by concrete example that apart from rhetorical, there is also a real intention to protect journalists.
This is evidenced by the cases in which the State Prosecutor’s Office did not deal with the masterminds of the attack, but only with the mere perpetrators, only after enormous pressure from the domestic public and the international community.
The result is more frequent and serious attacks on journalists, the state of media freedom is at the level of autocratic regimes, while there is also an overwhelming perception that attacks on the media in Montenegro generally go unpunished.
In such created atmosphere, journalists cannot be expected to do their job freely, devoid of fear that the response to their written word will once again be the violence. Continuing to encourage such an atmosphere only aims to discourage future generations of journalists from contributing to the democratization of this society.
Therefore, it is necessary to decisively move away from the current practice when it comes to prosecuting attacks on journalists and concrete actions that will send a clear message that we as a society are ready to protect media freedoms.
MANS
