In the four months of 2025, eight physical attacks on journalists were recorded - seven more than in the same period last year, when one physical attack was recorded. Four pressures were recorded more than last year - a total of five.
In the UNS database, more cases of disruption to work were recorded than in the same period of the previous year - nine compared to six last year.
While no case of arrest was recorded last year, three cases were recorded this year. In four months of this year, UNS recorded two more offenses than in the same period last year - a total of eight.
However, in the UNS database, in the four months of this year, there were eight threats and fewer cases of preventing work than last year. Thus, in the first four months of this year, UNS recorded eight threats and four cases of discrimination. Three attacks on property, two cases of censorship, public sharing of mobile phone numbers of RTS journalists were also recorded. While hacking was also recorded in the first four months of last year, this year there was no such thing.
Journalists victims of physical attacks, in the sight of the police
A particularly worrying fact is that in four months of this year, the number of physical attacks has increased significantly.
The last attack happened to a journalist A truth-teller, who, as part of her work assignment, was filming the tents set up across the street from the National Assembly, when an unknown man, as stated on the website of this portal, approached her, hit her on the hand and broke her phone.
She had a clearly marked journalist ID.
"After the incident, the journalist turned to the police officer who was present at the scene. Instead of taking protective measures and recording the attack, the police officer told her: 'Take care, and they treat us like that,'" the website stated. A truth-teller.
A few days earlier, in mid-April, the deputy editor-in-chief of the portal was also physically attacked 021 Zoran Strika, while reporting from the departure of the people of Novi Sad to the meeting of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) in Belgrade.
Strika told UNS that he was attacked while using his phone camera to record how two men knocked down and hit a citizen who was filming the departure of citizens to the SNS meeting, and then threw his phone into the Danube. When one of those present noticed that Strika was filming this incident, he physically attacked him, grabbing him by the arm and neck.
"I told him that I was a journalist, and then I noticed that the director of the Provincial Fund for European Affairs and Development, Ognjen Dopuđ, was nearby, and I asked him to react. Although Dopuđ did not take any action, this young man left," said Strika.
Strika then walked away with the attacked citizen and lent him his phone so he could call his family.
"At that moment, three hooded men approached us. One of them snatched my phone from his hands and threw it into the river, and then ran away," said Strika.
On the same day in Belgrade, at the "We will not give Serbia" rally, the team was also attacked KTVand from Zrenjanin.
OWNER KTV Danijel Radić told UNS that those gathered at the rally in Belgrade physically attacked him, the journalist of this media company, Nemanja Šarović, and cameraman Siniša Nikšić.
Radić said that the police officers saw the attacks, but did not react.
"We were beaten by Marko Popadić and the team of Relje Ognjenović, who led the guards. You can see everything clearly on the video. Our camera was broken and all of our equipment was damaged," Radić told UNS at the time.
The most serious injury, as Radić said, was sustained by a technician who had three teeth knocked out that day.
In March, "Storyteller" journalist Brankica Matić was also physically attacked while reporting from a rally in front of an elementary school. When she tried to take a statement from several participants of the protest meeting of parents demanding regular classes, verbal attacks followed, they shouted at her, got in her face, and then a man physically attacked her and ripped the phone from her hand.
Novinar of BIRN Saša Dragojlo was also the victim of a physical attack in March. Dragojlo was attacked at the Đeram market in Belgrade when he was reporting from a protest against SNS activists.
"A push started near the stand where the man who attacked me was. I was filming what was happening with my phone, and two gentlemen from SNS walked towards me and asked me what I was filming there. They approached me, I introduced myself to them that I was a journalist and that's why I was filming," explains Dragojlo.
After that, he says, one of the SNS activists attacked him.
Dragojlo pointed out that all this happened a meter or two away from the police.
"The police stood between us. I showed my journalist ID." of BIRN, demanded that he be legitimized and detained. However, none of that happened. That man was standing five meters behind, the police were practically protecting him, since they were pushing me away. "The police did not do their job," explains Dragojlo.
Jovan Njegović Drndak, photo editor of the "Zrenjanin" newspaper, was the victim of insults and insults. An unknown man, opposing the protest in front of the court in Zrenjanin, insulted the photo editor of the "Zrenjanin" newspaper, Njegovic Drndak, and got in his face while he was taking photos.
Njegović Drndak told the UNS website that at the protest in front of the court in Zrenjanin, an elderly man first insulted and cursed pupils and students, and then he also when he tried to record it on camera.
"He verbally abused me and then got in my face," he said.
That is why, he says, he turned to the police, who, according to him, responded in a timely manner.
In February, "In Media" journalist Verica Marinčić, as well as her colleague Miodrag Blečić, were physically attacked during a protest walk organized by students and high school students in Inđija.
Verica Marinčić told the UNS website that the older man cursed his colleague Blečić and her, as well as that he hit her on the hand where she was holding the phone, trying to record it.
TV "Informer" journalist Branka Lazić was also physically attacked while she was reporting from a meeting in front of the Belgrade City Assembly. A group of gathered citizens interfered with the work, insulted, threw eggs and poured red paint on them.
Although information circulated in the pro-government media that UNS did not react to the attack on Branka Lazić, which took place in front of the National Assembly, this association condemned each of the mentioned physical attacks. The UNS expressed concern about the increasingly frequent attacks on journalists, which threaten their safety, create an atmosphere of fear and violate the public's right to be informed in a timely manner from as many sources as possible.
Journalists arrested for reporting and expressing opinions
Nemanja Šarović was detained twice in May - first while reporting from the "Students 2.0" camp in Pionirski Park, and then in front of the building where he lives. UNS reacted to the arrest, which happened while reporting from Pionirski Park, protesting and stating that it was unacceptable.
The UNS also protested the arrest of "Peščanik" columnist and publicist Dejan Ilic, who 12 days before his arrest in the "Pokreni se" program on "Nova" television, expressed fear about the possible outcomes of the political crisis, using the word "bloodshed".
Ilić, as emphasized by the UNS, stated in his statement bloodshed as the worst outcome, at the same time advocating for other solutions.
UNS pointed out that this kind of reaction of the Prosecutor's Office to a statement that was taken out of context, 12 days after it was announced, represents an attack on freedom of speech, opinion and expression.
Published mobile phones of RTS employees and taped warrants
UNS is in April during the first day of the blockade Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS) and Radio and Television of Vojvodina (RTV) called on students and citizens to enable workers engaged in public services and guests of the program to get to public services without hindrance. The blockade of RTV ended after 24 hours, while the blockade of RTS still continues.
By the way, during the blockade of RTS, the characters of the editors of this television were on the wanted list, and the phone numbers of RTS journalists Nikolina Rakić, Milenko Krišan and Marko Ivas were published on the social network X from the profile "Crystal Matt Damon".
"Please do not CALL AND SEND MESSAGES to this SNS animation lady from RTS who entered the building last night with a police cordon. I appeal to you not to CALL AND CALL AND SEND INSULTING MESSAGES THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION," he wrote along with publishing the phone number of journalist Rakić.
RTS journalists invited to an informative interview
UNS was also informed in April that several journalists and media workers of RTS were invited by phone by members of the Security and Information Agency to come for an informative interview. All of them, UNS stated, responded to those invitations, but they did not understand why they were being invited. The phone call followed a meeting of RTS journalists and media workers organized by the informal group "Our Protest".
The UNS asked the Government of Serbia and the National Assembly for an answer to the question why the BIA invited RTS journalists and media workers for an interview.
The threat to KoSSev journalists and the targeting of the Radio Goraždevac newsroom
An employee in the Municipality of North Mitrovica, Fatima Staviljeca, threatened the journalist of the portal KoSSev Dragana Vukosavljević that he will come to the office with the police.
"See you in two minutes. Yes, you have to delete the name immediately or I will come with the police, you will decide. I have to sue you, be convinced, and who gave you the number and everything," Staviljeca threatened.
UNS with its branch in Kosovo and Metohija condemned the threat and asked the Kosovo Police to urgently investigate this case, stressing that intimidation and threats to journalists are unacceptable and that the perpetrators must bear responsibility.
In a series of articles published by the portal SrpskiGlas.rs the editorial office of R was markedgoodbye Goraždevac where, among other things, they were accused of "supporting the independence of Kosovo" and called for their boycott.
Editor in chief Radio Goraždevac Darko Dimitrijević told UNS that this attack is not just an attempt to slander, but a serious security threat, because such targeting is potentially dangerous for everyone who works for this media.
UNS requested that this campaign be stopped immediately, stressing that targeting and engaging in confrontation with journalists and media houses in this way is unacceptable, because this kind of marking could threaten the safety of journalists and media workers.
In four months of this year, UNS recorded three cases of threats to journalists in Kosovo and Metohija, i.e. inappropriate actions of the police. However, the media workers who reported the cases to UNS did not want the Association to react publicly, which leads to the conclusion that there is no trust of media workers in the work, efficiency and effectiveness of the security authorities in Kosovo and Metohija.
Media crews locked up and insulted
The journalists who followed the press conference of the President of the City Assembly, Dina Vučinić, in the Assembly of Novi Sad, were provided security, as the journalist said. N1 Ksenija Pavkov, locked in the press room.
"The President of the Assembly explained to us that 'they are doing this for our safety and that such measures are necessary for the Assembly to be held at all'. I cannot accept such an explanation, after so many years of reporting. Everyone there knows us, it is truly humiliating. They even removed the doorknobs from all the windows, so none of them could be opened," she said.
Pavkov added that previously, before entering the Assembly, they were thoroughly searched by security.
UNS protested, stressing that locking up journalists and preventing freedom of movement is unacceptable.
