
According to the report, the most commonly reported incident in Serbia was "Endangerment of Safety" along with insults and stalking. However, many incidents fell into legally gray areas as threats to property are not criminal offenses under the Serbian Criminal Code.
At the OSCE Ministerial Council held in Skopje, 45 states including Serbia adopted a joint declaration to address female journalists' safety and online harassment.
The report elaborates on many individual cases of intimidation, such as the one involving Nenad Kulačin and Marko Vidojković, the latter being forced to relocate due to continuous threats. Threats were also made to OK Radio and journalists from the Fonet Agency. The legal proceedings in these cases portray that criminal charges are often dismissed if the victim does not express a subjective sense of endangerment. Thus, the report suggests that effective support for journalists is still lacking in Serbia.
The PWG undertook several activities with the help of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. The key activities included annual training for police and prosecution contact points, focusing on the safety of journalists and the application of legal guidelines for prosecuting those who threaten them; workshops across Serbia were organized to educate journalists on their legal rights and safety procedures; community visits were organized to reach the grassroots. A survey on the mental health of journalists was conducted which found high levels of mental stress, PTSD, and associated physical health complications among Serbian Journalists.
The PWG engaged in discussions to amend the Serbian Criminal Code, which aims to provide more robust legal protections for journalists facing threats and violence. Regional consultations between prosecutors, police, judges, and journalists were planned but were postponed to 2024. Quarterly meetings were held regularly by the PWG in 2023. An extraordinary meeting was held in March 2023 considering Vidojković’s relocation from Serbia due to threats. The PWG held a consultative meeting with the Supreme Court of Serbia on October 11, 2023, to discuss legal challenges in interpreting threats to journalists' safety. The Working group also joined a protest march marking the anniversary of journalist Slavko Ćuruvija’s murder.
An Action Plan was adopted for 2024. The focussed areas in the Action Plan are regular quarterly and extraordinary meetings of the PWG, annual training for people in police and prosecutor's offices, training on journalist safety during public gatherings, quarterly visits to local communities, and many such activities. The recommendations for 2024 suggest that the new action plan mirrors 2023 activities to maintain consistency in training for law enforcement and journalist support; the PWG should seek new, innovative methods to prevent crimes against journalists and tackle impunity; the OSCE Mission to Serbia will continue to support PWG efforts through the 2025 action plan.
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