News-from-the-media

10. 08. 2023.

Dejan Nikolić Kantar sentenced to eighteen months in prison for threatening the owner and employee of OK Radio in Vranje

The Association of Independent Electronic Media welcomes the decision of the judicial panel of the High Court in Vranje (Dragana Ilić Marković, Aleksandra Tošić Arsić and Zorica Stojičić) which confirmed the decision of the Basic Court in Vranje (Judge Bojan Trajković), which sentenced Dejan Nikolić aka Kantar to 18 months in prison for jeopardizing the safety of OK radio owner Olivera Vladković and radio employee Svetlana Ivanov.

These threats took place at the trial for endangering the safety of OK Radio employees and destroying the property of the No Comment Cafe, which operates as part of this radio station.

With this final verdict, circumstances have been created for Dejan Nikolić, whose first prison sentence expires on August 17, to continue serving his second sentence.

In spite of numerous obstructions, including the theft of the files of this case in the premises of the High Court, this case was reconstructed, decisions were made to disqualify the judge whose daughter, in the meantime, became the lawyer of the accused Dejan Nikolić, a new judge rapporteur was in charge, a session of the court panel was scheduled and held. Followed by a fair decision.

Endangerment of journalists requires efficient and quick investigative actions, as demonstrated in this case by the prosecutor's office in Vranje with the Police Department, efficient and fair trials, as we had in both of these cases, both before the Basic Court and the High Court.

ANEM strongly believes that the investigation into the missing case files in the High Court will also be effectively concluded, that the culprits will be identified and appropriately punished. We expect that the supervision of the Ministry of Justice over the work of the High Court will be carried out as soon as possible and all shortcomings will be identified, in order to determine responsibility and implement appropriate sanctions.

We expect the demolition of the illegally built building, the construction of which, in the first half of last year, caused endangering the safety of OK Radio employees, followed by vandalism inside the business premises. The mayor and the head of the city administration are directly responsible for inaction, which is why it is necessary to involve the representatives of the competent ministries, as well as the offices of the Prime Minister of Serbia and the President of the Republic of Serbia, in the actual demolition of the illegal building. It may seem like an exaggeration to some, but let them look at the content of every report on threats to the safety of journalists in the last year, the implications of which the leaders of Vranje will not and do not want to understand.

"Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, which includes representatives of all associations, the Republic Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Interior, established a new practice in this case: direct solidarity with journalists and the media who are at risk, through direct cooperation at the local level with contact points in the police and prosecutor's offices, as well as in the local media. Attending all trials, meetings with actors at the local level, organizing manifestations of support and solidarity, highly contributed to the creation of trust in the actions of competent institutions in cases of threats made by Nikolić. ANEM organized a solidarity campaign in which aid was collected for OK radio. This must become a role model of how we should all behave in all cases of endangering the safety of journalists and the media," said Veran Matić, Chairman of the ANEM Board of Directors and member of Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists.