Bosnian Journalist Covering Dragicevic Protests Attacked

Vladimir Kovacevic, a journalist at BN TV, one of the main media in Bosnia's Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska, was attacked on Sunday in front of his home in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of the entity, BN TV reported.

"I passed by them [the assailants] without expecting anything to happen to me. Suddenly they attacked me," Kovacevic told BN TV, describing the attack.

That night, Kovacevic had been covering the latest "Justice for David" protest in the city. For 155 days, the parents of David Dragicevic and citizens have been holding public protests, trying to force the authorities to resolve the case of the unexplained death of the 21-year-old man.

Prije 20 minuta su me dok sam se vraćao sa posla dva momka zaskočila i namlatila šipkama na razvlačenje. pic.twitter.com/qEllwPvAvn

— Vladimir Kovacevic (@corbapas) August 26, 2018

"Before he was attacked, he sent material that will be published on Monday," Suzana Radjen Todoric, editor-in-chief of BN TV, wrote on her Twitter profile.

BN TV started its morning programme on Monday with a blank screen and message: "Open protest over the attack on a BN TV journalist. We are asking the Republika Srpska MUP [police] to reveal the attacker."

Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, condemned the attack as an attack on media freedom that cannot be tolerated, calling on the police to urgently investigate the case.

Data from Bosnian associations of Journalist note 40 cases this year in which journalists have reported that they were victims - including five death threats and 14 assaults and other forms of pressures.

Read more:

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