International organizations demand an end to attacks on journalists in Kosovo

“We call for an immediate end to the discrediting and denigrating language of media publications by officials and individuals affiliated with the ruling party, Lëvizja Vetëvendosje, the Office of the President and other high-level institutions,” the letter reads. published by the European Center for Media Freedom.

The letter, which these media organizations have sent to the President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, and the Prime Minister Albin Kurti, states that in recent days, on social networks there have been messages from politicians and officials who have incited the public against journalists and reporters.

The letter mentions the Facebook posts of spokesmen and advisers of the Vetëvendosje Movement and the Office of Prime Minister Kurti, who “speaking on behalf of the parties they represent, said that the media tried to undermine the president through their reporting.”

These organizations also single out the comments of President Osmani’s husband, Prindon Sadriu, addressed to journalists.

On February 8, Sadriu, through a Facebook post, described journalists in Kosovo as “representatives of joint criminal enterprises”, criticizing the media for their links to “parapolitics” and other abuses. He also said that journalists are trying to tarnish the work of President Osmani.

He then deleted this post.

This reaction of Prindon Sadriu was preceded by the publication of news in the media in Kosovo, where it was claimed that President Osmani had received compensation for oil used for travel from Mitrovica, when she was an MP, and at that time the media said that she lived in Pristina. .

“These comments have effectively resulted in a host of online abuses by Vetëvendosje Movement supporters, targeting independent journalists and critical activists, especially women. “Furthermore, the use of terms such as ‘joint criminal enterprise’, we fear could negatively affect the physical safety of journalists, denigrating the profession and contributing to a hostile climate,” the letter reads.

These organizations said that the use of denigrating language is part of a broader problematic context, “in which individuals associated with Vetëvendosje try to undermine public trust in the media.”

“We are concerned that this strategy of inciting the public against the media and independent activists is dangerous to the physical safety of journalists and has an effect that undermines democratic values. Especially given Kosovo’s ambitions to join the Council of Europe and the European Union, we believe it is of the utmost importance that politicians, representatives of political parties and public figures respect the freedom of the media and help create a favorable environment for media freedom and security of journalists “, was said in the letter addressed to President Osmani and Prime Minister Kurti.

This letter was signed by the European Center for Freedom of the Press and Media, the European Federation of Journalists, the Censorship Index, the International Media Institute, the SafeJournalists Network (which includes journalists’ associations from Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia , Serbia and Montenegro) and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.

Otherwise, international human rights organizations, in their annual reports, have said that journalists in Kosovo are the target of attacks, threats and intimidation.

The new Human Rights Watch human rights report, published in January 2022, found that perpetrators of attacks on journalists were rarely held accountable.

“In the period January-September, the Association of Journalists of Kosovo has registered 18 cases of threats, intimidation and violence against journalists and the media. At least nine cases have been under investigation at the time of writing [të raportit]”but investigations and prosecutions have been slow,” said Human Rights Watch.rel

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