Police, evening protest Belgrade (BETAPHOTO/SVETLANA DOJCINOVIC)
The First Basic Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade has requested from the Interior Ministry’s Internal Control Department to establish the identity of the police officers who beat up BETA’s reporter Zikica Stevanovic during a protest rally in Belgrade on July 8.
According to a press release of the Association of Journalists of Serbia, the Prosecutor’s Office received on July 14 a preliminary report on the incident from the Crime Police Administration’s Investigative Department, and in August, a report by the Ministry’s Interior Control Sector.
“Based on the content of these reports, the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office has requested from the Ministry’s Interior Control Sector to determine the identity of [the] police officers [in question], on suspicion of committing a crime maltreatment and torture, as defined in Article 137, Paragraph 3, in connection with Paragraph 1 of the Penal Code of the Republic of Serbia,” the Association of Journalists was informed by the Prosecutor’s Office.
The Association was also advised that the process of acting upon their request is in progress.
BETA’s reporter was beaten by the police during the second evening protest, although he had identified himself as a journalist. Despite that, they continued to hit him with batons even after he fell to the ground and kept returning to beat him again. Stevanovic suffered injuries and bruises to his head and next to his eye.
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