Journalist Milan Jovanovic: I Am Fair Game Now

Milan Jovanovic (Photo: Print Screen YouTube}

A journalist of the Zig Info poral, Milan Jovanovic, said on Dec. 29 that he felt “appalled and humiliated” at the news that a first-degree verdict against a former mayor of Belgrade’s suburb of Grocka, Dragoljub Simonovic, sentenced to jail for having been involved in burning down his home late in 2018, had been revoked.

“We are fair game now, and they walk free. I am now waiting for them to come and finish the job. My wife is unwell, she can’t sleep at night. Pacing up and down the balcony instead. I am worried about her health,” Jovanovic said in an interview with the Blic daily, describing the consequences of the arson attack.

The journalist said that he didn’t expect the verdict to be revoked, but “as we can see, it happened.” “A security detail assigned to me was withdrawn on Aug. 4, and I’ve been fair game since. Now they walk free. I am waiting for them to come and finish what they have started. They have tried to kill me several times,” Jovanovic explained.

The Reporters Without Borders will address the European Union in reaction to the decision to abolish the verdict against those responsible for setting the reporter’s home on fire, a representative of the organization promised, adding that they would “warn the institutions of the Union, the community Serbia wants to join, at Serbia’s inability to protect the freedom of the media in this representative case of impunity of crimes against journalists in the Western Balkans.”