Intimidation of Critics of Government on the Rise

Rodoljub Sabic(Photo:Print Screen You Tube)

The president of the Civil Committee on the protection of human rights defenders and whistleblowers, Rodoljub Sabic, said on Sept. 8 that everyone should be extremely concerned about "increasingly frequent attacks, pressures and intimidation targeted at civil society organisations and their activists, independent journalists and media outlets criticizing the authorities.

Sabic, a former commissioner for information of public importance, warned in a written statement that "an increase in such incidents illustrates speedy implosion of the rule of law and institutions."

Sabic said that a particular reason for concern, aside from the fact that the competent bodies are clearly not prepared to react to the intolerable attacks and threats, is that the authorities were behind many attacks and pressures on independent media and civil society organisations, indirectly or quite openly, violating the Constitution of Serbia, national laws and obligations arising from international documents.

"It is absolutely intolerable and dangerous that increasingly frequent incidents are encouraged by senior and even highest-ranking public officials, and that for that purpose the resources and powers of government bodies have been used, while the authorities provide logistics and financial support for the perpetrators," Sabic has warned.