Higher Prosecutor's Office Orders Police To Find Out Who Attacked N1 Journalist Savatovic

Prosecutor’s Office (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/MO)

The Higher Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade has said that it was investigating who attacked N1 TV journalist Mladen Savatovic.

The Office opened the case due to the existence of reasonable suspicion that the criminal act "of violent behavior at a sports event or public gathering"  was committed and that it had ordered police to find the perpetrator "as well as take all measures in its jurisdiction to secure evidence for the purpose of leading unhindered criminal proceedings."

Two journalistic organizations previously condemned the attack on Savatovic and called on the authorities to investigate the case and find the attacker.

The Journalists' Association of Serbia said that during a protest on Dec. 25 police attacked an Al Jazeera cameraman and that police also hit Nova.rs journalist on the hand with a nightstick late on Dec. 25 and attempted to grab a BETA cameraman's camera from his hand.

Independent Association of Journalists of Vojvodina president Ana Lalic told BETA that the regime had created such an atmosphere in society that it was only a question of days when someone would cross "the red line," because Aleksandar Vucic's regime was intentionally heating up tensions in society until they boiled over and that the regime was the most to blame for the "campaign against journalists."