European Parliament Rapporteur Criticizes Serbian Authorities for Denying Entry to Journalists

Tonino Picula (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, Croatian MEP Tonino Picula, criticized on March 15 the authorities in Belgrade for denying entry to teams of journalists, including Croatian journalists, on the grounds that they posed a security risk.

Speaking to reporters in Osijek, Picula said that the incident was proof of the Serbian government’s undemocratic behavior and warned that such measures could not prevent the truth from being spread, the Hina news agency reported. "Journalists can be stopped at the border, but not the truth. A government that tries to stop the truth is certainly not democratic, but it clearly has a reason to try to prevent the truth about itself from being shared with the world," Picula said.

Several teams of journalists were stopped at the Serbian border on March 14 and were not allowed to enter the country ahead of a massive anti-government protest in Belgrade, with the explanation that they posed a security risk. Picula stated that this was part of “the Vucic regime’s longstanding practice" of systematically preventing journalists inside Serbia from "conveying the truth about the nature of the regime."

Serbian Speaker Ana Brnabic immediately responded and advised her Croatian counterpart and Picula to not be nervous, adding that their strategic interest regarding who ought to lead Serbia was unattainable. This was her response to official Zagreb’s criticism of certain journalistic teams being barred from entering the country.