Helsinki Committee, EFJ Condemn Intimidation of Journalist Dinko Gruhonjic

Dinko Gruhonjic (BETAPHOTO/Milos Miskov)

The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia condemned on June 22 the vandalizing of a car owned by a journalist, Professor Dinko Gruhonjic’s son,  as a "politically and ideologically motivated act of intimidation" and called on the international community to "respond to increasingly overt forms of political intimidation and violence in the country".

The organisation said the incident was "another in a series of alarming attacks resulting from the prolonged targeting, lynching and dehumanization campaign to which Dinko Gruhonjic and his family have been exposed for years". "The attack on a family member crosses yet another dangerous line and shows the extent to which the atmosphere of hatred systematically generated by pro-government tabloids and those in power has escalated," the organization said.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined its affiliate, the Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina, in strongly condemning the vandalizing act, saying the attack was part of a "years-long organized persecution campaign against Dinko Gruhonjic over his journalistic, academic and public work, for which the institutions and the ruling regime bear direct responsibility".

The EFJ said Gruhonjic had for years been one of the most frequent targets of pro-government media smear campaigns, hate speech, threats, including death threats, and public targeting in Serbia. Several masked individuals vandalised David Gruhonjic's car in Novi Sad in the night between June 20 and June 21.