Sarajevo, 28.7.2023. – Steering Board of the BH Journalists Association calls on the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to respond URGENTLY and without any reservations to the spread of hate speech and calls for violence against journalists Slađan Tomić and Danijal Hadžović, which are perpetrated by Jasmin Mulahusić and his Facebook followers.
Jasmin Mulahusić, a citizen of Luxembourg originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in his latest post on Facebook once again labeled and targeted journalists Slađan Tomić and Danijal Hadžović, expressing his belief that “it is only a matter of time” when someone “will meet Slađan and Danijal and have a nice chat with them”. Also, Mulahusić presented a series of untruths and inciting manipulations about the connection of the journalist Tomić’s family with the Army of Republika Srpska and the most serious crimes committed during the siege of Sarajevo.
The Steering Board of BH Journalists reminds that Jasmin Mulahusić has been verbally abusing, threatening and exposing Slađan Tomić and other journalists in BiH to security risks for years, and that the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH, the police and the judicial authorities in general have not found an adequate legal and institutional response to sanction Mulahusić and his “FB warriors”, nor did they take adequate measures to protect the rights and safety of journalists.
For the Steering Board of BH Journalists, it is unacceptable and indicative that the investigation against Jasmin Mulahusić has been conducted for more than three years without results, even though BH journalists, many media and journalists have submitted dozens of reports with evidence of threats, incitement to violence, insults on the national and on a religious basis, hate speech and other criminal acts dangerous to the life and professional safety of media workers.
We in BH journalists do not have a single reasonable and legally based answer to the evident inefficiency of judiciary in BiH in this case, except that Jasmin Mulahusić is protected from indictment and trial in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the powerful politicians and their representatives in judicial institutions!
Due to all abovementioned reasons, the Steering Board of BH Journalists once again publicly demands from the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH that it URGENTLY devotes itself to solving the “Mulahusić case” and informs the public about its work. We emphasize once more that this is a person whom the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina previously linked to terrorist activities, and who has a large number of followers on social networks, which additionally contributes to the spread of hateful content at an incredible speed.
At the same time, BH journalists call on the competent police authorities to take adequate measures to protect our colleagues Slađan Tomić and Danijal Hadžović in order to prevent new security threats.
Steering Board of the BH Journalists Association
