According to the police, murder of the editor of the Istraga.ba portal in Bosnia and Herzegovina was planned, while the editor-in-chief of the Komarilos.com portal, Dario Topić, was physically attacked on Wednesday in the Croatian city of Osijek.

The police, security and judicial institutions in the Federation of BiH were informed through international police channels that the person Dino Muzaferović aka Cezar was preparing the liquidation of the editor of the Istraga.ba portal, Avdo Avdić.

On Thursday, December 5, Muzaferović was arrested in Ljubljana after a text was published on the Istraga.ba portal on November 29, which contained information about his participation in the organization and murder of his fellow citizen, and the place where Dino Muzaferović was hiding. After the Slovenian media reported that information, according to the knowledge of the police and security structures, Muzaferović started preparing the murder of the editor of Istraga.ba.

The Board of Directors of the BH Journalists’ Association (BHJA) and the Helpline for Journalists sent a request to the competent institutions to take all security measures to protect the journalist Avdo Avdić.

Regardless of Muzaferović’s arrest and the findings of the police, the security risks for the life of the journalist and his family have not been eliminated, and they must be provided with police protection and special supervision. The BH Journalists’ Association points out that journalist Avdić has been writing for years about international criminal circles connected to drug cartels and their leaders, which is why he received serious threats and was under constant pressure. “It is with regret that we have to state that this journalist was threatened not only by persons from the criminal milieu, but also by politicians from BiH and holders of the highest state positions, who tried to professionally discredit and dehumanize Avdić, and create a circle of violence and security risks around him by representing himself as a “criminal”. “None of these cases ended with the punishment of the attackers,” emphasized BHJA.

On December 4, journalist Dario Topić was beaten by Damir Taslidžić, co-owner and representative of the Elektromodul company. Namely, after the Komarilos.com portal wrote about the case of the City of Osijek’s refusal to extend the concession for parking charges to the Elektromodul company at the end of the year, Damir Taslidžić, whose company is still the current concessionaire, invited Topić to his business premises under the pretext that he would give him information about embezzlement with the awarding of concessions, and he physically attacked and beat him as soon as he entered.

Dario Topić immediately reported the case to the police, the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Croatian Journalists’ Association (CJA), went to the hospital for a check-up, and on December 5, accompanied by CJA Vice President Drago Hedl, he again gave a statement to the police regarding the attack. According to available information, it is suspected that the attacker left Croatia immediately after the incident and went to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Because of this case, the CJA addressed the police with a letter requesting the arrest of the attacker, and the State Prosecutor’s Office was requested to file an indictment for assault and bodily harm. According to the amendments to the Croatian Criminal Code from 2020, an attack on a journalist is treated as an attack on a person doing work of public interest, and the punishment for that offense is up to three years in prison.

CJA demands that the institutions act in accordance with the law and the Protocol on police behavior when learning about a criminal offense committed to the detriment of journalists and other media workers in the performance of their work tasks in order to put an end to the atmosphere of open lynching in which they work, especially when they are labels from the highest state levels. Such an atmosphere encourages various thugs who think they can attack journalists with impunity.

The SafeJournalist network strongly condemns the cases of endangering Avdić’s safety and the physical attack on Topić and calls for the most severe punishment of those who dared to deal with journalists in this way. We join the CJA in calling for an end to the atmosphere of open lynching towards journalists, the BHJA in urgent requests to the competent security, police and prosecution structures in BiH to ensure the safety of the journalist and his family and to take all measures to resolve the previous threats and unpunished violence against the journalist.

The SafeJournalists Network will inform relevant national and international stakeholders.

Every attack on journalists is an attack on the public interest, democracy, and the rights of all citizens.

Pristina – Skopje – Sarajevo – Zagreb – Belgrade – Podgorica, 6.12.2024

Association of Journalists of Kosovo

Association of Journalists of Macedonia

Association BH Journalists

Croatian Journalists’ Association

Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia

Trade Union of Media of Montenegro

The suerce: IJAS

Photo: Canva