Banja Luka/Sarajevo, 28/02/2025 – The Steering Committee of BH Journalists Association (BHJA) and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) strongly condemn the inappropriate reactions and attack to the journalists by f Branislav Okuka, advisor of the Republika Srpska President, during the press conference by Milorad Dodik to the media in the hall of the Republika Srpska´s National Assembly.

Advisor Okuka verbally attacked journalists from BNTV, Al Jazeera and RTL, pulled their sleeves and got in their faces, hindering them from performing their journalistic tasks. Although advisor Okuk today apologized to the media through his profile on the X platform, this polite reaction in no way lessens the consequences of his scandalous behavior, especially considering that he is a public office holder.

At the same time, the BHJA Steering Committee and FMHL send a public protest to the President of Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, who is (in)directly responsible for increased violence and attacks on journalists, not only in recent days, but for two whole decades, since he continuously attacks journalists, threatens them, draws “targets on their foreheads”, falsely accuses them and at the same time arrogantly demonstrates the culture of violence and impunity for crimes against journalists and the media.

Dodik’s latest attack on journalists took place on Wednesday, February 26, during a rally in Banja Luka, when he verbally attacked the editors and owners of the Capital and Buka portals, as well as BN television, accusing them of spending USAID funds to “destroy the Republika Srpska and Milorad Dodik”. Using inappropriate vocabulary and ad hominem insults, Dodik called the leaders of the aforementioned media “criminals” and said that “the people should judge them”, thus directly calling for violence against Sinisa Vukelić, Aleksandar Trifunović and Vlada Trišić.

The BHJA Steering Committee gives a lot of support to colleagues from Banja Luka and Bijeljina, as well as to all media in Republika Srpska, and demands from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RS and the District Prosecutor’s Office of Banja Luka to urgently take measures to protect the attacked journalists and thus show that they are ready to defend their safety and act in accordance with the law, regardless of whether Milorad Dodik, his adviser Branislav Okuka or an ordinary citizen is behind the attack. The latest cases of attacks on journalists in Banja Luka are a test of professionalism for the recently established “contact points” for the safety of journalists in the police and prosecutor’s office, along with the question of whether they will work in the interest of freedom of expression and freedom of the media, or whether they will protect the attackers only because they are holders of public and political functions in the Republic of Srpska.

BH Journalists Association and FMHL also condemn the physical attack to the journalist Renata Radić-Dragić and cameraman Dženet Dreković from Sarajevo’s Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN). The attack happened at February 27, 2025. in Brčko in front of the “Bogičević” shopping center, where the CIN-a team was recording materials for an investigative story about Zoran Kokanović, a politician and member of the RS National Assembly. One of the employees of the shopping center attacked the CIN team, causing minor injuries to cameraman Dreković and damaging the camera. The Police and Prosecutor’s office in Brčko District reacted effectively and took the measures prescribed by law to investigate and sanction the perpetrators of this incident.

Finally, BHJA and FMHL assess the shameful silence of international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding the latest, brutal attacks on journalists, and we publicly invite them to raise their voices and stand up for the protection of the safety and professional integrity of journalists and human rights defenders in this chaotic and safety challenged period for the media and non-governmental organizations throughout the country, especially in Republika Srpska.

Steering Committee of BH journalists