Sarajevo/Zvornik, September 18, 2025. – The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association and the Free Media Help Line express concern about frequent calls to the police and questioning of journalists for posting on social networks and starting a debate on issues of public importance.
The latest case occurred in Zvornik, when the Police Department in this city summoned and questioned Nedeljko Bosiočić, editor and owner of the Drina Media portal, as a witness, based on a criminal complaint filed by Goran Pisić, head of the Communal Police Department, which operates within the Zvornik City Administration. Chief Pisić filed a criminal complaint for defamation after opening a public debate on the Drina Media portal about the installation and use of a rotating light on a municipal police vehicle, for which there is no legal basis. In comments on the portal and social networks, citizens protested the illegal use of the “rotation” and unnecessary harassment, demanding more efficient work by the municipal police.
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association believes that the filing of criminal charges and the urgent questioning of editor Bosiočić by the police represent arrogant institutional pressure on this media outlet, a restriction of freedom of expression and an attempt to deny the media the right to criticize the actions of public officials. This is an unacceptable criminalization of journalism and the work of the media, initiated with the aim of intimidating and censoring publications about the actions of Mayor Goran Pisić, a person who, upon assuming public office, voluntarily exposed his work and actions to the public court, which includes criticism from citizens and the media.
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association gives full support to the director of Drina Media and the editor Nedeljko Bosiočić, protecting their right to work freely, without harassment and unnecessary police investigation on issues that are part of the constitutionally protected freedom of the media and expression, as well as the democratic values of every society.
BH Journalists and the Free Media Help Line expect that the Zvornik Police Department and the competent inspector will reject Pisić’s criminal report as unfounded, since it represents yet another abuse of public resources and institutions, as well as police structures in cases that are initiated without legal basis and with only one goal – to prevent journalists from doing their job!
BH Journalists remind that since August 2023, more than 200 criminal charges for defamation have been filed in Republika Srpska, with one indictment and only one verdict issued against journalists and media outlets. These data clearly warn that an unacceptably large number of criminal charges are being filed not with the aim of establishing actual criminal liability for defamation, but with the aim of intimidating and deterring media outlets and journalists from writing critically about the decisions and actions of public officials, as well as other topics of public importance.
The Sttering Committee of the BH Journalists Association
Photo by: Drina Media
