In 1993, World Press Photo awarded the Spot News prize to Bojan Stojanović for a photograph depicting the execution of Husein Kršo, a Bosniak civilian, during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The investigation conducted by journalist Barbara Matejčić, as well as transcripts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), provide credible evidence that the photograph was not taken incidentally, but that the shooting was organized in advance. Goran Jelisić, the perpetrator of the crime, confirmed before the court that police officials arranged for photographers to be present.

The original caption of the photograph incorrectly identified the victim as a sniper. World Press Photo subsequently corrected this error, but despite new evidence, refused to take any further steps.

In 2015, World Press Photo adopted a Contest Code of Ethics, which clearly stipulates that entered works must be created ethically, that captions must be accurate, that individuals depicted in photographs must be treated with dignity, and that authors must be transparent about the circumstances in which their photographs were made.

In two previous cases, in 2010 and 2015, World Press Photo revoked awards following established violations of professional and ethical standards. The evidence in this case points to violations of the same principles, and the institution is therefore obliged to apply its standards consistently.

This is not merely a question of a single award. This is a question of whether leading photojournalism institutions will uphold their own ethical standards even when confronted with uncomfortable evidence.

We therefore call on World Press Photo to:

• revoke the award granted to Bojan Stojanović;
• provide formal acknowledgment to the family of Husein Kršo;
• publish appropriate context alongside the photograph in all of its archives;
• issue a public statement explaining how it reviewed the evidence presented and what institutional response it has reached.

The petition was initiated by the SafeJournalists Network, comprising journalists’ associations and unions from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Montenegro, together with the European Federation of Journalists. The request has also been endorsed by the General Assembly of the European Federation of Journalists, which represents more than 300,000 journalists in 44 countries through 76 journalists’ associations and unions. The endorsement was given through the Resolution on the Revocation of the 1993 World Press Photo Award Granted to Bojan Stojanović, adopted on 19 June 2026.

The full text of the petition, with detailed reasoning, can be read here.

You can sign the petition here.

Source: SafeJournalists

Illustration: Canva