June 30, 2022
Posters displaying the face of Veran Matić, president of the Commission for the Investigation of Murders of Journalists and president of the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM), have appeared all over the city of Vranje. The posters state that Matić is “demolishing” around the city.
In his capacity as a member of the Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, Matić visited Vranje recently – together with representatives of media associations and NGOs – as a show of support for local OK Radio. He has written critically in multiple articles about the situation in which this local media company finds itself.
According to Matić’s writing, the man behind the threats and attacks against OK Radio employees is one Dejan Nikolić, a Vranje resident, who was subsequently detained for 30 days. Nikolić denied threatening OK Radio journalists and initiating attacks against them.
The displaying of the posters was condemned by the Ministry of Culture and Information, with condemnatory reactions also coming from the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS), the Coalition for Freedom of the Media and ANEM. It remains unknown who ordered the creation of the posters, and who pasted them around the city.
