Attacks on journalists

Category: Persecution

Period: from 2020

This pattern tracks attacks on and pressure against journalists, from Vuk Cvijić and Žaklina Tatalović to Dinko Gruhonjić and the newsrooms of KRIK and BIRN. The attackers have included editors of pro-government media, the police, thugs, officials and the country's president, while a judge and a mayor have sued journalists, seeking prison terms or millions of dinars. According to published documents, the BIA secretly surveilled three members of the Radar newsroom in 2026, which the BIA denies. Of the 25 cases, only two have reached a court outcome, and prosecutors found no criminal offence even where footage shows the editor of a pro-government paper punching a journalist.

Who was attacked and how

The pattern covers attacks on journalists who speak publicly about what happened to them: Vuk Cvijić (Radar), Žaklina Tatalović, Ksenija Pavkov and Ana Novaković (N1), Zoran Strika (Radio 021), Nemanja Šarović (KTV Zrenjanin), Ana Lalić Hegediš and Dinko Gruhonjić (Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina), and Milan Srdić and Tamara Tankosić (RTS). It also covers attacks on N1 and Insajder crews outside the REM building and threats against Insajder editor Brankica Stanković.

The attacks came from editors of pro-government media, the police, unidentified thugs, football fans, government supporters, officials and the country's president: a punch, blows with police shields and helmets, a chemical agent, destroyed equipment, insults, death threats, threatening chants from the stands, threatening graffiti, being followed home and, according to Radar, an unidentified man who kept watch outside Cvijić's building for days.

Secret surveillance of Radar

According to documents published by Radar, from June to October 2026 the BIA, with the approval of the Belgrade Higher Court and on suspicion of espionage, kept Radar's editor-in-chief Vesna Mališić and two of the weekly's journalists under secret surveillance and recorded conversations in the newsroom. The BIA rejects the claims that it acted unlawfully.

On 4 November, NUNS called for the dismissal of BIA director Vladimir Orlić, and on 6 November, together with three other civil society organisations, it called for criminal proceedings against the BIA leadership and for an inquiry into the responsibility of the Higher Court judges who approved the surveillance.

A punch that is not a crime

The prosecutor's office established that the footage shows Milan Lađević, editor of a pro-government paper, punching Cvijić, but concluded that this is not a criminal offence.

Lawsuits and legal threats

Belgrade Court of Appeal judge Dušanka Đorđević and her husband have sued journalists from KRIK three times since 2024 over its database on judges, seeking prison sentences and a ban on working as journalists for four of them. The Coalition Against SLAPPs in Europe calls these lawsuits SLAPPs. Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Šapić sued BIRN for a total of 12 million dinars over articles about a villa in Trieste and an extension.

In a letter, lawyer Bogdan Gecić demanded that N1, Nova and Danas remove 38 articles, threatening lawsuits. According to N1, lawyers from his firm asked journalist Ana Novaković to delete a video she had recorded at the "Bristol" hotel.

Two convictions in 25 cases

Of the 25 cases, only two have ended in court. Dragan J. Vučićević was convicted with a final verdict of insulting Tatalović, and one of the people who threatened Ana Lalić Hegediš with death was convicted in 2026 and given a suspended sentence. Another, who was indicted, fled house arrest before trial, according to Veran Matić.

In the other cases, the perpetrators were not found or the prosecution concluded that no crime had been committed.

Not isolated cases

According to NUNS, more than 280 incidents against journalists and 90 physical attacks were recorded in 2025, and according to the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, there were four times as many physical attacks as in 2024.

The threats against Cvijić after an article on the Šarić clan (October 2026) are covered in the affair on the government's ties to the underworld.

Participants

Milan Lađević: According to the prosecution, CCTV footage shows him punching journalist Vuk Cvijić in the face and shoving him away (responsible)
Srpski telegraf: The same day it reported that Cvijić had attacked its editor Lađević, and its director publicly defended Lađević (commented on the case)
Dragan J. Vučićević: For months in 2020 he insulted journalist Žaklina Tatalović on Twitter, for which he was convicted of insult in a final judgment (responsible)
TV Pink: On her show “Hit tvit”, singer Aca Lukas hurled sexist insults at journalist Žaklina Tatalović (commented on the case)
Aleksandar Vučić: He told journalist Tatalović that she was part of a “media platform” taking part in an attempt to overthrow the government (responsible)
Večernje novosti: They published the president's reply to the journalist under a headline saying he had “torn her apart” (commented on the case)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: One of his uniformed police officers sprayed journalist Cvijić from behind with a chemical agent, and cases of force used against journalists have not been solved (responsible)
First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: Nearly 11 months after the attack, it determined that the punch seen in the footage was not a criminal offence (responsible)
First Basic Court in Belgrade: It convicted him of insult and fined him 200,000 dinars, and replaced the unpaid fine with a prison term (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: It upheld the ruling for insulting Tatalović; in the case of the threats against Ana Lalić Hegediš, it refused to remand one indicted man in custody and gave the other a suspended sentence (investigation and courts)
Independent Journalists' Association of Serbia (NUNS): It records attacks on journalists; from the start of 2025 to the end of October, it recorded more than 280 incidents and 90 physical attacks (oversight and the public)
Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM): It said a police officer had sprayed a journalist with a chemical agent and stated that attacks also come from the highest state authorities (oversight and the public)
Journalists' Association of Serbia: It recorded Strika's account that three men in hoods approached and that one of them snatched a phone and threw it into the Danube (oversight and the public)
Radar: Called on the prosecution to urgently establish who had endangered the journalist (oversight and the public)
Mićo Kljajić: According to a statement by Šarović's movement, he pushed and kicked a journalist while the journalist was reporting, and broke his microphone (responsible)
Informer: According to RFE, its articles from March 2024 called Ana Lalić a “tycoon journalist” and an “auto-chauvinist”, after which she received hundreds of threats (responsible)
Vladimir Đukanović: Wrote on X that journalist Ana Lalić should be “put away somewhere in a psychiatric ward” (responsible)
Administration for the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions: According to ANEM, it failed to notice that the man charged with threatening a journalist had removed his electronic monitoring device and fled (responsible)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for High-Tech Crime: Tracked down the man who threatened the journalist from Paris, sought detention for him and filed an indictment (investigation and courts)
Independent Journalists' Association of Vojvodina: It filed four criminal complaints over threats against its president (oversight and the public)
Ana Brnabić: According to Insajder, she was nearby while people gathered outside the REM media regulator were insulting an Insajder crew, and said she had “begged them not to attack” (commented on the case)
Vladimir Orlić: As BIA director, he allegedly asked a court for secret surveillance of Radar's editor and two of its journalists, on suspicion of espionage (responsible)
Security Information Agency: From June to October 2026, she allegedly eavesdropped on an editor and two journalists from Radar, in the newsroom itself (responsible)
Vladimir Laušević: After the blows to Cvijić, he allegedly refused to show his ID, and he threatened a CINS journalist with court if she published her story (responsible)
CINS (Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia): It reported that the Interior Ministry official seen in the footage of the attack on Cvijić refused to show his ID (oversight and the public)
Bogdan Gecić: In a letter, he demanded that N1, Nova and Danas remove 38 articles, threatening lawsuits, and his lawyers demanded that a journalist delete her recording (responsible)
Dušanka Đorđević: Together with her husband, she sued KRIK journalists three times over its database of judges, seeking prison sentences and bans on practising journalism for four journalists (responsible)
Aleksandar Šapić: As mayor, he sued BIRN and four journalists for a total of 12 million dinars over articles about his villa and its extension (responsible)
Ivica Dačić: He rejected claims that police failed to respond to attacks on journalists near Ćacilend (commented on the case)
Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad: It is conducting pre-investigation proceedings against an unknown perpetrator over threatening graffiti aimed at journalist Dinko Gruhonjić (investigation and courts)
Novi Sad Police Department: On the prosecution's orders, it filed a criminal complaint against a man suspected of attacking an RTS crew at a protest in 2020. (investigation and courts)
Milenko Jovanov: According to NUNS, he was the first to post on X about RTS journalist Tamara Tankosić, after which a smear campaign against her followed (responsible)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: It ordered the police to establish the circumstances of the threats against Brankica Stanković at Belgrade Arena and identify the suspects (investigation and courts)