05. 04. 2014

STATEMENT BY VERAN MATIC REGARDING THE LUKA BOJOVIĆ LAWSUIT AGAINST BRANKICA STANKOVIĆ AND ‘SAMIZDAT’

05. 04. 2014 (B92.net) - Statement by Veran Matić, publisher of the book "The Insider, My Story" by Brankica Stanković, and editor-in-chief of B92 news program:

Luka Bojović filed a lawsuit for damages against Brankica Stanković, the author of "Insider" television program and book "The Insider, My Story." The same lawsuit included (publishing company) Samizdat Ltd. and Veran Matić as the publisher of the book.

The lawsuit against Brankica Stanković and Samizdat was filed for alleged violations of the honor and reputation of Luka Bojović caused by the publication of certain statements about him in the book "The Insider, My Story." The claims, as stated in the lawsuit, are "allegedly supported" by official notes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor for Organized Crime, which even if they exist, according to Bojović, constitute secret information. He demands in the lawsuit the compensation for non-pecuniary damages in the amount of RSD 250,000.

There is no dispute that Luka Bojović, as well as any other person who considers that his rights have been violated, has the capacity to sue for damages. However, when talking about the merits of the claim, it should be noted that in this particular case a journalist published official information in a book, on the basis of which she presented her opinion on circumstances in which she found herself from the point in time when, after a security assessment, she was assigned a 24-hour police protection. It is also important to note that from the publication of the book to this day, no state organ disputed the content of documents that Brankica Stanković cited in her book, which indicates that the lawsuit is apparently sent to the wrong address.

These documents are authentic and come from official institutions in charge of security, therefore every challenge of contents and authenticity must be directed to those who drafted those documents, according to which these same authorities concluded that the life of journalist Brankica Stanković is endangered, i.e. that there is a high probability of an attempt at her liquidation. A particularly absurd claim of the lawsuit is that the documents are official secrets, and that they were not supposed to be disclosed publicly. The knowledge by official institutions of the plans for liquidation of anyone, and in particular of journalists, public figures, cannot be kept secret, but just the opposite - the public must be timely informed about this.

Since the lawsuit practically does not challenge what is written in official notes, i.e. official documents, and since there was no attempt to challenge the facts form notes, we understand this lawsuit as a direct message to Brankica Stanković and myself as publisher, as a sort of a fatwa. In the past few months and days a series of murders took place in Serbia and Montenegro, which are associated with the instigator of the lawsuit, his friends, and rivals. Therefore, we understand this message as another potential targeting of the author of "Insider" and this is why I think that we need additional professional solidarity, and that journalists from all newsrooms need to finally wake up because this could happen to them in the future.

It is ironic that the first stronger reaction to the book about dangers a professional journalist who is raising investigative journalism standards is exposed to is this lawsuit, and not a support from colleagues which has been almost absent despite the gravity of the situation described in the book by Brankica Stanković.

I think it is very important to open a debate about many problems that journalists face in our country and which are covered in the book "The Insider, My Story" by Brankica Stanković. It is also very important that the most endangered journalists be supported by colleagues with a clear request to responsible authorities to remove as soon as possible the causes due to which a number of journalists in Serbia has been under police protection for more than five years, which limits their freedom of movement in a drastic way, and thus their unimpeded work as journalists.