INTRODUCTION

Based on the initiative of the Republic Public Prosecution Office and with the aim of taking measures to increase the safety of journalists, the Action Plan for Chapter 23 provides for the signing of two agreements on cooperation, namely the Agreement on Cooperation between the Republic Public Prosecution Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the Agreement on Cooperation between the Republic Public Prosecution Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and representative associations of journalists.

The Cooperation Agreement between the Republic Public Prosecution Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs was concluded on April 11, 2016. The agreement envisages that the Republic Public Prosecution Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs establish, through internal acts, the obligation of immediate action in cases of criminal acts committed to the detriment of the safety of persons who perform tasks of public importance in the field of information and related to the tasks they perform. Also, the plan is to appoint a person for contact and coordination of proceedings in these types of cases in these state bodies.

For more efficient exchange of data and monitoring of actions, the Republic Public Prosecution and the Ministry of Internal Affairs committed to separately recording criminal acts committed to the detriment of the safety of journalists. In addition, it is prescribed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, at the request of the Republic Public Prosecution, shall submit information on criminal charges filed against perpetrators of crimes against the safety of journalists, whose activity was previously defined under criminal law in the only possible way, that is, in accordance with the provisions of Article 138 paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code, give that the laws governing public information in our country do not define the term "journalist” in any way.

The Cooperation Agreement between the Republic Public Prosecution, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the representative associations of journalists was concluded on December 26, 2016. The signatories of this Agreement are the Republic Public Prosecution, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Journalists’ Association of Serbia, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia, the Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina, the Association of Independent Electronic Media, the Media Association and the Association of Online Media.

In accordance with the Agreement, the Permanent Working Group was established with members who are authorized high-level representatives of the parties to the agreement. The Permanent Working Group holds regular quarterly meetings, and if necessary, extraordinary meetings are organized. As part of its activities, the Permanent Working Group adopted the Rules of Procedure and the Action Plan.

A working sub-group was formed for the analysis of criminal offenses prescribed by the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, which can be related to endangering the safety of journalists. The group ended its work by reaching a conclusion regarding the above, which was adopted by the Permanent Working Group.

Additionally, a working group was established to analyze the communication and level of openness of competent institutions towards the media. The work of this working group is ongoing.

A mechanism of cooperation has been established, so that the parties to the agreement have designated contact and coordination persons in cases of criminal acts against the safety of journalists, who will be in permanent contact.

In the period until December 2020, the Republic Public Prosecution has appointed one deputy public prosecutor as contact point in appellate public prosecution offices for each appellate area, that is, a total of 4 high-level deputy public prosecutors. The number of contact persons in prosecution offices was increased by July 2017, when secondary and tertiary contact points were assigned in each appellate public prosecution, thus forming a network of a total of 12 deputy public prosecutors.

The prosecution network of contact points for quick response has been significantly strengthened in accordance with the Mandatory Instructions of the Republic Public Prosecution from December 24, 2020, when a network of a total of 115 deputy public prosecutors was established in all public prosecution offices, of which 88 deputy public prosecutors were designated as primary contact points (4 deputies in appellate prosecution offices, 25 in higher, 58 in basic and 1 deputy in the Special Public Prosecution for Cybercrime), while 27 deputy public prosecutors were appointed as secondary contact points.The list of contact points with the necessary information was delivered to all members of the Permanent Working Group in January 2021 and it was published on the portalhttp://bezbedninovinari.rs/.

Pursuant to the Agreement and the Instructions of the Republic Public Prosecutor from December 22, 2015, in public prosecution offices, an obligation to act urgently in these cases was established, and a special record of criminal acts committed to the detriment of journalists was introduced in connection with the work they perform. The urgency of action was additionally strengthened by the Mandatory Instruction from 2020, and implies taking action within 24 and 48 hours, when the public prosecution is concerned.

Also, in accordance with the Agreement, starting from 2018, in cooperation with the OSCE Mission to Serbia, trainings for journalists, public prosecutors and police officers are organized.

It should be noted that the Republic Public Prosecution prepares a monthly bulletin – an informative document on the actions of the public prosecution offices in relation to criminal acts committed against journalists and delivers it to all members of the Permanent Working Group.

Statistics report for 2023 (128KB)

Mandatory Instruction (70KB)