31 May Press Shelter Valjevo: Unsolved burglarize to the portal Kolubarske.rs office
At the end of 2017, then Head of the Media Department of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Gordana Jankovic, stated that “the safety of journalists is a key issue for the existence of independent and professional media, as well as for exercising the right to freedom of expression.”
Jankovic added that “without these freedoms, and thus without quality information of public interest, there is no further democratic development of society, nor a culture of civil values.”
It is confirmed, in May 2021, the safety of journalists in Serbia has never been at a lower level.
This is evidenced by various orchestrated attacks on certain media by officials and sympathizers of the ruling coalition. The attacks are aimed at media that base their work on timely and truthful informing of the public on topics of public interest.
Darija Rankovic: Burglarizing the office as a message
It seems that the only “sin” of these media is that they are based on information of public importance, informed the public, and pointed out that public funds, institutions, and interests were misused in favor of the private interests of public officials and political groups to which they belong..
One of such media is the Valjevo portal kolubarske.rs.
Darija Rankovic, the editor and journalist of this portal, significantly bothered the local powerful people within research, questions, and texts. Local powerful people used and encouraged their subjects to attack one portal and one journalist. A woman.
And that is the local powerful people who understood public goods (funds, investments, institutions, interests) as means to satisfy their particular (private / party) interests.
Among the last in series of glaring examples of misuse of public goods in Valjevo is what happened behind the scenes with the “Invisible Children” project.
Even before that text, Daria was exposed to the most monstrous attacks and insults. Those who ordered and performed those vile attacks did not stop there. No, the obvious intention was to discredit Daria at all levels and in every way.
They did not try to deny information which Darija obtained in accordance with the law. No, they used every opportunity to show a wide range of insults which they have at their disposal or have been supplied with at some party training.
Journalists’ associations reacted to almost every attack. Darija Rankovic is also in the database “Attacks on Journalists” initiated by the Independent Association of Journalists’ of Serbia (IJAS)
Those who initiated and those who performed attacks went so far that in July and August 2017, they showed all their unscrupulousness in two “open letters” that were aimed at all kinds of discrediting and belittling Darija Rankovic.
Daria filed a lawsuit for violation of honor and reputation against the persons responsible.
In February 2020, the first-instance verdict of the High Court in Belgrade ruled that the defendants, based on two lawsuits, were obliged to jointly pay 160,000 dinars for violating the honor and reputation of journalist and editor-in-chief of the online newspaper Kolubarske.rs Darija Rankovic.
The list of misconduct directed at Darija Ranković and the internet portal kolubarske.rs is long.
What should be of particular concern is the fact that some citizens of Valjevo, with their votes, enabled some people to have the opportunity to abuse public goods (funds, finances, institutions, interests) and become the main characters of Darija’s texts.
In addition, it should be said that the citizens of Valjevo, who decided so, have at least moral responsibility for each of the attacks on Darija Ranković and the portal Kolubarske.rs.
“Where did all these parasites come from?
They put us in trouble
Don’t, my old man
It’s our fault
We let them. ”
On the (non) action of state bodies in a case of burglarizing the editorial office of the Kolubarske.rs portal on another occasion. Soon.
Aleksandar Milijasevic, editor-in-chief of the Dijalog Net portal