15 minutes agoAGKA seeks punishment of violence against journalists
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)On November 2nd, there is an international day for eliminating impunity for crimes against journalists through which global campaign is conducted and called on by state institutions to prevent violence against journalists. The impunity of crimes against journalists has many negative effects on the work of journalists and the environment of where they work. The Association of Journalists [...]
The impunity of crimes against journalists has many negative effects on the work of journalists and the environment of where they work. The Kosovo Journalists' Association has consistently stressed that the perpetrators should always be brought to justice and receive the deserved sentence.
The impunity of crimes against journalists encourages others to physically attack and threaten journalists who with their work inform the general public.
AGK risks that specific mechanisms for protection of journalists should be established and that security and justice institutions should be more effective in handling cases of attacks, threats, intimidation and pressure on journalists and media workers.
On this day, the AGK also commemorates the murder and disappearance of 14 journalists in Kosovo for which no perpetrators of criminal acts have been brought to justice.
The latest murder occurred in 2005 when journalist Bardhil Ajjeti was killed in an ambush on his way home and his killer has been unpunished since then.
Below, we bring a full list of journalists who have been killed and disappeared since 1999 and for whom no perpetrators have been brought to justice.
- Enver Maloku, founder of the Kosovo Information Centre, killed on January 11th 1999 near his residence in Pristina.
- Shefki Popova, a multi-year-old journalist in the newspaper “Renaissance”, killed on September 10, 2000 at the entrance of his residence in Vushtrri.
- Xhemajl Mustafa, killed on November 23rd 2000 at the entrance to his residence in Pristina.
- Bekim Kastrati, journalist at “Bota Sot”, killed on October 19, 2001 in ambush near the village of Lausa, Skenderaj.
- Bardhil Ajeti, journalist of the daily “Bota Sot”, killed on June 3rd 2005 in ambush near Bresalz village, Gjilan.
- Ranko Perenic and Djuro Slavuj, journalists on Radio Pristina, kidnapped and disappeared on August 21st 1998 while going to the Zoqisht village of Rahovec to make news about the return of a kidnapped monk.
- Ljubomir Knezevic, journalist of “Jedinstvo” and correspondent of the Belgrade newspaper “Politika”, kidnapped and missing on May 6, 1999, in the vicinity of Vushtrri.
- Milo Buljevic, journalist of RTV Pristina, has been kidnapped on June 25th 1999, not far from the refugee centre he lived in. It remains an undiscovered person.
- Krist Gegaj, a worker at Pristina Radio Television, killed on September 12th 1999.
- Momir Stokuca, photorector in the daily newspaper “Politika”, killed on September 21st 1999 at his home in Pristina.
- Africa Maliqi, columnist of daily “Renaissance” and then “Buyku”, killed on 2 December 1998 in Pristina.
- Marjan Melonas, a journalist at the Serbian-language Radio Kosovo newsroom, kidnapped on September 9th 2000, currently missing. 13. Aleksandar Simovic, missing on 21 August 1999. His mortar remains have been found in the village of Obria near Drenas.
The General Assembly of the United Nations has announced November 2nd the inter-competitive day for ending the impunity of crimes against journalists, urging member states to implement measures to fight the current culture of impunity.
