a minute agoJail sentenced journalist investigating gun trafficking
Periskopi(7 years ago)
(7 years ago)A court in Montenegro has sentenced investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic to one and a half years in prison, through a judicial process which international media organisations have condemned as a terrible “inequity” and “worrying default” for media freedom in the country. The court in Podgorica condemned Jovo Martinovic [...]
A court in Montenegro has sentenced investigative journalist Jovo Martinovic to one and a half years in prison, through a judicial process which international media organisations have condemned as a terrible “inequity” and “worrying default” for media freedom in the country.
The court in Podgorica sentenced Jovo Martinovic on January 15th on charges of drug trafficking and criminal ties.
Martinovic, who has regularly reported on domestic and international crime, rejected the charges, saying they submitted revenge for his reports.
In Paris, the organisation “Reporters without Borders” said the decision is disturbing and stumbling “for a country that says it wants to join the European Union”, meanwhile, the Committee for Protection of Journalists in New York called Martinovic's detention a terrible “fairness that will have frightening effects on press freedom in Montenegro.
Martinovic was investigating arms trafficking in the Balkans for a French television production when he was arrested in October 2015. Later, it was held in detention for 15 months until a parole was given.
The journalist has denied the charges against him and has said his contacts with criminal circles were strict professional in the context of his reporting. “I am convicted because I am journalist”, Martinovic said after the court ruling, adding that he will appeal to the indictment. /rel
