Journalists' endless expectation of identifying their attackers

Organisations protecting journalists' rights and journalists themselves who were victims of physical violence wish that the Syla attack did not remain undiscovered as has happened to cases where they were victims.

Anni why police launched investigations immediately after the attack -- people who beat Syla, who he said were three -- have not yet been identified by justice organs.

Xhemajl Rexha, leader of the Association of Kosovo Journalists (AGK), says it notes a trend of rising cases of violence against journalists.

This is an absolutely disturbing and alarming trend for AGK”, says Rex for Radio Free Europe (REL).

The day after the attack, Syla, in a post in his Facebook account, wrote that he was attacked by three people in Pristina's Sun Coast district of Pristina, as he suspects, some critical posts of his posts for some religious leaders.

In his reaction, Syla said that “age is free” and that “all those who preach against freedoms are neither for peace nor for freedom”.

In 2021, according to the AGK, 29 cases of physical violence and threats of various forms to journalists were recorded.

A year later, in 2022, according to the organisation, four more cases have been recorded, in all, 33 where journalists have been victims of physical violence, attacks or threats in other forms.

“We believe that one of the reasons why there continue to be such cases of attacks on journalists is exactly the decisions that are taken by the justice organs”, Rexha points out, until it highlighted the lack of efficiency of the justice organs in investigating violence and threatening journalists.

He says the sentences the courts pronounce for the perpetrators of violence or journalists' threats are usually low and can easily be paid.

This, he says, is only encouragement for others to continue threats and physical attacks on journalists.
Journalist Syla had also been physically assaulted in 2020. After the trial, the person who exercised physical violence over him was sentenced to 4,500 euros in fines by the Pristina Foundation Court.

Waiting for Justice from February 25, 2021

That date, about midnight, when returning to his apartment, journalist Visar Duriqi was physically attacked.

From the day of the attack until today, some 780 days have passed, and justice institutions have not identified any of the three attackers.

Duriqi suffered bodily injuries and has since received only confirmation that the attackers have not been identified.

“They are arguing that the attackers were wearing masks, allegedly even without electronic devices, such as the phone with them”, Duriqi tells the REL.

He shows that prosecutors have told him this has made it extremely difficult to identify the attackers.

“I believe that even my case has been neglect, since the prosecution has insisted that this case be investigated only with the investigation of serious crimes in the Kosovo Police”, he says, adding that the possibility of involvement of other security institutions that could help clarify the case.

We gave the statement, but no one called”

On December 26th last year, a clan Kosova television team was stoned in the vicinity of Zubin Potok.

The team was reporting on the tense situation in the four northern municipalities -- Northern Mitrovica, Zvecan, Zubin Potok and Leposavic.

Light head injuries suffered journalist Bellagoshi standing who was stoned by a man.

She says about REL has no information on whether, in this case, the law enforcement agencies have arrested or identified attackers.

“>A few hours after the attack, all of us [Kosovo Clan team] have given statements to the police, with all the details, and as well as they've been published, we have pictures of people who have been involved in the attack, and which we've hoped and believed will help find”, says Bellagoschi.

From that day on, she says there have been no calls, no invitation from the police and no prosecution concerning the investigation into the attack.

“Justice fails early”

Labinot Lepostica, Court Monitoring Co-ordinator and leader of the Balkan Network Legal Office for Investigative Journal in Kosovo (BIRN), says the investigation into cases of violence and threats to journalists fails early.

He considers the recent case against journalist Valon Syla to be evidence of this fact, as he says, the prosecution has named the case “slight originating” body.

If the prosecutor who, in his initial phase, strips the case of motive and directs it only to slight injury, without revealing the motive, I consider that this will never serve the meritiest deployment of that case”, estimates Lepostica.

Leposica says in most cases there is no efficient investigation and the sentences the courts pronounce are extremely low.

That, according to him, is because judges do not have the motives of the case in the indictment handed over by the prosecution.

The person who carried out an attack on the journalist when he goes to court will not take into account his entire motive, from which his inspiration has come to carry out a certain” attack, he says.

According to him, journalists are often the tool of someone else.

Prosecutor: Journalists ' Cases We Face Priorities

The Pristina Constitutional Prosecutor tells Free Europe Radio that during 2022, he has accepted a total of 12 cases where the injured were journalists.

The state prosecutor has filed seven charges against the defendants and has delegated them to the Court for further treatment, while four of them are in investigation procedure”, the Pristina Constitutional Prosecutor's response reported.

This institution says it deals with priority all cases of violence and threats against journalists, stressing the 2017 decision to appoint prosecutors responsible for journalists' cases in every key prosecutor in Kosovo.

On the other hand, widespread criticism is in the direction of courts, which, according to organisations protecting journalists, pronounce low sentences.

But, in an earlier response, the Kosovo Judiciary Council had said about
Radio Free Europe, that this institution has no specific statistics for journalists' cases after data processing makes “basic to Article [Voral Code], not according to profession”.

According to a research published last year by BIRN, from 2016 to 2020, the prosecution had filed a total of 18 counts of criminal acts against journalists.

The prosecution had made a total of 21 substances out of 45 cases, while only one request for detention had been made. According to research, in this period of time, courts had resolved only three out of 18 subjects in which journalists' attackers in two cases had received punitive orders and only one case had been pronounced a sentence.

Following the physical attack on journalist Syla, quick investigation of the case called for various organisations protecting journalists' rights, including the European Federation of Journalists.

For this case, the quick investigation called for Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti.

So did the ombudsman who attacked Syla called it a violation of freedom of expression and media freedom.