Kurti's Global Army against journalists

Kosovo Journalists' Association Chairman Xhemajl Rexha says that “digitalvigience” of the people in power, or his supporters, is present on all social platforms and is used to denigrate journalists critical of the government, but other opponents as well.

This is for regret and our constant call is for the Government to demand that these campaigns be interrupted. We have reason to believe that they, in some cases, may be organized and orchestrated, but in most cases, start out from a profile that may be more popular and, then naturally, continued by other profiles that share thoughts with those who have launched the” campaign, says Rexha for Radio Free Europe.

REL- asked in the Government of Kosovo how they comment on such claims, but not four days later did they receive any answers. However, they rejected the ruling party, the Vetevendosje Movement.

The “Acuss, which arise from the Association of Kosovo Journalists in the direction of the prime minister, are groundless to our conviction. They must have the burden of testimony because there is a difference between the charges and the situation on the ground. The Republic of Kosovo, during these three years of governance [of the Vetevendosje Movement], has noted progress in terms of improving rights and freedom of expression”, spokesman Arlind Manjuka said.

Unlike his party, some international reports confirm such interference of power in the Kosovo media sphere.

Freedom House released the media freedom report last month, where, in fact, he listed a series of problems, which he said journalists in Kosovo faced during 2023.

“Despite the fact that Kosovo has a diverse media landscape, in general, freedom of speech and expression has been somewhat limited... Many media are reluctant to engage in critical coverage of Government. Journalists and media face several obstacles from lack of security in Kosovo's tense north to the government's deignive slander campaigns”, Freedom House said, among other things.

The US State Department, in its Human Rights Report, also released last month, quoted the Kosovo Journalists' Association as saying that the government's <x0 official “, including the prime minister and members of the ruling party, are engaged in scandalous campaigns to undermine public confidence in media”.

Abbit Hoxha, professor at the University of Agder in Norway and media researcher, says there is good reason to believe in the existence of a <x0-cypheric digital success” in Kosovo, which supports only one angle of government developments.

“S first, there are some very precise sources, former Vetvendosje Movement officials who confirm the existence of a group that has some digital vigilance against those who disagree with government policies. Second, there are groups that are seen to be organized by persons who are in some form connected with power. I'm talking about Facebook groups, aimed at specifically denigrating women in politics and people who disagree with different public issues in Kosovo”, Hoxha says.

No further than March, Djordje Bojovic, adviser to the Western Balkans of the European Parliament, said he has been the target of Cyberignive online comments mostly from Kosovo, which claimed he is not eligible for the position, after denying war crimes in Kosovo in 1998/99.

Bojovic said he has not done so, but, rather, has been engaged in interactions between young people from Kosovo and Serbia.

After receiving support from Bojovqi, co-founder of the Kosovo media NGO Sbunker, Agon Maliqi, said it was done, as well, subject to a similar denigratory campaign and distributed several posts against him on the X platform.

Among those who reacted was former Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga, who said this <x0-lynning organised against civil society activists in Kosovo and Kosovo friends through social networks is unacceptable”.

Media lawyer Butter Kosari also reacted, saying what is happening in Kosovo, “is very dangerous”. Real people with false accounts in social media attack all those who don't like”, according to her.

Kusari, speaking of Expose, says this environment leads in censorship And self-dance.

“... because the message is clear: if you criticize or assess a little more negatively a government action or a failure to act, then you will be slaughtered online. It is an extremely bad message and has a direct impact on reducing freedom of expression and freedom of the media”, Kusari says.

Researcher Abbit Hoxha says the demonstration of journalists and other critics of the Government controls digital space. According to him, this is a new phenomenon in Kosovo and has increased along with digitisation.

There has been cultural violence in Kosovo, where journalists are told, if any, Serbia's spy, you are with Serbia. But now this has taken on disturbing proportions, because violence against journalists -- not violence as physical, but cultural violence -- where journalists are being reviled and spit -- has increased a lot of”, Hoxha says.

Asked whether there could be legal implications, Kusari, who is a legal adviser at the European Centre for Press Freedom and Media, answers:

It's a very difficult question, but I think in cases where someone online makes threats, whether directly or indirectly, to a journalist, to an activist, etc., the police have to act quickly. Not to act quickly only when a minister or minister is offended and offended, and when this happens to journalists who have a very important role in society, no measures are taken. So there's room for police and prosecutors to be much faster, because then they can influence citizens to be much more familiar with legal consequences and to take care online”.

Penal Code The Republic of Kosovo doesn't have any particular article on social media kindness. But its Article 182 defines potential punishments for harassment, defined as attention or communication aimed at “intimidation, injury, property damage or murder”.

Kosovo police confirmed that, so far this year, they have prosecuted eight cases against journalists, among them five cases of rowing, two of harassment and one of the attacks.

Without specifying much, police said criminal charges have been filed against six suspected persons, two cases are under investigation and two persons have been detained.

To address these challenges, Kusari says the Government, at first, must condemn the online denigration of journalists and critics which it has not done and embrace alternative views. These, according to her, are necessary to have a sound public record.

The Council of Europe has currently launched the journalists' security campaign. Kosovo can join this campaign and what it can do is adopt the plan for journalists' security. And so, to prove that he wants to become a member of the Council of Europe, but first by respecting its standards, not by violating them”, Kusari says.

In addition to attacks on journalists, the co-ordinators of Radio Free Europe also mention, as they say, two initiatives by the Government and the Kosovo Parliament to undermine media freedom. One, according to them, is trying to shut down the Klan Television Kosova, And two is the Bill for the Independent Media Commission, which they say attempts to control online media.

Radio Free Europe has done an analysis to reports that have published Freedom House in the last ten years for the level of democracy in countries in the Transit and has found that, among Western Balkan states, the level of democracy is on the rise only in Kosovo.

Rexha, from the Kosovo Journalists' Association, says the attacks against journalists, including deignive language against them, “would not have to occur in a state of democracy developed like Kosovo”.

By improving relations with the media, the Kosovo government could advance Kosovo's position in the global ranking for democracy, Rexha concludes.

Today's Global Press Freedom Day is marked