April 19, 2020
The sign states, "Stop Fascism."
A SERBIAN journalist was detained by police on April 1, (click here) on charges of causing public unrest and damaging a hospital’s reputation after reporting about a shortage of protective medical equipment available for staff at a medical centre in the northern Vojvodina province.
Ana Lalić, a journalist of the Nova.rs news portal, was released on April 2nd following public pressure.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who has been accused of ‘trying to whack’ one of his main political rival in a Sopranos-esque attack, ordered his Prime Minister to release Ana Brnabic.
Serb Republican Party Opposition leader Nikola Sandulovic was reportedly ‘arrested and poisoned’ by Serbian Police during the Eastern European nations Coronavirus ‘state of emergency’ after he spoke out about faulty Chinese Coronavirus tests, according to bombshell exclusively revealed by Politicalite.
Mr Sandulovic, who is the leader of the opposition ‘Republican party’ in Serbia is well known in the Eastern European country and is said to be “a huge opponent” of current Serb President Aleksandar Vucic....
...Prime Minister Brnabić said she was sorry the journalist had been detained but added that “spreading fake news in an emergency situation is a serious offence.”
Serbia is the hardest-hit country in the region: as of Wednesday (1 April), there were 1,060 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths with 14,371 people tested.
Serbia ranks 90th in the media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders’ Press Freedom Index, below Hungary (87) and Albania (82).
The arrest is an example that “democracy and freedoms in Serbia have come to an end, that institutions have become a means of dealing with journalists,” said the Independent Journalists’ Society of Vojvodina (NDNV) in a statement.
Concern has been rising across the continent that the emergency measures introduced by national governments may erode freedom of speech and the press.
