Serbia: Authorities drop charges against journalists arrested for Covid-19 reporting. We welcome the development

SERBIA, Novi Sad, April 28 -- Serbian prosecution has dropped charges against journalist Ana Lalić, who was arrested briefly for her Covid-19 reporting in early April. The Coalition For Women In Journalism welcomes the decision and hopes that the authorities will continue to help flourish press freedom in Serbia.

Ana was slapped with criminal charges for “causing public unrest and damaging a hospital’s reputation” after she reported on the lack of medical supplies and equipment for its staff. On April1, she was then taken to the police station in Vojvodina for interrogation and arrested for several hours subsequently. Even though she was released the next morning following condemnation by journalists and advocates of press freedom, the charges against her were not dropped immediately.

CFWIJ issued a statement condemning the Serbian authorities for persecuting the journalist for her work earlier this month. Ana reported about the deplorable state of facilities in the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina (KCV). Her story, titled ‘Clinical Centre of Vojvodina at the breaking point: No protection for nurses’, was focused on the lack of medical supplies and equipment for staff at the hospital, wherein she also mentioned that one in five coronavirus patients in the city are media workers. The report shared how the staff was working under difficult conditions during the life-threatening pandemic. Read our statement here.

The Coalition For Women In Journalism is glad to see Ana free from all the accusations. We now urge the government in Serbia to make sure that journalists can report freely without the fear of persecution and not feel threatened when writing the truth, especially in times of coronavirus.