Serbian Pro-Govt Media’s ‘Shameless’ Campaign Against KRIK Condemned

The Stockhold-based international human rights organisation, Civil Rights Defenders, has condemned what it called "the shameless campaign of the Serbian pro-government tabloid media" against a Serbian investigative media portal, Crime and Corruption Reporting Network, KRIK.

The rights organisation - and independent Serbian media unions - reacted after Pink TV and two pro-government tabloids, Kurir and Alo, published closely coordinated stories linking KRIK to a notorious underworld gangster, Veljko Belivuk.

Belivuk is a leader of a criminal and hooligan group once called the "Janjicari" ("Janissaries") many of whose members were recently arrested on suspicion of murder, extortion, kidnapping and drug dealing.

Allegations about KRIK's connections with members of the gang were first published by the pro-government TV station Pink on Tuesday evening.

The next day, Kurir published photos of KRIK editor Stevan Dojcinovic alongside those of Belivuk on its front page with the headline, "Secret deal between KRIK and Belivuk". Alo then published the same story with a front-page headline reading, "KRIK - Belivuk's private media!"

In reality, for some years KRIK and some other independent investigative media were the only ones in Serbia to publish stories on the gang and its ties with the Serbian government and the ruling Serbian Progressive Party.

The gang's connections to state officials, including a former high-ranking police official and the current general secretary of the Progressive-led government, are well-documented.

Some members of the group formed part of the security detail at President Aleksandar Vucic's inauguration in 2017, where they were caught on camera manhandling journalists.

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