Serbian ex-mayor jailed for 4 years in arson attack on journalist Milan Jovanović

Berlin, April 29, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the four-year jail sentence given to Dragoljub Simonović, the former mayor of Grocka, a suburb of the Serbian capital, Belgrade, for ordering an arson attack on journalist Milan Jovanović’s home.

The court also gave a four-year sentence to Aleksandar Marinković, who set fire to the house with a Molotov cocktail at around 3 a.m. on December 12, 2018, while Jovanović, a reporter for the independent news website Žig Info, and his wife were inside; three years to Vladimir Mihailović; and two-and-a-half years to Igor Novaković, news reports said.

“The Serbian court’s decision to convict the individuals, including a former mayor and ruling party politician behind the 2018 arson attack on investigative journalist Milan Jovanović’s residence is encouraging news,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “This verdict sends a robust message from Serbian authorities that violence against journalists will be met with consequences, even if it is perpetrated by politicians. In Serbia, journalists face threats, intimidation, and violence all too often. Authorities must continue to combat impunity for such crimes to prevent them.”

The four assailants were originally given longer sentences in 2021. In its April 26 ruling, the Court of Appeal reduced their sentences and reclassified the offense as a less serious one because it was not established that large-scale damage occurred, those sources said.

Jovanović was at home in the Belgrade suburb of Vrčin when he was attacked. He and his wife escaped through a back window and watched as their entire property, including a car, was destroyed.

Journalists in Serbia have been targeted in smear campaigns, violence, and threats, often perpetrated by political figures or public officials, with impunity for murder of journalists including Slavko Ćuruvija in 1999 and Bardhyl Ajeti in 2005.