Journalist’s smartphone confiscated by men in front of police

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) published a statement demanding that Serbian authorities investigate and determine who is behind the Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK) journalist Bojana Pavlović’s equipment’s interception and confiscation. Pavlović has allegedly been followed by several men after she took photos of the son of the President of Serbia in a company with a person currently on trial and allegedly a member of an organised crime group. Pavlović has been stopped by three men, allegedly police officers, and two other men. She showed her journalist ID card and stated that she was on duty. The men ordered her to delete the photos she took. Upon deleting photos, one of the men forcefully took her smartphone, to which the police didn’t react. Prior to deleting the photos, she managed to send them to KRIK. She asked the men to ‘move away as she felt endangered and unsafe’. When the alleged member of the organised group approached, the police left. He gave her back her phone and left.