UNS, SINOS condemn threat to Tanjug

BELGRADE - The Journalists' Association of Serbia (UNS) and its branch in Serbia's Autonomous Province of Kosovo-Metohija and the Journalists' Union of Serbia (SINOS) condemned in the strongest terms a death threat to Tanjug journalists emailed to the news agency on Monday evening.

Signed by an individual named "Trim Bardhi", an email received by the agency said Tanjug journalists would get "a bullet to the back of their heads" the next time they set foot in the territory of the province.

In a joint statement, the UNS and SINOS called on international security services in Kosovo-Metohija to urgently track down the sender of the email.

The threats should be taken seriously - all the more so because Kosovo-Metohija is a territory where the killers of 17 Serb and ethnic Albanian journalists have freedom of movement, while the Pristina authorities have banned entry to the territory to RTS journalist Svetlana Vukmirovic for no justified reason whatsoever, they said.

"The UNS and SINOS call on the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) to show solidarity with Tanjug News Agency journalists," the associations said, requesting guarantees for the safety of journalists from institutions in Kosovo-Metohija and international institutions.

In a statement on Monday evening, UNS President Zivojin Rakocevic called on the international community to react to the threat.