Non-governmental organizations and civil activists are calling on the State Prosecutor’s Office and the Police Administration to immediately inform the public about the course of the investigation in the case of the violent disruption of the film screening “Stork”.
It has already been seven days since hooligans interrupted the screening of Isa Ćosja’s film as part of the Džada Film Fest (DžFF), solely because it was in the Albanian language. To this day, the police have not issued an official statement on what measures and actions have been taken to identify the perpetrators and why they have not yet been prosecuted. We are surprised by the slow response of state authorities to such a dangerous outburst of hatred and a matter of particular public interest.
If the public does not receive complete and timely answers to these questions, doubt in the integrity of the work of the competent institutions will be justified.
When it comes to incidents of national, religious, and linguistic intolerance, a policy of impunity and silence from institutions must not be an option.
Finally, we express concern over the absence of public condemnation from numerous institutions responsible for the social environment – from the Prime Minister to the state institutions that were also sponsors of the festival: the Capital City Administration, the Ministry of Culture and Media, and the Ministry of Tourism, as well as the Ministry of Justice given the importance of combating hate speech for EU negotiations under Chapter 23. Their silence sends the message that violence and hate speech can be tolerated.
Action for Human Rights, Tea Gorjanc Prelević
Association SPECTRA, Jovan Ulićević
Centre for Civic Education (CCE), Daliborka Uljarević
Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN CG), Milka Tadić Mijović
Women Rights Centre (WRC), Maja Raičević
Ipso Facto, Milena Popović Samardžić
Dina Bajramspahić, civil activist
Jovana Marović, civil activist
Paula Petričević, civil activist