Montenegro Drops Probe Into Journalist’s Brutal Assault

Softic in hospital after the attack in November 2007 | Photo:Facebook.

Montenegro’s prosecution on Monday closed the investigation into the attack on the journalist Tufik Softic who was assaulted outside his home in November 2007 and left with serious injuries.

The eight-year investigation was concluded with no results and no suspects indicted.

The prosecution, however, recommended that Softic initiate criminal proceedings himself within 30 days.

Media organizations and several NGOs expressed indignation and disappointment with the outcome.

They said the atmosphere of impunity in Montenegro concerning attacks on journalists was the biggest threat to media freedom.

Human Rights Action, HRA, an NGO, called the state of journalism in the country perilous in a report released on Monday.

 A member of the independent commission looking into flaws in the investigation of attacks on journalists, Mila Radulovic, told BIRN on Monday that the prosecution needed to invest further efforts in Softic’s case and either provide evidence or to “punish those who had failed to do so.

“The tragicomedy is complete, as the information about the prosecution’s decision was announced ahead of the international day against impunity of crimes against journalists, November 2,” Radulovic said.

Softic was the victim of a brutal attack near his home in November 2007 when he was beaten up in front of his home in the northern town of Berane by two hooded assailants.

He was attacked following a series articles he wrote about the criminal underground and its ties with the local authorities in north of Montenegro. BIRN published some of Softic’s work in 2007.

The journalist has been the victim of a several attacks in his home town in past years. On August 11, 2013, an explosive device was detonated in front of the his home. He was at home at the time. The assailants were not found.

Softic, now a reporter for independent daily newspaper Vijesti in Berane, was placed under police protection in February after the National Security Agency estimated that he was not safe.

In 2014, police detained two persons suspected of involvement in an assault on a Softic but the investigation was concluded with no indictment.

Softic said he was not surprised by the final outcome and stressed that he still does not feel safe. “I take this quite emotionally,” he told BIRN on Monday.

“I understood everything when I saw some of the transcripts of conversations between the prosecutor and the criminals, when I read how he communicated with them with so much respect,” he added.

The prosecution’s decision on Monday come in the of wake of international calls for Montenegro to do more to clamp down on attacks on journalists and do more to bring those behind such assaults to book.

The European Parliament issued a resolution on its 2014 progress report on Montenegro which expressed “grave concern about the increase in verbal and physical intimidation of journalists,” and called “for all threats and attacks against journalists to be adequately investigated and prosecuted, including unresolved previous offences”.

A 2015 Human Rights Watch report noted the instead of securing safety for journalists to work freely, politicians in Montenegro were “creating a hostile environment for media freedom”.