March 31. 2020

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A court in Subotica has passed a first instance conviction against Branko Ćirjaković, a candidate for councillor of the Serbian Radical Party, and ordered he pay compensation of 120,000 dinars (1,000 euros) to Branko Žujović, editor of portal Slobodna Subotica, for defamation and insults.

It was via Facebook that Ćirjaković insulted journalist Žujović, accusing him of doing work that represents “anti-Serbism”, and insisting that his journalistic writing supported “ustaštvo” [Croatian Ustasha fascism] and “Nazism”, and that he is “in a kind of collusion with proponents of Ustasha and Nazi-fascist ideology”. Žujović believes such qualifications are a textbook example of hate speech.

The Association of Serbian Journalists earlier demanded that the police and prosecution service initiate proceedings against Ćirjaković in response to threats he directed towards journalists in Subotica via social networks.