In Bosnia and Herzegovina, unfortunately, we are seeing something that never happened in our civilized country.
Kristina Perić is the editor-in-chief of the Hercegovina.info
portal. Previously, she worked as a journalist and editor of numerous domestic
and foreign newsrooms in the region.
She is also the winner of the award given by the Society
of Journalists of Bosnia and Herzegovina "Journalist of the Year 2022"
in the category of written journalism in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She also presents herself as a wife and mother of two
children. In addition to managing the newsroom, she mainly deals with
investigative journalism. She has already written hundreds of articles about
domestic crime.
"The portal Hercegovina.info was the target of
attacks several times. Three times the car of our portal owner was damaged, the
rear window was broken once and all four tires were slashed with a knife twice.
Considering that we have written countless research
articles, where we wrote about the construction mafia and local politicians,
about highway crime, health care crime, economic crime, incentives and many
other areas, we can no longer know where the attacks are coming from. We can
only assume," she tells Politicki.ba.
When it
comes to attacks on journalists, newsrooms and media in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
she states that the employees of Hercegovina.info were also exposed to physical
attacks!
"There were calls and messages along the lines of:
"I will close your office". We received messages from a previously
high-ranking politician, as well as from a relative of a dealer from Široki
Brijeg. They sent us a message saying: "You have five minutes to delete
the news". There were also other forms of threats, such as inviting an
inspection to our premises. This is our everyday life on the portal, we don't
even count it as threats anymore.
Journalists' associations supported us. Among them is
Umbrella, of which we are one of the founders, and BH journalists, where we are
also members, OSCE, embassies, colleagues, and many individuals and
citizens," says Kristina.
When asked if they received support from official
institutions, she replied:
"I don't know what you mean when you say official
institutions, but I know that there is no support from there".
Kristina is concise and direct.
When we asked her what the reactions of the competent
institutions were to the attacks, she said that it was crystal clear:
"The response of institutions to attacks on our
portal is that there is no response.
We have reported every attack and we have not had a
reaction to any of them.
We notice and warn daily that the system is as hollow as
Swiss cheese. We held press conferences on the topic of domestic justice and I
spoke in the state Parliament last spring at a conference entitled The Right to
Justice about the failure of the judiciary in Herzegovina through examples.
Unfortunately, in Bosnia and Herzegovina we are seeing that
has never happened in our civilized country. The people are exposed,
unprotected and at any moment someone can kill you, step on you, no one will
protect you. We have people killed on a live broadcast, a family of three being
run over to death after returning from a trip, people being strangled in a cafe
in Gorica near Grude with a Kalashnikov that the killer carried 150 meters
away, a young doctor being trampled to death in Sarajevo... there is no system
to stop it all.
All of these people believed in this country, in the
system, but they are no longer among the living.
I must say that after the tragedy in Gradačac, I spent
the whole night thinking about the young mother who was killed in front of her
little girl, and that happened after she reported the violence to a system that
only serves itself.
I wonder in which direction we are going, where this kind
of policy and a system that is designed not to work is leading us. I wonder
where this society is going and how thousands of people could watch the murder
live and support that psycho. Why don't these people go out into the street
today, light a candle for the brutally murdered wife and mother. I wonder what
those who we elect every four years do, how many of them reacted to these
tragedies. I wonder where my children will grow up and I am seriously worried
about the innocent people who chose to stay here convinced that we have a tomorrow.
I don't believe in the domestic judiciary system, and I'm
not saying that blindly. I'm saying this after a series of research articles,
after which I filed criminal charges," Kristina continues.
However, from her words, from her attitude, from her
whole life so far, determination came - after all.
"I have never, nor will we change our lifestyle or
work methodology because of thugs who threaten us and hooligans who slash
tires. I am aware that we are unprotected, but we have decided not to be
afraid, and to do this job honorably.
It would certainly be much more comfortable for me if I
were a party- oriented journalist, as there are many in BiH. There would be no
threats, I would earn more, I would be a member of the board of directors in
one of the state media, like my colleagues who are devoted to politics.
However, I cannot work against myself and the beliefs I
was taught as a little girl. God always guided me through the opposition media,
so I had the freedom to write properly.
Today, I have the most freedom at Hercegovina.info.
I am proud to have the opportunity to say that after 20
years in this profession, I do not regret a single article, I have not changed
my views and I always follow the same path.”
The
article was realized as part of the Transition program of the Government of the
Czech Republic and with the financial assistance of the Embassy of the CzechRepublic in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The content reflects the views of the
interlocutors who are the choice of the editorial staff of Politicki.ba and do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Czech government.
