Hundreds protest attack on journalist

PODGORICA: Hundreds protested in Montenegro yesterday after unknown assailants shot and wounded a prominent crime and corruption reporter, the latest attack on journalists in the small Balkan country that is seeking EU membership.

Carrying banners reading “Stop violence”, or “For a life without fear”, the protesters demanded that the authorities find the assailants who opened fire on Tuesday on Olivera Lakic, who works for the independent Vijesti daily.

Lakic, 49, was shot in the leg outside her home in Podgorica, the capital. She remains in a local hospital following the attack, which has drawn US and EU concern.

Protesters who gathered outside the government building in Podgorica accused the authorities of doing little to solve a series of attacks on journalists in recent years. Those included another attack on Lakic six years ago and a bomb explosion outside another crime reporter’s home last month.

Zeljko Ivanovic, general manager of Vijesti, said there have been 25 attacks on the paper’s journalists and offices. “They (government) created an atmosphere in which there are state enemies and traitors. Can this society survive without a single free media, journalist or intellectual?”

Lakic has written about alleged murky businesses involving top state officials and their families. Montenegro’s long-ruling Democratic Party of Socialists have faced repeated accusations of corruption and crime links, which they have denied.

Montenegro last year joined Nato and has promised to boost media freedom and the rule of law, and implement other reforms that are necessary for the country to join the EU. Top Montenegrin and international officials in Montenegro have condemned the attack on Lakic and urged a swift investigation.– AP