His Excellency President Milo Djkanovic
President of Montenegro
Podgorica, Montenegro

9 May, 2018

(by email)

Your Excellency,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our grave concern at the shooting of investigative journalist Olivera Lakić.

Ms Lakić, an investigative reporter who covers crime and corruption for the daily Vijesti, was shot and wounded in the leg outside her home in the capital, Podgorica, on the evening of 8 May. One man approached Ms. Lakić and shot her, while two other men ran away. She was taken to hospital and is out of danger.

Ms. Lakić was attacked six years ago after she wrote a series of articles about alleged shady dealings over a tobacco factory and for several months had police protection.

We are seriously concerned that this is part of a pattern of unpunished violence against journalists. Vijesti and its staff have suffered more than 25 physical attacks, a bombing, numerous verbal attacks and repeated financial harassment, and the perpetrators have enjoyed almost blanket impunity, with no one being held responsible for ordering an attack. As long as those directing violence enjoy impunity and Montenegro’s leadership continues fomenting violence against journalists, this record will continue and, we fear, may even lead to murder.

We respectfully call on you to take all possible steps to ensure that those responsible for ordering the attack on Ms. Lakić, as well as those who carried it out, are quickly brought to justice. We urge you to end the hostile media environment, and to ensure that all journalists are able to work without fear of violence.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Golden
President
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

David Callaway
President
World Editors Forum 

WAN-IFRA is the global organization for the world’s newspapers and news publishers, with formal representative status at the United Nations, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. The organization groups 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries.