November 22, 2024 - Serbia

Ana Lalić Hegediš, president of the Independent Journalists’ Association of Vojvodina (IJAV), has once again been targeted with threats. On November 22, 2024 she received a death threat via Facebook from an account under the name Milenko Protić. The message, which included offensive and sexist language, read: “B**ch, you will be slaughtered.”

This alarming incident was immediately reported to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime by IJAV’s legal team. Authorities responded promptly, promising to investigate the case within the day.

Lalić Hegediš revealed that receiving threats has become a distressingly regular part of her life as a journalist. "Unfortunately, this is more or less one of the average days in my life in the last couple of years," she remarked, highlighting the normalization of harassment against journalists in the region.

Women Press Freedom has consistently documented the harassment faced by Ana Lalić Hegediš. Those responsible for threatening the journalist must be held to account. The persistent impunity surrounding attacks against the press in Serbia must end. We urge the authorities to act, swiftly, transparently and decisively.