The Steering Committee of BH Journalists Association (BHJA) and the Free Media Help Line (FMHL) strongly condemn the verbal attack by the President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik on journalist Goran Dakić, a correspondent for the Sarajevo Oslobodjenje from Banja Luka. At today’s press conference, Dodik prevented journalist Dakić from asking him a question and followed it up with the words: You can’t, it’s enough that I saw you, what are you doing here! “. After the conference ended, Dodik approached the security guard, pointed at journalist Dakić and said: “He can’t enter here anymore”, which practically banned this journalist from entering the Palace of the Republika Srpska.

The BHJA Steering Committee considers it completely unacceptable to prevent a journalist from Oslobodjenje from asking a journalistic question. This act represents a brutal violation of the right to freedom of expression and institutional discrimination, not only of journalist Dakić but also of the media he works for. BH Journalists remind that for more than two decades, Milorad Dodik has been spreading hatred and clear, political intolerance towards Oslobodjenje, threatening and attacking its journalists with the aim of stopping the work of this media in the Republika Srpska and banning the publication of information of public importance.

The BHJA Steering Committee particularly emphasizes that the ban on journalist Dakić from covering events in the Palace of the Republika Srpska represents a new step towards introducing complete censorship and control of the media. We fear that Dodik’s next decision could be a ban not only on Oslobođenje but also on other media outlets in the Republika Srpska that critically report on the actions and decisions by the president of this entity.

BHJA express its full support for journalist Goran Dakić, and call all media and journalists from Republika Srpska and other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina to stand in his defense, so that together they can thwart Dodik’s destructive attempt to destroy media that he personally dislikes and whose journalists he pathologically hates! A media boycott and silence, complete ignoring of his public appearances and daily, chaotic press conferences, is the least the media community can do to save its professional integrity and journalistic honor.