07-00-260 / 2021-02 date: 19.11.2021.

OPINION

The opinion was issued in the procedure regarding the complaint of M. K., a lawyer from Niš, submitted on behalf of AA, BB, VV and GG, filed against the Mayor of the City of Niš, President of the City Municipality of Niška Banja, former director of TON Niš, Councilor of Culture of the City of Niš, Head of the Directorate for Social Affairs of the City of Niš, acting Director of JKP Medijana Niš, Director of the Directorate for Construction of the City of Niš, President of the City Municipality Crveni Krst, and PR service of the Mayor’s Office, due to discrimination against journalists of Južne vesti. The complaint and the supplement to the complaint state that the journalists of the Južne vesti media addressed various local self-government bodies and officials, in order to obtain information of public importance, but that they did not receive answers, and that the mayor of Niš, on March 25, 2021, at the vaccination point in Niš, when asked by a journalist from Južne vesti why officials do not answer journalists’ questions, gave a statement in which she discriminated against journalists from Južne vesti. During the procedure, the Commissioner, considering that the complaint referred to the mayor of Niš, due to the statement she gave on March 25, 2021, as well as to officials of public authorities in local self-government, due to failure to respond to journalists of Južne vesti, requested the complainant to amend the complaint filed against institutions and officials of public authorities in local self-government, in accordance with the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination and Rules of Procedure of the Commissioner for Protection of Equality. However, the complainant did not act upon the Commissioner’s request within the prescribed deadline, nor until the end of the procedure, to remove the shortcomings of complaints necessary for further action, due to which the Commissioner suspended the procedure on complaints against certain bodies/institutions and local government officials, as per Article 36 para. 1, item 2 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination, while in the part of the complaint related to the Mayor, the Commissioner requested a statement. In a statement on the complaint, the mayor of Niš, among other things, stated that the complainant did not submit evidence that would make it probable that she discriminated as Mayor by not providing answers to questions, and that the complainants “do not have personal characteristics as grounds for discrimination”. She further stated that every public company and public utility company has its own director and its own press service, while the mayor’s press service is not obliged to answer questions from the competences of public companies and institutions, as well as that after the statement of March 25, 2021, she continued to answer all questions from journalists of Južne vesti. Acting on the complaint against the Mayor of Niš, it was indisputably determined that at the press conference on March 25, 2021, she gave a statement on the occasion of the question of the journalist of the Južne vesti, when, among other things, she said that “At the moment, and this is true now for this text, at the moment when you stop, not only you but the media in general, thus we address everyone in plural, manipulate information, take it out of context, and most importantly, comment on the answers in your texts, you will get the proper answers right”. From the text of the statement itself, it is indisputable that this statement referred to all media, including the journalists of Južni vesti. In this regard, the Commissioner points out that the right to freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, that freedom of expression (receiving and communicating information), provided by Article 10 of the European Convention for Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, is one of the essential foundations of any democratic society. The Commissioner states that the right of the media to freedom of expression is indisputable, as well as that a public official is obliged to act in accordance with Article 8 of the Law on Public Information and Media, but the existence of possible violation of this article is not within the Commissioner’s competence. In the context of the possibility of not giving statements to the journalists of Južne vesti in the context of acting on the basis of any of their presumed or actual personal characteristics, the Commissioner also analyzed all the evidence submitted, both with the complaint and with the statement. The Commissioner states that with the statement on the complaint, the Mayor of Niš submitted to this body six binders of photocopies of the texts of Južne vesti, published in the period from January to September 2021, from which it is indisputable that the Mayor of Niš is quoted in some texts, and it can thus be concluded that the journalists of Južne vesti were present at the events/conferences attended by the Mayor of Niš, as well as that she answered the questions of the journalists of Južne vesti. The Commissioner, after conducting the procedure on the complaints of M. K., a lawyer, filed on behalf of AA, BB, VV and GG, against the Mayor of Niš, gave the opinion that the provisions of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination were not violated, i.e. that the journalists of Južni vesti were not put in a disadvantaged position on the basis of any of their actual or presumed personal characteristics.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

 Brankica Janković