Montenegro arrests businessman for attacking journalists

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Police in Montenegro have arrested a local businessman in the capital Podgorica on suspicion of attacking a journalist, in what the prime minister called an “unacceptable act” on Monday.

Ana Raickovic, a journalist for the daily Pobjeda, was attacked outside a restaurant in Podgorica on Sunday evening, police said in a statement quoted on national television.

Police later arrested a man named ZB, 63, whom Pobjeda and many media outlets in the Balkan country described as Montenegrin businessman Zoran Becirovic. Two other people were also taken into custody.

The reporter was “insulted” and “threatened” before meeting with two family members, the statement said.

“They were all then verbally and then physically attacked by the three suspects.”

The suspects are also accused of damaging the journalist’s car.

Her newspaper denounced “a barbaric reckoning,” adding that she “received several blows to the head and body.”

Although it did not refer to a specific article, the editors added that Becirovic “should have responded with a statement or denied (allegations) if he found that something false had been written about him.”

The head of government of Montenegro, which is negotiating accession to the European Union, reacted to the incident on Monday.

“I strongly condemn the attack on journalist Ana Raickovic (and) I ask the relevant authorities to investigate this case efficiently,” Prime Minister Milojko Spajic said on X.

Fourteen attacks on journalists have been recorded in Montenegro so far this year, according to the Center for Citizen Education. The NGO called on authorities to “understand the gravity of the problem.”

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