АЈМ: Harassed journalists by officials in Communal hygiene – the Ministry of the Interior must react immediately

The Association of Journalists of Macedonia (AJM) condemns the action of officials from the public relations department and from the security of “Communal Hygiene – Skopje” who today seriously violated the rights of journalists Furkan Saliu and Avni Tahiri, by forcibly confiscating their equipment. The journalists were held against their will.

According to colleagues, this scandalous event happened today on the premises of this public company in Skopje. In this incident, an official who presented herself as the person in charge of public relations, after a previous verbal argument with the two journalists, took the phone from Saliu and refused to return it. At the same time, three members of the security from the Directorate of “Communal Hygiene – Skopje” kept the two journalists against their will on the premises of this institution and they were released only after the arrival of members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who came shortly after a previous report by the journalist Tahiri.

The incident represents a serious violation of the rights of journalists and obstruction in their work as well as the human right to freedom. Colleagues Saliu and Tahiri duly scheduled a meeting with representatives of public relations for an article related to issues of labor relations in this institution and they had the obligation to answer the journalist’s questions, not to confiscate their equipment and illegally hold them against their will. in the premises of the public institution.

That is why AJM demands the Ministry of Internal Affairs to immediately investigate this case and inform the public about this impermissible procedure toward journalists by the officials of the Public Enterprise “Communal Hygiene – Skopje”. Apart from this, we request the newly appointed director of this institution, Kosana Mazneva, to urgently investigate the procedure of the employees and initiate disciplinary measures within the framework of her legal competencies.