- Title: Serbia editor due to address UN graft meeting turned away from UAE
- Date: 18th December 2019
- Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (DECEMBER 18, 2019) (REUTERS) JOURNALIST STEVAN DOJCINOVIC IN HIS OFFICE, TALKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) JOURNALIST, STEVAN DOJCINOVIC, SAYING: "As soon as I landed last night a little after 8 pm, at the airport, and after I handed my passport to the border control officer, I immediately saw that he spotted something interesting on his screen as he scanned my documents. This is not the first time something like this happened to me - I had a similar experience in Russia once, so I could immediately assume what would happen next. They first took me to the immigration office, and after that they took me to a section of the airport which is practically controlled by the police department. And there I was under police surveillance for the following 12 hours. So I was detained there until 8 am." DOJCINOVIC IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) JOURNALIST, STEVAN DOJCINOVIC, SAYING: "At one point, I asked one of the police officers why they were expelling me, since was is my first time visiting the country and also I'm not any sort of criminal. And he replied by asking me what is it exactly that I do. I told him I am a journalist and he laughed and said, 'Well in some countries, being a journalist is even worse than being a criminal.' And I think that can serve as an explanation of what happened. My work in journalism brought me there (the UAE) in the first place. And although we had never written much about the United Arab Emirates, here in Serbia, we did often report on businesses they own in Serbia, such as (flag carrier) Air Serbia, or about people who work with them. For example, our stories about our Finance Minister, Sinisa Mali, are in a way connected to UAE, because he signed contracts with them. So in a way we did report indirectly on them, and it never occurred to me that that might be the reason for me to end up being blacklisted. I'm certain that this was about my journalism, I see no other reason why this would happen to me." DOJCINOVIC SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) JOURNALIST, STEVAN DOJCINOVIC, SAYING: "So I'm certain I was denied entry because of my journalism. I was supposed to speak at one of the largest conferences on organised crime and corruption, hosted by the United Nations. And I think it's unbelievable that I was expelled from the country instead; it's a huge disgrace for that country, because at that conference, all day today - in a place where world leaders, people from civil society, and the leading news media are gathered - they have spent the entire day discussing this case." DOJCINOVIC DURING INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) JOURNALIST, STEVAN DOJCINOVIC, SAYING: "I don't know (where this came from). I know from earlier that I had been blacklisted in Russia... I don't know if maybe they have some authority to influence the UAE. But there's also a possibility that this was done upon a request made from here (in Serbia). Because it's interesting that the countries that are blacklisting me all seem to be enjoying quite close relations with our government. So I cannot rule out that this idea may have come from Serbia." DOJCINOVIC IN HIS OFFICE TALKING TO REPORTERS, BEING FILMED
- Embargoed: 1st January 2020 19:13
- Keywords: Serbia Serbia journalist UAE UN journalist detained organised crime journalist
- Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA
- City: BELGRADE, SERBIA
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001BAI84S9
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: An editor of a Serbian website that investigates organised crime was denied entry to Abu Dhabi, where he was due to address a U.N. conference on corruption, the journalist told Reuters on Wednesday (December 18).
Stevan Dojcinovic flew in to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), on Tuesday and was turned back to Belgrade early on Wednesday morning after spending 12 hours at the airport, where he was told he had been blacklisted by an unidentified country.
Speaking to reporters, Dojcinovic said that given close ties between United Arab Emirates and Belgrade, he could not exclude Serbia from being involved.
There was no immediate response from the UAE's National Media Council to a Reuters request for comment. Approached by Reuters, the Serbian foreign ministry said it had no one available to comment.
The Association of Independent Journalists in Serbia protested against Dojcinovic's deportation.
Dojcinovic's Krik portal mainly writes about alleged links between Serbian politicians and organised crime. It has also written about UAE projects in Serbia.
Serbia ranks 90th on a list of 180 countries in the 2019 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group. The UAE ranks 133.
(Production: Fedja Grulovic, David Spaic, Louisa Naks) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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