The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (IJAS) strongly condemns the brutal threats made against journalists and employees of N1 Television following their coverage of the recent incidents in Novi Pazar. N1 received four new threats calling for the killing, execution, and extermination of their staff and their families. These messages contain explicit and extremely violent threats that go far beyond hate speech and pose a direct danger to the journalists’ safety.

One of the messages reads: “We should all immediately go after N1 and kill this scum, and burn it to the ground.” Another states: “You NDH1 sandwich eaters are in for a firing squad.” The most disturbing one declares: “…as obvious organizers of this attempted civil war, you should all be killed, from the first to the last, along with your families, because you’re not even animals but monsters, whose seed should be wiped out at the root!”

These messages are not only disturbing — they constitute a serious and direct threat to the lives of journalists and their families. Their brutality, dehumanizing language, and calls for mass murder require immediate and decisive action from all relevant institutions.

IJAS has reported these threats to the Office of the Prosecutor for High-Tech Crime. However, we are deeply concerned by the established practice of dismissing such threats on the grounds that they are expressed in the conditional tense or not phrased explicitly enough. This approach is both dangerous and flawed — violent expressions, even when not grammatically direct, clearly indicate high-level threats and must not be ignored.

What is particularly alarming is the increasing frequency of these threats, fueled by statements from top state officials who publicly target N1 journalists, portraying them as enemies of the state and society. This rhetoric emboldens those who believe they have the right to call for violence.

We call on the Prosecutor’s Office to urgently identify the individuals behind these threats and request a formal explanation of the meaning and intent behind what was written. The real danger often lies precisely in threats that may appear “not direct enough” at first glance.

Once again, we urge the Ministry of Interior to secure the premises of N1 Television and ensure the protection of all journalists and employees who are under threat.

The safety of journalists is a cornerstone of any democratic society. An attack on them is an attack on the public’s right to be informed.