Sinister threat to Macedonian journalist and his family

Reporters Without Borders is appalled by yesterday evening’s death threat to Nova TV journalist Borjan Jovanovski and calls on the authorities to arrest those responsible. The threat took the form of a wreath with the message “Final Greetings” that was delivered to Jovanovski’s home in his absence and was received by his wife. The as yet unidentified messenger told her it had been sent by “Todor Aleksandrov,” a controversial early 20th century nationalist known for arranging the murders of fellow nationalists. “We condemn this threat to Borjan Jovanovski and his family and we urge the authorities to do everything possible to arrest those responsible and quickly bring them to justice,” Reporters Without Borders programme director Lucie Morillon said. “The situation is Macedonia is already critical and this threat to Jovanovski, one of the country’s leading independent journalists, will exacerbate the deterioration in the climate for the media. Macedonia’s justice system has a duty to deal with this threat with the utmost firmness.” Freedom of information has been declining steadily in Macedonia for the past five years, with independent media getting thinner and thinner on the ground as a result of government-ordered closures and exorbitant damages awards. Macedonia is ranked 117th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, the lowest position of any country in the European Union and Balkans region.