On January 16th 2023 the Autonomous Women’s Center received replies from the Ombudsman and the High Prosecutorial Office in Nis in relation to AWC’s request for immediate reactions and review of the work of the Police Administration in Nis in the case of a reported rape in Nis.
It’s evident from the High Prosecutorial Office’s reply that false allegations (which are classed as a felony) are not part of the case in question, nor are they requesting that charges be filed for false allegations.
Additionally, after AWC filed a complaint with the Press Council for unethical reporting on the rape case in Nis, Niske vesti, Mondo, and Dnevno addressed the Autonomous Women’s Center to settle things. We agreed that they will publish the following reaction:
The text in question contained information that the woman from Leskovac, who reported a case of (gang) rape in Nis to authorities, did it to “get revenge on an ex boyfriend”, that she has “a tendency to drink”, and that the man whom she accused of sexual violence was “very cooperative and convincing”, that “there was no suspicion at all that he had caused her any harm”. All of this information had in fact come from unnamed sources which makes it possible to doubt their veracity and may violate several provisions of the Serbian Journalists’ Code of Ethics from section I, Veracity of Reporting.
Following the public statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to which the Autonomous Women’s Center immediately reacted, it’s evident that the reporting was based on information from unnamed sources and was rushed without waiting for the High Prosecutorial Office to issue a statement (or other relevant bodies involved in pre-investigative activities). Official information that there were no charges filed for false accusations of rape was provided to the media on January 10th 2023. Reporting of this type may have long-term consequences to the woman in question but also to all other women who have either survived or will survive sexual violence, because it diminishes public empathy for victims, disbelieving their testimony and reducing the damage inflicted by sex crimes.
Published reactions are available at the following portals (in Serbian) Niške vesti, Mondo i Dnevno.
The Ombudsman’s reply is available here (in Serbian).
The High Prosecutorial Office’s reply is available here (in Serbian).
The text “When the Police Are Both Prosecutors and Judges” which explains in fine detail why the Autonomous Women’s Center reacted the way it did to how the Nis Police Administration handled this case (published on the web-portal Pescanik) is available here (in Serbian).
