The cameraman of newspaper Insajderi, Jetmir Muji, was attacked on Thursday in  northern Mitrovica while filming the entry into the ambulance car of a 15-year-old Kosovar-Albanian boy who was also attacked.

According to this medium, Muji together with the journalist, Visar Duriqi, were in northern Mitrovica to prepare a news story and conduct some interviews  when Muji got attacked in the head by members of the Serbian gangs living in the North. 

According to Insjaderi, Muji ended up in the emergency hospital in the south of Mitrovica.

“The attack came from Civil Protection in the north, it was Ivan Rakic who organized the attack against the journalist. For them it was annoying the fact that we managed to record the incident against the high school child. The goal was to take the recorded material. The attackers were all adults”, said journalist Visar Duriqi in an interview for Euronews Albania, after the incident. 

“The recorded materials are safe and the Kosovo Police also has them”, Duriqi added. 

Journalist Visar Duriqi, through a post on Facebook , announced that the health condition of cameraman Jetmir Muji is stable.

Duriqi pointed out that the Italian Carabinieri also witnessed the whole event, but they did not react.

“Carabinieri saw both the cases when the young man and Jetlir were attacked.  What have they done? They hid in the car and didn’t even come close to ask how Jetmir’s condition is”, stated Duriqi.

In a press release, Kosovo police confirmed the incident. 

According to the police, on Thursday  morning a group of 9 high school pupils from the Albanian community went for a walk to the location Kodra e Minatorëve, which is located in the area of responsibility of Mitrovica North. After that, these young people came back towards the main bridge, near a crossroad, and it is suspected that they were followed/observed by a ‘Renault’ type vehicle. 

“After that, several suspected persons came out and managed to stop and beat/attack one of the students, while the others managed to leave the location, in the direction of the main bridge”, stated the police press release. 

“Then, in that location where the case of the attack on the student occurred, while a male/Kosovar employee (cameraman) of the portal ‘Insajderi’ from Kosovo, was filming the ambulance that was going to deal with the case of the attacked child, it is suspected that he was prevented from performing his duty and was physically hit/attacked by the suspected persons who are suspected to have been the same persons”, continues the press release.

The attackers, who were heard speaking Serbian, also tried to take the phone of the victim by force, concludes the press release. 

The Association of Journalists of Kosovo reacted to the case and invited the police to investigate the case urgently.

“Association of Journalists of Kosovo expresses concern and shock at the attack, at the same time invites the Kosovo police to urgently investigate the case and identify the persons responsible”, was stated in the reaction.

The attack on the cameraman Jetmir Muji was also condemned by the European Federation of Journalists, EFJ. 

“We strongly condemn this attack against journalist Jetmir Muji in North Mitrovica, Kosovo. Authorities should take action and arrest the perpetrators!”- EFJ wrote on Twitter.

In the four northern municipalities of Kosovo, there is already a significantly smaller presence of the Kosovo police because 578 members of the Serbian community in this institution resigned in the beginning of November.

This was done to oppose the decision of the Government of Kosovo asking the citizens in the north to re-register the cars that still have illegal license plates issued by Serbia.