Marko Novicic Gets Death Threats, ANEM Files Report
The Association of Independent Electronic Media reported threats against Nova S anchor Marko Novicic to prosecutors, after his post on Ratko Mladic's funeral.
On September 9, 2026, the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM) filed a report with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime over threats made against Marko Novicic, anchor and editor at Nova S television. According to ANEM, the messages arrived on Novicic’s personal Instagram account after he posted content related to the broadcast of Ratko Mladic’s funeral.
The report states that the messages wished death on the journalist and suggested a physical confrontation between the sender and Novicic. The most direct one, according to the report, read:
“When we get our hands on you… We’ll cut you into pieces.”
In other messages, the sender warned that “the world is small,” that Novicic would “run into someone like him,” and that “this won’t fly in Serbia.” ANEM says Novicic took the messages very seriously and fears for his own safety and that of his family.
For that reason, the association asked prosecutors to examine the claims in the report and take over criminal proceedings for the offense of endangering safety, under Article 138 of the Criminal Code.
ANEM Managing Board president Veran Matic, who also sits on the Standing Working Group for the Safety of Journalists and runs the SOS hotline for reporting threats and attacks on journalists (0800 100 115), said journalists who had covered Ratko Mladic’s death and funeral over the previous ten days had received disturbing messages and threats over their reporting on the final verdict for genocide and other crimes committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Matic stated:
“It is absolutely unacceptable for state institutions to ignore the ruling of the International Court in The Hague, along with the revisionism, denial of responsibility and tolerance of aggression toward everyone who respects final court verdicts and the professional code of journalism.”
Matic said Mladic’s death and funeral had pulled Serbia back into what he called the “criminal July of 1995,” thanks to leading politicians and tabloid media. He added that among those at the funeral, as well as among those who threatened to dismember Novicic, were participants in a campaign that has been running for twenty months against journalists, camera operators, photographers, activists and students.
Matic called on representatives of the European Commission and the United States Congress to use their decisions to influence the authorities in Serbia, arguing that domestic institutions have done almost nothing for two years to stop the violence against journalists:
“That is why we are calling on representatives of the European Commission and the United States Congress, because domestic institutions have done almost nothing for two years to stop this violence, to use their decisions to pressure the authorities in Serbia into ending the terror against professional journalists and media that report objectively, as well as against everyone who criticizes the denial of genocide by citing facts already proven in court proceedings.”
Srpske vesti reported on Ratko Mladic’s funeral in the preceding days, noting the presence of five ministers from the Serbian government, with Patriarch Porfirije leading the funeral service. The threats against Novicic are a continuation of that story, now with a criminal law epilogue in the form of a report to the competent prosecutor’s office.
ANEM’s statement was carried the same day by N1, which published it at 12:05 p.m., as well as by Cenzolovka, IN Medija and Serbian News Media. The speed with which the news spread among outlets that follow journalist safety shows how seriously the case is being taken within that community.
Whether the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High-Tech Crime will be able to identify the sender of the messages and pursue charges under Article 138 of the Criminal Code is still an open question.
