Serbia once again saw World Press Freedom Day, May 3, with no clear knowledge of who were the instigators and perpetrators of murders and attempted murders of journalists and without formulated media legislation, Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Media freedom and freedom of speech are the foundations of any democratic society and of human and civil rights, and their full realization is not possible until all threats to journalists are eliminated and a firm and clear legal framework that will protect them formulated,” said Jankovic.

He expressed satisfaction that the work on drafting a media strategy had “finally” started, a document that should be the basis for the reform of media legislation.

The protector of citizens recalls that upon his proposal, and at the initiative of journalists' associations, the Constitutional Court of Serbia declared unconstitutional certain provisions of the amended Law on Public Information which posed a threat to media freedom.

Jankovic also said he hoped “similar things would never happen again in the Serbia's media legislation,” the statement reads.