The journalist who first reported a sexual harassment case is being sued by the former ruling party official who is standing trial for harassing one of his staff.
Former Brus Mayor Milutin Jelicic Jutka is standing trial on charges of sexually harassing his former secretary Marija Lukic. He is suing Blic daily journalist Ivana Mastilovic Jasnic who reported the story some 18 months ago.
The Cenzolovka investigative portal said that Jelicic is also suing other journalists, including Blic editor in chief Predrag Mihailovic, the newspaper’s publisher Ringier Axel Springer and the company’s other publications which carried the story or even just mentioned him.
Jelicic sued Mastilovic Jasnic for an April 9 story under the headline Sexual Predator’s Trial Continues, Jutka Bragging He Will be Freed, claiming that she violated the journalists’ code of ethics. “The law suit said that “the plaintiff has suffered an enormous media lynch for more than a year” and claimed that the stories “harshly, falsely and inappropriately” offended Jelicic and his family.
Mastilovic Jasnic was the first to report the sexual harassment story while Jelicic was still mayor of Brus. “He is used to having things under control and he is shocked to be out in the open and loosing control. I expected this desperate move,” she siad.
CNN reported on the Marija Lukic case, calling it the Serbian #MeToo case. Lukic recently got the Winning Freedom award.