The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI,) on Tuesday condemned the physical attack on Csaba Szögi, a journalist with Képes Ifjúsá, the youth supplement of the Hungarian-language daily Magyar Szó, based in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Szögi was beaten on 15 April 2011 by several individuals who waited for him in front of public rest rooms in Beèej (Óbecsén), a town in Serbia´s multiethnic Vojvodina province. Although bruised, Szögi did not require hospitalisation. The reporter was covering a youth art competition event.

Szögi believes that the attack might have been planned in advance. While hitting him, the attackers repeated the same insults used by the Hungarian nationalist and extreme right-wing internet portal, www.magyarazat.info , where Szógi´s photo is featured. The portal claims the journalist shames Hungarian culture.

Condemning the attack, SEEMO Secretary General Oliver Vujovic, said: “I hope that the perpetrators will be soon brought to justice. Journalists should be allowed to work freely in Serbia, without fear or pressure.”