More than 100 Macedonian journalists protest in the capital against death threat to colleague

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Over 100 journalists have gathered in the Macedonian capital Skopje to protest against threats made to a journalist critical of the country's conservative government.

A funeral wreath bearing the inscription "final greeting" was delivered Tuesday to the home of Borjan Jovanovski, editor in chief of the Nova TV web portal. Jovanovski has previously been the target of verbal attacks. He was abroad when the wreath was delivered to his wife, who reported the incident to police.

Journalist associations and the Council of Europe's human rights commissioner condemned the threat. Nova TV journalist Saska Cvetkovska on Wednesday accused the government of creating an atmosphere in which threats to critical journalists were tolerated.

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's governing VMRO-DPMNE party also condemned the incident, describing it as "unacceptable and damaging."