"Vremena" correspondent Dejana Cvetković was invited to give a statement to the prosecution because of the threats and insults she experienced while reporting from the protest in Surdulica. There she was exposed to open attacks, sexist remarks and threats
Cvetković, as stated, is called to provide information regarding the application, and the procedure, she says, was filed by the prosecution ex officio.
"The Prosecutor's Office was informed about the events by the Association of Independent Electronic Media (ANEM). First, the inspector from Surdulica called me to give a statement at the police station there. I said that I did not feel safe to give a statement in Surdulica and I asked to make a statement in Vranje. I received this call today," says Cvetković for "Vreme".
As she explains, she does not feel safe going to Surdulica to make a statement, nor to report because her information was shared in the group that organizes the protests she was reporting from and because everyone knows what she looks like.
Threats to "Vremena" newspaper
Cvetković reported on the events and protests that followed the traffic accident in which a Surdulica resident was killed. After the accident, they started protests and persecution against a family of Albanian nationality whose relative is suspected of the accident and is currently in custody.
Cvetković reported on these events for "Vremena", and at the meeting held on February 14, she experienced open attacks.
"At the protest in Surudulica, I was disturbed during my work, I was threatened that I was not the only one allowed to film, they shouted at me that they would buy me new equipment, that they would sue me if I published their photos, that they would break my phone. I was shouted at by the crowd, they asked me 'am I wearing a thong' and said that after the protest it would 'turn out that I was raped', then some shouted 'raped' and that I should come over and exchange numbers, because They already have mine. They called me 'garbage', 'liars', my social networks and the video of me were shared in the Viber group, they wrote that Albanians were paying me. explained Cvetković earlier.
What preceded
The protests were organized after the death of 40-year-old Rastko Jović, who was hit by a car by a 20-year-old Albanian driver. He is in custody.
At the meetings that were organized, demands were made for the resignation of the police top brass and even for the permanent eviction of the suspect's family from the municipality. The gathered people then visited the bakeries owned by his relative with shouts of "murderer".
In the Viber group "Justice for Rastka", calls for the expulsion of the family spread, photos and locations are published. The bakery was pelted with oysters and eggs, and citizens also filmed those buying bread.
Calls for the expulsion of the Albanian family from Surdulica were shared in the Viber group "Justice for Rastka". And all this with the kind of support of the minister without portfolio Novica Tončev, who wrote in the group that "he is with his Surdulica people, because he lives there."
"There is not a single word of retaliation in my messages and not a single word about anyone's national or other affiliation," Tončev said for "Vreme".
He said that he advocates that tragedies do not go unpunished and that the authorities do their job responsibly.
"As you know, in Viber groups on every topic, individuals tend to write in order to attract attention, some are more extreme in writing for personal reasons. And I sent the messages in order for the institutions to do their job," Tonchev added.
"Justice is not sought, but to expel us"
Bakery owner he told "Vreme" that his family suffers the consequences even though he was not involved in the accident.
"We are not looking for justice for the person who passed away, it is about expelling us. If the state can't defend me, I don't know what to say," said the owner of the bakery.
As he added, he had to take his wife and children to safety.
"My cousin worked in that bakery as a worker. When Rastko was killed, there was no protest for justice, that my cousin should be punished the most, but they are demanding that my family and I be expelled from Surdulica. I have twenty workers, should I be responsible for each of them? Why the protest against me, when I was not the driver?" asked the owner of the bakery.
This kind of behavior represents a situation in which the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office must react urgently due to the incitement of racial, religious and national hatred, said Katarina Golubović, president of YUCOM.
"Local officials who have insight into Viber correspondence must react and oppose lynching," Golubović stressed.
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