The arrest of the president of the Military Union caused a revolt not only among members of the union, but also among all honorable members of the Serbian Armed Forces, current and former, and they will not be left without an adequate response: they are announcing their reactions, which for many from the top of the government will not be pleasant at all
The beginning of the 1990s returned to Serbia a decade ago, and now what happened at the end of the 1990s is happening: when the political persecution of political dissidents did not succeed, police-judicial persecution begins, which is the most illustrative proof the arrest of the president of the Serbian Military Union News of Antić in Kragujevac and the arrest and search of the apartments of the trustees of that union throughout Serbia.
The reason is still unknown. The detainees will be interrogated by the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad, which is territorially competent for Sombor, where the Trade Union is headquartered. He will most likely be accused of financial malfeasance in the Syndicate, because when nothing else can be found, such as espionage or undermining the country's combat power, a "subtle" method is used, as was done by the Milosevic-Seseljev regime in the late 1990s.
Or what Vučić did when he came to power, in order to raise the level of his populism: he promised the arrest and prosecution of Miroslav Mišković, whom he called "the biggest tycoon" and Dragoslav Kosmajc, characterized as the main drug dealer in Serbia, "whose name no one should to mention". He arrested people, put them in custody, there was a trial - and nothing happened to anyone. In vain, the regime's media competed to dig up more details from the "criminal" activities of those two, arrested in front of police cameras in order to humiliate themselves as much as possible. They were acquitted, all charges melted away like sugar in hot water.
It is certain that it will be the same with Antič and his associates. The authorities needed an affair to close the story of the election theft investigation - and they found it. It is no coincidence that the camera of a private regime television came yesterday to record Antič's house, certainly not to report on the arrest, but to create a "cover" for spitting comments or articles in which he will be portrayed as a criminal.
Rock on the boot
And that Antić himself "set himself up" for them - yes, because for years, and especially lately, he has been pointing to various inactions, omissions and malfeasance at the top of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, and especially the out-of-frame and unconstitutional behavior of the Military Security Agency (VBA), which has its own action, instead of security in the Army, directed at disrupting the trade union.
The union and Antić, instead of a pebble in their shoe, have become a rock that fell on their boot and they cannot squirm under it. The circle was getting tighter and tighter, in recent days the union came out with evidence of the VBA's pressure on employees in the defense system, intimidation, threats to them and their families, warnings that the contracts of professional soldiers will not be extended, that the elders will not be able to go on peace missions (which is , with such salaries in the army, a nice source of income), and everything culminated in the announcement that the union will open an SOS phone on Tuesday, where all kinds of pressure and mobbing can be reported. After the announcement by the minister in the outgoing Government, Miloš Vučević, that union organizing in the army would have to be prohibited (even though it is a constitutional category), something like this could have been expected, the only question was in what form.
No matter how much "embezzlement" they accuse Antic and others of, and it will fall into the water if there is a trial, it is far less than the one committed by the former president of the Football Association of Serbia, Slaviš Kokez, who is now running around freely in Central American tax havens, or various regime leaders who are untouchable. The former president of the municipality of Palilula frankly admitted at the beginning of the trial that he only "followed the politics of Aleksandar Vučić". And in his house, they found 400.000 euros in cash in various currencies.
Pandora's box opened
In any case, the arrest of Antic did not go unnoticed by the public, but it caused a revolt not only among the members of the trade union, but also among all honorable members of the Serbian Armed Forces, current and former, and they will not remain without an adequate response: they announce their reactions, which for many from the top of the government, they will not be pleasant at all.
They opened "Pandora's Box" and now "skeletons from the closet" or "bones under the carpet", which the government thought it was successfully hiding, will start to fall out.
The news is the turning point, after which there is no going back - for either of them.
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
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Things are unfolding at an astonishing speed, as astonishing as the speed with which Vucic conceded a convincing defeat. Impatience is understandable, but misplaced
At the moment when the institutions of the Republic are destroyed, when Vučić's octopus is still alive, when people are disgusted by the injustice and the stench left behind by the Essenes regime, we have, as Machiavelli said, only civic virtue as the fuel with which we can return to the beginning
The four independent members of REM are an example of perseverance and civic responsibility. Rodoljub Šabić even, upon leaving the premises of REM, after the sentencing of the Informer, experienced that the Essenes insulted him, hit him with their hands and feet. But that too will soon be over
Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system
Interview: Branko Stamenković, public prosecutor of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office
A black picture and the breakdown of the rule of law subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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