The mayor of Loznica, Vidoje Petrović, known by the nickname Knez, resigned, as he had been in that position for 20 years and no one could do anything for him. Petrović submitted his resignation at the beginning of August, but he only activated it now, seeing in which direction the protests against lithium mining are going.
Mayor Bedroom Vidoje Petrović resigned, it was one of the main news on Thursday - this is a man who has been at the head of that city for 20 years, the nickname "Knez" speaks volumes about the kind of man he is, and he is one of those who could be found in stories that the regime media, when they want to raise the rating Aleksandar Vučić, advertise that the "leader" will start a showdown with the "local sheriffs".
And Vidoje is more than a "local sheriff", he has been the God and the club in Loznica for two decades, he is asked about everything, he decides on everything, from the hiring of a cleaner in a city public company, to the appointment of directors and assistants, he is not to be talked about. Strong accusations were made against his arrogant behavior, but they did not receive an epilogue. As in Loznica and the surrounding area, there is talk about his large assets, the origin of which he would certainly not be able to prove, if the state and the Ministry of Finance did their job.
Petrović submitted his resignation at the beginning of August, but he has only now activated it, seeing in which direction the protests against lithium mining are going. For two and a half months, he has been in a kind of "silence", because people literally spit on him on the street because of this, insulting him in various ways.
Old police personnel
The old police officer, and then the G-17 plus cadre, realized in time that the devil had played a joke, so, like his boss Mlađan Dinkić, he apparently became passive, and before that, like his leader, he changed sides - he switched to the Serbian Progressive party. Dinkić did not officially do that, but unofficially, he was "by the side" of Vučić and his man for various and confidential transactions with the United Arab Emirates since the SNS came to power. Vidoje did it transparently - he joined the SNS and immediately became the party's commissioner for Loznica, and then the president of the municipal board.
Who is Vidoje Petrović, born in 1961 in Lešnica near Loznica, a man who graduated from the Military Academy, to which he was sent by the then Republic Secretariat for Internal Affairs?
After graduating from the Academy, he continued to work in the police, was the commander of one class of the Police Academy, and then in 1997 he became the head of the SUP in Loznica, where he stayed for less than a year, after, after refusing to go to Kosovo in the spring of 1998, "got a leg" from the MUP. Then he started in the waters of private business.
Distillery worth a million euros
"A classic deserter, a fugitive," retired lieutenant colonel of the Gendarmerie Nenad Samardžić from Loznica told Vreme. "He was educated by the state, graduated from the Military Academy, trained to fight, he refused to lead the people there, he didn't feel like risking his head."
Samardžić claims that Petrović acquired considerable property during his two decades of "mayorship", and that he owns a distillery worth a million euros, built on land for which he paid 400.000 euros. "Let him deny me," he says.
As a councilor in the last convocation of Loznica City Council, Samardžić pointed out, with documents and arguments, many embezzlements of the city budget, rigged deals and "inflated" prices, fabricated projects, but the state authorities and inspections did not react to this. And how could they, when they were all under the control of Petrović.
"Generous" according to local media
Petrović was also "generous" when it came to the local media, so that no word of criticism against him could be heard anywhere, on the contrary, only thanks. The same applies to the correspondents of the Belgrade media - "all the best about Vidoj". This was also acknowledged by Vučić during his several-day "table" in Loznica, who scolded Petrović for it.
And his police career - after his desertion and dismissal from the police, after the DOS came to power, Dinkić and his colleagues persistently tried to bring him back to the head of the SUP in Loznica. That function was otherwise always lucrative, because of the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the smuggling of all kinds of goods.
"They are asking minister Dušan Mihajlović from that thieving party to appoint Vidoj to that position." He asked the head of the Department of Public Security at the time, General Sreten Lukić, for his opinion - he rejected it with disgust and said that people like him should not be allowed to return to the MUP, because he is a deserter," a former high-ranking MUP official told "Vreme". The reason is simple - Lukić was the commander of the MUP headquarters in Kosovo and knows exactly which of the chiefs refused to go there in 1998.
A painful comedy about self-betrayal.
Then G17 and Dinkić put Petrović in a "lucrative" position - assistant director of Customs, where he remained until the mayoral election in September 2004.
Vidoje ruled for two decades, and now he is resigning, apparently suddenly. Not suddenly, because, as an experienced policeman and politician, as well as a member of the leadership of the "deceased" G17, he learned how to change sides in time and side with the winners. As if according to the template that Dušan Kovačević sensed a long time ago when he wrote "Radovan trvego" - a painful comedy about self-betrayal.
Therefore, it will not be surprising if Petrović, in the event that civil protests lead to a ban on lithium mining, is praised in the media as a hero who opposed the government, defending Jadar. In Serbian politics, anything is possible.
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Aleksandar Vučić now has only the old, proven methods of classic dictatorships left, because these modern methods of insanity and poisoning the public are failing. And that, however, goes against his head
Vučić is not defending the state, but himself from the state. With a drum on his back and a guitar in his hands, this man-orchestra performs two or three of the same songs without hearing, with falsifications and falling out of rhythm. His government and politics are like that. In short - dangerous for the environment
Arrests of professors, punishment of people, firing of journalists... The regime of Aleksandar Vučić is shining and is yet to shine. It is the decadent phase of the regime, the one towards the end
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