Who is destroying the constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia?

The constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia represents the foundation of the country's legal system, which establishes and regulates key principles of democracy, rights and obligations of citizens, the organization of government, as well as the protection of human rights and freedoms in accordance with the highest legal act of the state - the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia. The constitutional order of the Republic of Serbia ensures democratic functioning through the principle of division of power into executive, legislative and judicial, the establishment of independent institutions that monitor compliance with the law and the rights of citizens, and through an independent prosecution that protects the public interest determined by law.

Government representatives believe that on December 17, everything took place in accordance with the laws and the Constitution. On election day, the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, according to that assessment, decided on the future political government in a completely democratic atmosphere. On that day, the voter lists were in order, no residences were registered in Belgrade so that citizens who do not normally live there would vote for the Serbian Progressive Party in the elections in Belgrade. Nothing happened in the Belgrade Arena either, which has something to do with the electoral process.

Since everything went "smoothly", the prosecutor's office did not have any work to do that day either because, as it was estimated, the public interest was not threatened at any moment.

The view from the other side

After the election day, the opposition parties, on the other hand, decided not to recognize the election result, claiming that there were numerous irregularities, and that the Serbian Progressive Party together with the President of the Republic of Serbia (who did not run for office, nor could he be elected from the position of President of the Republic running for any office) organized electoral engineering against the laws in order to win the elections.

The civil sector organization CRTA presents research that supports the opposition's claims, some members of parliament are going on hunger strike to defend the electoral will of citizens, while men and women are protesting. One week after the "completely regular elections", on December 24, citizens, especially young people, together with leaders of the opposition gathered in front of the Belgrade City Assembly as a sign of protest and contesting the election results. On that occasion, windows were broken and the inventory of the Assembly of Belgrade was damaged.

While all this was happening, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, announced the "defense of Serbia and arrests", which is completely inconsistent with his Constitutional powers. Members of the Gendarmerie and MUP resolutely break up the protest with the use of firearms excessive force, arrest young people, mostly citizens who have just come of age, while the prosecutor's office soon qualifies their actions as "Attack on constitutional order" in accordance with Article 308 of the Criminal Code.

The Protector of Citizens, by law an independent state body that protects the rights of citizens and controls the work of state administration bodies, like the prosecutor's office, spends the holidays peacefully on election day, given that on all recordings of national frequency television, it can be seen that no one's rights were violated during the intervention in front of the Belgrade City Assembly.

False accusations

 Citizens of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the Constitution, have every right not to accept the election results, taking into account all the facts and circumstances of the election process. For this reason, everything that the citizens have done so far has absolutely no elements of a criminal offense, possibly individual actions can be classified as a misdemeanor.

On the other hand, the qualification of the committed acts as "Attack on the constitutional order" is nothing more than Aleksandar Vučić's retaliation, which further collapses the already almost collapsed constitutional order. And there is about labeling of citizens and children of citizens are "cowards", the leaders of the opposition were also present in front of the Belgrade City Assembly, but no, they were not arrested, and therefore they were neither detained nor charged with any criminal offense. The president ordered the arrest and retribution from the hot seat and directed it exclusively at young people.

When it comes to the qualification of the crime, none of the characteristics of the nature of that criminal offense are met. For such a qualification, it is necessary that the young people tried to change the constitutional arrangement or tried to overthrow the highest state authorities. Therefore, the intention to violently overthrow one of the highest state bodies determined by the Constitution is required: the National Assembly, the President of the Republic of Serbia, the Government, the Constitutional Court or the Supreme Court of Cassation. In addition, overthrow implies that the body is permanently disabled from performing its function by force.

None of that happened, and the most important thing is that the protest did not take place in front of the highest state body, but in front of the Belgrade City Assembly, i.e. the local self-government building.

The right of citizens to fairly and honestly choose political power is the last remaining pillar of the state. If that pillar is also demolished, we will no longer have a state, only an organized criminal group will remain. Under no circumstances and at any cost must we accept the election results under these conditions, we must free the youth and return to the streets to defend the Republic of Serbia and its constitutional order from those who have been persistently and unscrupulously destroying it for more than a decade.

The author is a lawyer

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