SNS Batanica detachments: Arrogance and lawlessness of the Serbian police

The case from Novi Sad from December 13, when four thugs from the Serbian Progressive Party got out of the Porsche and attacked the participants of the peaceful protest, exposed the fact that there are also policemen in progressive para-party formations, because a member of the intervention unit of the Zemun police, Nemanja N. (29), was recorded and recognized.

Only when it resonated with the public, and the thugs were arrested, did the Ministry of Internal Affairs announce that their member of the NN was "delivered a decision on temporary removal", which in translation means suspension.

And then comes the key sentence that degrades and exposes the connection between the MUP and the SNS beaters: "At the time of committing the criminal acts, the named person was on sick leave." By the way, the appointed person has been disciplined three times so far, and last year a criminal complaint was filed against him, which was forwarded to the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office.

The man, therefore, is on sick leave, and it is not known why. He was disciplined, which in itself does not necessarily mean that he had serious violations of his work obligations, but the key is that a criminal complaint was filed against him more than a year ago. Who filed it, whether citizens or superiors from the MUP, and why, is not stated, but it is very important why the report is languishing in one of the Prosecutor's Office drawers. Did she "accidentally" run away, or did someone intervene?

A lot of things were not clarified by the MUP, which transferred everything to the Department of Internal Control, which has been known for years for its inefficiency and "hiding" of cases.

The height of hypocrisy

The peak of hypocrisy is the part when it is said that the Police Department in Novi Sad is "absolutely interested in a thorough, objective and efficient investigation of the mentioned case and, to that end, has made available all the necessary information and resources to the competent public prosecutor's office."

In the same Police Department in Novi Sad, Ilija Kojić (74) was brutally beaten, who was detained because he sprayed one of the policemen from the cordon with pepper spray during the protest. He was arrested without the use of force, two plainclothes policemen brought him to the official premises. That's where the beating began, after which they had to remove the unfortunate man's testicle.

According to "Vremen" information, he was in a room with three policemen when two more from the top of the police hierarchy in Novi Sad came and injured him on the head and groin. One of those who observed it had enough conscience to report the case to Internal Control, which then had to forward the case to the Prosecutor's Office.

Minister of the Interior Ivica Dačić, who daily makes statements such as "a pickpocket was arrested on tram number 5 near the Đeram market" and similar trivia, is silent about this - he does not mention the initials of the suspects for police brutality, nor whether the head of the Novi Sad Police Department has been suspended or replaced and the commander of the competent station. Complete silence, and you know why.

Complete silence

There is also silence surrounding the brutal murder of Dalibor Dragijević in the police station in Bor, which was declared "death due to a heart attack". The Internal Control Sector cannot provide the Prosecutor's Office in Niš with a complete report on the case, they give it all in fragments, because they are obviously covering up criminal methods of investigation, such as those used by the Gestapo, the Special Police of Belgrade, or the Ustaše surveillance service in Zagreb.

Members of the new generation of the Criminal Police Directorate seemed to be "inspired" by those methods. The pathological findings of the unfortunate Dragijević showed that he was beaten literally to death, there was no part of his body that was not injured, including the fractures of many ribs.

Old school

"We did all sorts of things, got recognition from people in various ways, but we didn't beat anyone to death." A few beatings, slaps, and then threats of what awaits them all, them and the family, putting them in solitary confinement to 'remember' a bit, and a person breaks down," says a retired inspector, who also worked in "Tito's and Sloba's time".

When asked what was the most effective tool, without finding any injuries, he cites the phone book, "when you hit him from behind, he sees all the stars, and his eardrum doesn't burst."

The second model was suffocation, when you put a bag on his head and hold it until you see that he runs out of breath, and that also has a psychological moment.

There were exaggerations, for example when the painter Dragan Malešević Tapi, with a black bag on his head, was trying to get recognition for his association with the "Makin Group", and because he was a heart patient, he "suffered" a heart attack in the premises of the City SUP. No one was responsible for that.

The case from March 1995, when in the premises of "29. On November 17, a certain Dušan Lukić, previously known as a car thief, died as a result of beatings, and he was caught in the act of committing that crime and received an epilogue after XNUMX years - two inspectors were sentenced to prison terms, the third was acquitted due to the statute of limitations. And they, in order to extort who knows what from before, put a police bulletproof vest on his body and then beat him with a baseball bat until he passed out. He died later in hospital.

Brutality that is transmitted

It seems that inspectors Doran Marković, Goran Jakšić and Jonuz Jonuzi were role models for these police officers, who came from Belgrade to Bor to investigate Dragijević, the brother of one of the suspects in the murder of little Danka Ilić.

"We don't teach them that at the Academy," says one professor of the Criminal Police University, himself a former inspector, and adds that these children, especially when they come to small communities, are "spoiled" by their older colleagues, who only know about brute force, because they think that that's how they gain authority.

An example of his words is the savage beating of Radovan Đenadić from Lucan in July, which would have been covered up if he had not spoken publicly. And what happened - the police officers were suspended, and the report of the Internal Control Sector did not see the light of day. As usual, it was put in a drawer in the hope that the public would forget.

Of course, in the first reaction to that event, the MUP announced that Đenadić got his injuries "due to personal carelessness". Dacic later denied it, but it was not announced whether the creator of the false information about "personal carelessness" was responsible, as well as the one who argued for Dragijević that he died because of his heart.

The chiefs of the Čačak and Bor police departments were not replaced, although this should be done due to command responsibility. In the case of Dragijević, the coroner was not responsible either, who wrote that he died of natural causes. Even a layman could notice so many injuries from a beating, but this person, apparently in conjunction with the police, violated the Hippocratic Oath. The medical chamber did not announce it either.

Another question is how that so-called doctor feels today, when he sees the contempt of his colleagues. It will also be interesting what they say if there is a trial.

And the inspectors-murderers from Belgrade still walk the streets freely today, since it was not announced that they were suspended, maybe they are still doing their job and the question is who will fall into their hands next, to subject him to their "methods".

Pecconi's state security

The icing on the cake for all the brutality of the police is the case from November, which was later found out, when four members of the MUP Unit for the Security of Persons and Facilities, which was in charge of guarding "Mr. Pesconi", took it upon themselves to "learn the mind" of the Novi Sad doctor anesthesiologist Nikola Rafić, who, not knowing who they were, asked why they parked the car on the sidewalk so that pedestrians could not pass.

He received an "explanation" in the form of severe injuries they inflicted on him. Again, the doctor on duty at the police stated that he was fine, so Radić went to the Emergency Center, where it was stated that these were "nothing" serious injuries.

Where did the state security come from for Peconi, Dacic explained, again when the whole matter "surfaced" in the public, justifying that he has been provided with security since December 15, 2017, and that four out of five police officers were immediately suspended, "their weapons were taken away and official identification" and you are charged with causing grievous bodily harm".

Where the security of the MUP comes from, Peconi does not know, as well as the reason, the MUP is not even obliged to explain it, it is a matter of internal security assessment. But why Peconija is followed by five of them, that is another question, because when you take into account that it has security 24 hours a day, at least 25 people with all official vehicles are employed there, at the expense and expense of the citizens of Serbia.

"How many people follow someone depends on the current assessment, where he goes and what he does. It doesn't always have to be the same number, sometimes more, sometimes less, there is no pattern," explains the former senior officer in that unit. He adds that it is not only the person who is guarded in movement, but also in the place of residence, which requires additional forces. And since there are no conditions, people stand in front of the house of one of the protected persons, or members of his family, in summer and winter, often without an official car.

That source also points to the fact that security guards often become close to the protected person, adopt her habits, and even become arrogant themselves, in the "I can do it" style. As an example, he cites people who provided security for the protected witness Ljubiša Buha Čumet, or Čedomir Jovanović, who went beyond the scope of their official duties.

The author of this text was convinced of this last summer, when members of Pecconi's security blocked traffic on Terazije until he left the "Casina" restaurant and sat in his car. Two official cars were going, one in front, one behind, and at the traffic light in Kolarčeva Street, since there was a column, four of them stopped around the Audi, not allowing any vehicle to approach it.

The second case, sometime in 2010, Jovanović goes to visit his father-in-law in Zemun - the police officers who follow him not only stop the traffic in Pregrevica Street, where the father-in-law Mijat Savić has a villa, but also forbid the passage of pedestrians, including children on rollerblades who they drive there. And Jovanović arrives only after 10-15 minutes. When asked why they do that, the answer was "refuse".

The case from the weekend, when FoNet agency cameraman Marko Dragoslavić was stopped by a policeman at the "Prokop" train station and asked for his identity card, addressing him as "you". Dragoslavić gives him the document, he checks it with a "motorola" and sees that it is "clean" as far as criminal offenses are concerned, but just in case, he takes a photo of his ID card with his mobile phone, which is illegal. Dragoslavić then asks him why he did it and doesn't get an answer. He asks the policeman, whose last name and badge number he recorded, to show him his official identification card, in accordance with Article 66 of the Law on Police, but the latter refuses and curses him even more.

This is the police in Serbia today - rudeness, arrogance and the knowledge that they have power. And the law - who cares about the law. What matters is what the boss orders them to do.

Young people, a participant in the protest, should know: whenever a policeman stops them, whether in uniform or in civilian clothes, they should refer to Article 66 of the Law on the Police, in connection with Article 77. At least that's how the policemen will eventually have to learn that they must state the reason for the stop and legitimization.