Prophet Serbian Progressive Party Vladimir Đukanović stated that decision of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad on the abolition of custody of the arrested activists "a message to the authorities and Aleksandar Vučić".
"The message is - gentlemen, you are not the government, but we are the government. Yes, for many years I have been claiming that Aleksandar Vučić and the SNS have no power, except perhaps in the foreign policy segment and a little in the economy, but that essentially the real power is in the hands of the NGO sector through which various embassies, i.e. foreign power centers, roam the country," he wrote.
He added that "he fought with all his might against the constitutional changes regarding the judiciary", but that "many people did not really understand him at the time".
"Honestly, I no longer see the purpose of appearing in the media and speaking," said Đukanović.
He called on President Vučić to "pardon the young members of the Serbian Progressive Party who defended the party premises in Novi Sad".
What happened at the trial of SNS activists
The trial of four activists of the Serbian Progressive Party for the attack on students in the night between January 27 and 28 this year continued in the Basic Court in Novi Sad.
At the hearing, the accused gave their statements, as well as four students who were attacked on two separate occasions that night. Common to both attacks, it will turn out, is that the attackers asked them for their identity cards in order to "identify" them.
Student Ana, whose jaw was broken at "Petefi Sandor" elementary school, as well as student Konstantin, who was beaten at the same place, recognized their attackers. The defendants claim that they were nowhere near the scene of the attack that evening and deny guilt.
The defense attorneys of the defendants requested at this hearing that they be given a lighter measure, that is, house arrest or that it be abolished, bearing in mind that, as they stated, it was extended "only" because of the danger of repeating the criminal act.
The judge forwarded this case to the non-trial panel, and the prosecutor of the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Novi Sad spoke against this proposal, pointing out that one of the defendants was already convicted of the same offense for which he is now being charged, that is, of causing serious bodily injury.
In addition to denying guilt, the defendants also state that this trial would not have happened if their picture from custody had not been released to the public.
Let's recall, that evening, students of the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad were first attacked in front of the SNS premises on the Boulevard of Liberation. A little later, another group of students was attacked near the "Petefi Sandor" elementary school, and a student of the Academy of Arts had her jaw broken.
After this event, Miloš Vučević resigned as Prime Minister, and Milan Đurić resigned as Mayor of Novi Sad. Almost four months later, Vucevic calls them "heroes" and threatens to block the court if their detention is extended, which he refused.
The defendants say - we are not guilty
Activists of the Serbian Progressive Party SK (30), ND (22), NB (22) and DR (22) are suspected of having committed the criminal acts of violent behavior in complicity and causing serious injury. The prosecution is asking for three years in prison for two of the suspects, and two and a half years for the other two.
All four defended themselves by remaining silent during the public prosecutor's hearing, but now they have presented their defense in court. However, they refused to answer any additional questions from the prosecutor, the judge or the lawyers of the injured students.
The first defendant gave his testimony, S. K., who denied that he participated in this event and that he even drove a "Chevrolet" car. As he stated, he gave the car that the attacked students mentioned as the vehicle from which the batterers got out to the fourth defendant in this case.
In front of the court, he stated that he was in the premises of the Serbian Progressive Party on Oslobodenja Boulevard that evening, when he handed over the car keys to a colleague from the party. A friend drove him home that evening.
"I arrived home around three o'clock in the morning. Then my wife woke up and, you know how women are, she got angry and began to question me about where I was until now. There was an argument and I left the house again to 'take a break', and a friend came to pick me up again. We went to the Micromarket in Cara Dušan and we sat there for about half an hour, then he brought me back home," he said.
As he continued, the next morning he found himself in a cafe in Cara Dušan with the other three defendants. In the meantime, he saw reports in the media that his car was being sought.
"Then I asked DR what happened and what he did with the car, he told me that nothing happened. After consulting with the lawyer, we decided to go to the police station and see what was happening. At the station they were nice at first, but then a police officer came who insulted us, and then at one point he said 'little bird' and took a photo of us. Later I found out that that picture appeared in public and I don't think that happened, we wouldn't be here today," he said. added that he wonders why the police did not perform a polygraph and facial recognition by the witness.
The second defendant ND completely denied the crime he was charged with, claiming that he was at home all the time that evening. Nevertheless, the student recognized him as his attacker, primarily by his voice.
The third defendant, NB, also denied guilt, but confirmed that he was at the SNS premises on Liberation Boulevard that evening.
"Around 2.30:6.30 a.m. I went to the girl's place, and DR told me he was going to get cigarettes and that he would see me off. We talked, so he walked me all the way to the Petefi Sandor primary school. We agreed to have coffee the next morning and we parted ways. I continued a little further and caught a taxi there and went to the girl's place, after which my father came to pick me up around XNUMX:XNUMX a.m. and took me home. called D. R, who didn't answer me, so I went to get him even though he wasn't close to me. We went to the police together and then to the police. I know I didn't do anything, but I still went to the party premises that evening," he said and repeated everything his predecessor said about the behavior at the station.
The judge also pointed out that this defendant said before the judge for the preliminary proceedings that only the first defendant has a driver's license and asked why he said that, but his defense lawyer Goran Karadarević pointed out that it was clearly stated that the defendant would not answer the court's questions.
The fourth defendant, DR, pointed out that he did not commit any criminal act and that he was in the SNS premises that evening, when he borrowed a car from the first defendant, and that he followed the third defendant to the store.
"We talked and after parting, I returned to the party premises. People who were in the party at the time, whom I would not name, told me then to take them by car to pick up food. There were five of us in the car and we decided to drive around the neighborhood because I had no documentation so we could drive further," he said.
At one point, while passing by the elementary school, they allegedly shouted at him to stop and said "here they are".
"One of them told me to stop, which I did and they got out of the car and started running. I stayed inside, heard some noises, and then I think only the three of them ran in, told me there was a problem and to drive," he added.
Then he started driving and stopped at the parking lot near the "7. April" Medical School, which is located in Cara Dušana. There, as he said, all three left him, and he did not want to drive any further, but left the vehicle in that parking lot and went home on foot. He went on to repeat the statements of his predecessors.
Students recognized two of the four defendants
Ana, a student at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, whose jaw was broken by one of the SNS activists, was the first to testify. At the beginning, she asked to do it in the absence of the defendants, which the judge approved.
During her testimony, she recognized the first defendant as her attacker, even though it was difficult for her since she looks different now than in January. As the judge stated, the first defendant has significantly changed his physical appearance since then, as he has become weaker and has longer hair and a beard.
Ana repeated that she was walking with her colleagues that evening, where they marked the streets together with calls to block three bridges in Novi Sad on February 1. At one point, near the school, the car stopped and several people got out, after which the students started to run away.
"They reached me and first I felt a blunt blow on my shoulder, then it was as if someone tripped me and I fell. While I was lying, I was kicked and hit by at least three of them. While I was lying on the floor, I heard them asking for my ID card. I don't know how they left because I was injured, but I know that some woman shouted after them that she took a picture of them and how she took a picture of their license plate," she said.
She added that even now, four months after the attack, she has pain in her jaw and teeth, that she moves her jaw less, and that she does not have a good bite. When asked by the defense counsel of the defendants whether she spoke at a rally immediately after the event, she said that she did not, but to an additional question from the prosecutor, she explained that she did attend the blockade of the bridge a few days later, but that she did not speak publicly.
After her, her colleague Konstantin, who was in the same group of students who were attacked near the "Petefi Sandor" school, also testified.
That evening, one of the SNS activists caught up with him while running and knocked him to the ground, hitting him. After that, the activist grabbed him from behind and brought him again near the school, where he asked for his identity card, and after that the attacker continued on foot. The student identified his assailant in the courtroom as the second defendant, N.D., who claims that he was at home that entire evening.
"I heard Ana's screams while I was running, and then the attacker caught up with me and I started to fight with him. After he left, I went to the location where Ana was. I found that her face was covered in blood, so I called the emergency room. They told me in the emergency room that I had to call the police first, which I did. The emergency room was called again after the arrival of the police and it only came after about 40 minutes. Before the emergency room, the students of the Faculty of Medicine arrived who somehow heard what happened and gave Anna some mild first aid," he said.
He also pointed out that he can say with certainty that one of them was carrying a baseball bat, with which they beat the student.
Two students of the Faculty of Medicine, who were attacked in front of the SNS premises, also gave their statements. As they said, they found themselves at that place because they were pasting stickers calling for a protest, and they wanted to throw the trash from the stickers into the bin that was located opposite the premises.
"That's when two masked men came out, they were bigger and started shouting at us. At one point, they grabbed two colleagues by the 'collar', so I started filming it. One of them saw it and started towards me to take my phone. At one point, he knocked me to the ground and fought with me for the phone, which I dropped a little later. He then took it from me and wanted to enter the premises with it, which I did not allow. his hands, I then unlocked the phone and completely deleted the video from the phone, after which they let us go," said student Sara.
Student Miloš, one of the two activists caught in the "collar", said that the grip was so strong that he began to lose consciousness.
After the students moved away from the premises, they noticed that two men were running after them, after which they went to Novi Sadski sajma street and parted ways there, and then returned to the faculty.
The next hearing is scheduled for June 16 at 9 a.m., when other witnesses will be heard, and the court has already scheduled a hearing for June 30.
What did the lawyers say?
The lawyer of the defendants, Goran Karadarević, said that he sees the entire trial process, due to the blockade of the court, "as a political process, not a judicial one", and that all this is a form of pressure on the court and the judge. He added that the defense filed an objection to the decision on the extension of custody.
"In this case, the prosecution has no evidence for the commission of a criminal offense. For one of them, we even have evidence that he was in the house that whole evening. I believe that it should not have happened that the photo from custody was shared in public, and we filed a criminal complaint against that police officer. Additionally, it is also wrong that the identification of the perpetrator was done in this way because that witness himself says that he saw the face for a few seconds. I claim that it is a case of wrong identification," he said.
The lawyer of the attacked students, Srđan Hromiš, says that the defense is satisfied during the hearing, and that there are a lot of witnesses in this case. He also states that the evidentiary footage from the surveillance cameras near the SNS premises is missing, but that there are certainly similar ones from the cameras of PUK "Informatika", as well as that there are numerous footage of the movement of the disputed vehicle.
"For us, it is not in dispute that the witnesses identified their assailants at the hearing. This is not a classic act of identification, in the sense of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The victims answered the question of whether they recognized and saw any of the faces on the night in question, and they recognized some of the defendants," he said.
Source: 021.rs
