Justice for Lazarus

I met Lazar Dinić from the beginning student protests in Novi Sad, to those who preceded the great citizen-student rebellion that woke up the sleepy and restless country after the deadly fall Novi Sad canopies. Modest and charismatic, a simple boy, at the same time childish and wise, and gentle and strong, unquestionably convinced that what he and his colleagues from the student movement "Stav", meanwhile practically suppressed by force, are doing is extremely important, necessary, the only right thing. If you have no attitude, then you have no dignity.

He knew even then that small groups of people move and change the world for the better, never the majority, never the majority. He said that other students approached them, patted them on the shoulder, thanked them for their courage, but kept aside, in some private room of their own. These are the same ones who will block the Faculty of Philosophy and the University of Novi Sad for months, realizing that silence is not gold, but a sure way to the septic tank.

Lazar is one of those who deserve it, it is also clear to those who put him and other "opinionists" aside because according to them their ideas were too bourgeois, too non-national, which again in a twisted world would mean - too radical. In contrast to the majority, the people from "Stav" also believed that in order to overthrow the regime, a broad front must be formed, and not to exclude from it those whose only mistake was that the regime disqualified them with malignant propaganda. And who did not realize that they too would very soon become the target of the same propaganda.

Lazar became known to the general public as a member of the "Novosad group", as he called the group of young people the grand master of all rascals. The one in fashion - criminal and terrorist groups named after the location of their activities. You know everything: the BIA illegally bugged the premises of the Novi Sad branch of the Movement of Free Citizens, where 12 members of "Stava" and this party were sitting. They were talking about what was discussed in every pub in Serbia before last year's rally on March 15.

A media "spectacle" followed, the illegal recording was illegally broadcast on all regime televisions. It was promptly forwarded to the regime media. It was supposed to show that the students were actually terrorists by broadcasting the video. This is followed by the arrest of six activists in front of the cameras, in a live broadcast. They were destroying the constitutional order just like those who "simulated a sound cannon" the next day. Then they spent about seven months in the smelly detention center in Novi Sad, surrounded by bedbugs and injustice. Fortunately, the rest of the "group" happened to be abroad at the time of their arrest and did not experience the bites of the detention bedbugs. But that is why he has been in political exile for more than 15 months. Yes, that's called political exile, when you're running away from political retribution. Six young people who "somehow manage". Far from your home.

Regime propaganda often falls on those who, they believe, are immune to it. Thus, PSG, after the informerov-Vučić media conspiracy, immediately distanced itself from its members, and the students from the "stavovac". General moral panic. There was also talk about that, so we won't put more salt in the wound. In the end, they removed stains, just as I remove them in this text.

Back then, I wrote on several occasions about Lazar and other political detainees who, by God's justice, rotted in custody in a - one can really use that platitude - staged trial. The process against them is still ongoing, so the state is still exhausting and abusing them, and the only fair result would be that those who abused the institutions to deal with their political opponents should be held accountable. If that was their goal, they failed to scare the six: as soon as they returned home, and after the house arrest in which they spent a few months, they continued their activism.

Lazar is a native of Bor, as a journalist and activist he followed the local elections in the mining town. Progressive thugs brutally beat him, broke his cheekbone, for which he underwent surgery. Then they also broke his equipment. He lost his phone and his laptop was damaged. In that attack, his colleagues from "Revolt", Ivan Bjelic and Zorica Popovic, who received blows to the stomach, were also injured, as well as several students. Other editorial and private equipment also suffered. Some offered to help the student newspaper, that is, these young people. 

And that's where a kind of madness arises, a storm in a glass of water that explodes like when human by-product flies into a fan. In all that - as it happens in our country - there is a lot of personal. While Lazar was in the hospital, and later undergoing treatment, some claimed that the student newspaper "Revolt" asked donors for more equipment than was damaged, and they went public with it. I won't really go into what happened there, but God grant that the citizens collected money to buy them serious and professional equipment, so that they would have something with which to do work of public interest, when they are already sacrificing their lives and safety for some kind of better future. And they have only harm, no benefits. It's the least that could be done.

It's nice that young people stick to morals and are sensitive to any possible manipulations "from our side", in a society where billions of euros of state money end up in the private accounts of the regime clique. That really inspires hope. But it would be good to be aware that such agreements would have to be resolved outside the public eye, because the regime can't wait to abuse them in the most shameful way, through its primitive propaganda. The road to hell can often be paved with the best of intentions.

Lazar clarified his position on his Instagram account a few weeks ago. He said that he only received a mobile phone from a donor, but that he is withdrawing from the "Revolta" editorial office, since the process of acquiring the equipment was, in his opinion, insufficiently transparent. It took place while he was in the hospital. He just needs this foolishness, in addition to all the horrors he has been going through for the past two years.

While they were in custody, an issue of "Vremena" was published with a cover featuring photos of Lazar and other political prisoners. We asked for their release. With every right. At that time, I could not even in my greatest madness think that a year later I would have to write an article in which I would seek justice for Lazar, and because of the articles that were published in "Vremen". In "Vremen", which has been trying all these years to point out the right way to liberate the captured country, which has always been wary of moral panics and fueling the conflict within the student-opposition corps. And above all, he avoids participating in the persecution of people who have already been persecuted. We don't want to shoehorn anyone, so where would our soul be!

The new issue of "Vremena" published an interview with photographer and activist Gavrilo Andrić, who has been leading a campaign for a long time in which he accuses Ivan Bjelic and Lazar Dinić, and probably some others, of allegedly wanting to profit from the fact that they were beaten, that is, of wanting to charge donors for more equipment than was lost. As far as we understand, they did not want to pocket the money, but to redirect it to the purchase of other, necessary equipment. It shouldn't be a problem otherwise, sometimes the donors themselves support it. For the most part, there is nothing, it is the most important topic of all that is happening in the country, where they have not yet started killing us in the streets like stray dogs. But, okay! No one is a sacred cow, everything should be talked about!

However, there is a rule of the other side in journalism. So, if you make specific accusations against someone, then you call that person and hear what they have to say. And you publish it. That rule, which is both ethical and legal, is quite disavowed in our country, because the regime's media have long since failed to cover two percent of the other side, which they break the back of on a daily basis, and the independent media generally cannot reach the other side, because the government, which holds a knife and a cake, a camera and a megaphone, does not want to answer awkward questions. But this is not about the government, but people who sacrificed a lot to make this society better.

Part of the interview is broadcast on the website, with an emphasis on Andrić's accusations. The other side is not called. Dinić's statement regarding this case, published on Instagram, but also in some media, is not mentioned. It is not even mentioned that this is the same Dinić who spent seven months in custody. All in all, a first class professional piece of work!

It follows as expected. Regime tabloids greeted the matter with a volley. "Vreme" confirmed what they wrote, that the blockaders are liars and thieves. In the "Informer" text under the title: "What liars and thieves! The fraud of the year failed for Bjelić and Dinić: They demanded 8.000 euros in compensation for 'broken equipment', and this is what actually happened". And so we fell into the regime's media trap. And so we showed our moral superiority. I feel as if someone hit me in the head with a stone, and I can imagine how Lazar feels.

I don't know Ivan, so I won't apologize to him. I guess someone else will do it. But I will to Lazarus.

Lazar, sorry!

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