As Minister of Defense, Gašić "survived" scandals surrounding his high school and college diplomas, an attempt to get his son into FC Crvena Zvezda, as well as the crash of a military helicopter. A simple, sexist statement he made to B92 journalist Zlatija Labović cost him his job
In 2014, when the Serbian Progressive Party proposed Bratislava Gašić for the position of Minister of Defense, along with that proposal, it submitted to the National Assembly a curriculum vitae stating that Gašić has a degree in economics (University of Niš) and that he received his secondary education at Kruševac Gymnasium. Some time later, the Serbian Radical Party published the alleged application form by which Gašić joined the SRS. It states that Gašić has a secondary vocational education and is a ceramist. Gašić denied this several times: "It all started with the fact that my fake application form for the SRS, which I was never a member of, appeared on the Internet. This can be seen from the fact that they entered my father's name incorrectly. Some opposition leaders, great scientists, connected it, because I worked in a state-owned company, Trayal. But I didn't work there as a ceramicist, but as a gardener, and I had the title of construction technician," Gašić said in a statement for "Nedeljnik" in June 2015. He spoke similarly when he was the mayor of Kruševac. In the program "Having coffee with...", which was broadcast on local TV, Yefimija said that he worked as a gardener and that at that time he had the title of construction technician. How did it appear in his official biography that he was a high school graduate? The exact wording from the biography reads: "He received his secondary education at the Kruševac Gymnasium, majoring in civil engineering." From today's perspective, this sounds impossible, but it should be taken into account that Gašić was born in 1967, which means that he received the so-called focused education, and in the "guardian" at that time, all kinds of titles were awarded after graduating from high school.
AFFAIR "HELICOPTER": The ex-Minister of Defense incurred the greatest wrath of the public in March 2015, when an MI-17 military helicopter crashed near the "Nikola Tesla" Airport in Surčin. It was an action to save a life-threatening baby who was only a few days old. Due to bad weather conditions, the crew was unable to land the aircraft safely, and an accident occurred in which all crew members and the baby died. Adding fuel to the fire was a fake news in several media that the helicopter had successfully landed during the night and that the baby was at the Institute for Mother and Child. It was speculated that the crew was ordered to fly on "Tesla" because ministers Gasic and Zlatibor Lončar are there with press crews and videographers ready to "collect laurels" for the action taken. The suspicion that it was an attempt to promote ministers in the Government of Serbia was further supported by the news that was published earlier that day, that Police Minister Nebojša Stefanović participated in the capture of the kidnapper of a two-year-old girl.
The opposition MPs immediately demanded the resignations of the relevant ministers, blaming them for the tragedy. As the potential reconstruction of the government was also mentioned at the time, Prime Minister Vučić was the first to make a statement about this event: "We have evidence that the tycoon-mafia lobby, from Zemunski to Mišković's clan, is fighting for nothing to change, so that they can continue with robbery of Serbia. I see the chase against Gašić and Lončar, who wanted to save a child. I take responsibility. If they had asked me, and they didn't, I would have said - save the child. I will not give Gasic and Loncar," said Vučić after the SNS presidency session, which was held a few days after the accident. Gašić himself publicly commented on the accident for the first time at the beginning of April, as a guest on the "Questionnaire" show on RTS. "I made the decision to fly the helicopter." I received a call from the management of the hospital in Novi Pazar, who requested the deployment of a military helicopter in order to save the baby. "I immediately called General Bandić and gave him the task of carrying out the action," Gašić said. He then stated that at the time of the call he was in his house in Kruševac and that he had left for Belgrade only around 22:30 p.m. when he found out that the helicopter had disappeared from the radar. "The stories about taking pictures with a baby are meaningless. I was in Kruševac, I couldn't teleport to Belgrade," he continued. A few days after the show, when asked by a journalist if he was ashamed of the "teleprompting" gaffe, Gašić replied that it was not a slip: "I am a man from the media. A telepromter is an idiot, that's the name of the device that remotely transmits the text that the presenters read. It's not a slip, I said that on purpose."
The official investigation by the Military Police and the competent prosecutor's office established that the accident was caused by bad weather conditions, but this affair did not end there. Bratislav Gašić then drew the attention of the public in August of the same year, 2015, when he brought a model helicopter to the Minister of Health, Zlatibor Lončar, as a birthday present. Although part of the public commented on this act with harsh words, considering it a mockery that should not have a place here, some analysts assessed Gasic's gesture as shifting responsibility for everything that happened to Lončar.
photo: phonet...and a sexist outburst
KNEELING: As Minister of Defense, Gašić "survived" scandals surrounding his high school and college diplomas, an attempt to get his son into FC Crvena Zvezda, as well as the crash of a military helicopter. His post was costed by a simple, sexist statement he made to B92 journalist Zlatija Labović after visiting the Prva Petoletka factory in Trstenik in early December 2015. While the journalist was getting out of the frame before the start of filming, Gašić quipped: "Why do I love these journalists when they kneel this easily." Since he said this in front of the cameras that were already on, the event was already on YouTube after a few hours. Journalists' associations reacted quickly by demanding the removal of the minister, a series of journalistic protests began under the name "Journalists do not kneel", and citizens massively showed solidarity with the journalist through social networks. The same evening, the Prime Minister also spoke: "I am shocked by what Minister Gašić did today." I consider that not only inappropriate, but also unreasonable and indecent behavior, and there are no words to justify such shameful behavior," he said. Gašić understood the boss's "hint" and soon apologized to Zlatija Labović and, as he stated, to the entire public. However, that was not enough for him to remain in the position of Minister of Defense. The Prime Minister said the next day that Bratislav Gašić would no longer be the Minister of Defense. "It is good that Gasic apologized and repented, but that is not enough. With that comment, he insulted all women in Serbia and cannot remain in the position of minister," said Vučić.
At the time of writing this article, Bratislav Gašić has suspended his functions in SNS because he is preparing to take over the position of head of the Security and Information Agency.
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