"The image of my house burning shatters their lies": How does the government forget visits to dissenters?

With roasted lamb and patriotic songs, during a celebration organized by the regime’s Informer, the president of the SNS and former prime minister, Miloš Vučević, stated that the authorities have never gone to the homes of dissenters, as those whom the regime calls "blockaders" are doing now.

This has become one of the main messages from government officials since the protesters from Novi Sad and Belgrade have, on several occasions, gone to the homes of both Vučević himself and Minister Nemanja Starović, as well as the chief city planner of Belgrade, Marko Stojičić.

Vučević, after one protest in front of his house, stated that the protest outside his family home in Novi Sad was "organized by politicians" and that it "represents the last act of madness."

However, representatives of the authorities clearly forget the examples that refute the claims that the homes of their political dissenters, as well as critically-minded journalists, have not been targeted by supporters and officials of the regime.

Much worse than Vučević, Starović, and Stojičić was the experience of journalist Milan Jovanović from the local portal Žig Info. At around three o'clock in the morning on December 12, 2018, a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the garage of his family home, where he lived with his wife, Jela Deljanin. Shots were also fired at their front door, and to escape, Jovanović and Deljanin had to exit through a window. Their family home in Grocka was completely burned down.

As the direct instigator of the attack, Milan Jovanović accused Dragoljub Simonović, the president of the Grocka municipality, who comes from the ranks of the SNS. Jovanović cited critical articles about corruption, crime, and irregularities during the gasification of the Grocka municipality, which he wrote for the portal “Žig Info,” as the motive for the attack. As reported by “Cenzolovka,” Jovanović indicated that he had previously received threats, that municipal inspections wanted to demolish his house, that inspectors had cut off his water and sewage with false orders, and that Simonović was the instigator in all these cases.

The Appellate Court sentenced former Grocka municipality president Dragoljub Simonović to four years in prison for inciting others to burn down Jovanović's house in 2024.

“Death to Đilas's supporters” and “Bulatović and Đilas = thieves” were written on the family home of the vice president of the Freedom and Justice Party, Dejan Bulatović, in October 2020. A few days before that, posters with offensive messages aimed at the leader of the SSP, Dragan Đilas, and then president of the People's Party, Vuk Jeremić, were plastered in Belgrade near the school attended by Đilas's children.

During the pandemic in 2020, individuals also came to Đilas's house. In the middle of a curfew, from nearby buildings where he lives with his family, unknown persons have shouted derogatory messages at Đilas and have lit torches.

We attempted to find out what Dejan Bulatović, now an SNS member of parliament and a staunch supporter of Vučić, thinks today about the statement from the president of his party claiming that neither they nor their supporters have ever gone to the homes of dissenters.

Bulatoć initially asked us to call back later, as he was at a funeral at the time of the call, but he did not answer his phone by the time this text was completed.

“The image of my house burning best dismantles their narrative; this is how their visits to dissenters look,” comments Milan Jovanović, a journalist from Žig Info, who says he is still “dragging through the courts.”

When asked if there are indications that justice will ultimately be served, Jovanović explains that the defense has appealed to the Appellate Court claiming the lawsuit for damages is unfounded.

“It's been seven years that I've been dragging through the courts. I mean, I'm fed up with all of this, to tell you the truth, because here it is no longer, obviously, about a political organization, but about a criminal organization. This has nothing to do with politics, and may God help the younger ones in this country,” says Jovanović.

He points out that not all those involved in the burning of his home have yet been brought to justice.

“Justice has been somewhat served; Sima is in prison in Požarevac, these two are in Padinska Skela, while the perpetrator Marinković is still at large and, according to my information, is in Vienna. So I don’t know how he will be arrested. A warrant has been issued for him,” he states.

When asked how he perceives the narrative of regime representatives that they are actually the political victims in Serbia, Jovanović responds that the government has bought all the media and that only a few remain free.

“We endure enormous pressure, but it is evident that they have been given a green light; the executive power has become increasingly arrogant. So I see no end to this, as this has nothing to do with any politics. It is clearly about a criminal organization that has seized the budget of Serbia and is now looking to drain that budget to the last bit, but I don’t know how this will end; I don’t believe anything will be left behind them. Nothing like this has happened in any country in the world; it hasn’t even happened like this in Sicily,” concludes the journalist from Žig Info.

Danilo Vidaković, a journalist from KTV Zrenjanin, points out to our paper that this is yet another in a series of campaigns that are immature and characteristic of the nature of this regime.

“A regime whose victims are sometimes measured by the number of lives ended and, as a rule, by the number of lives destroyed and rendered meaningless. This is achieved thanks to a ruthless media-propaganda machine whose main goal is the survival of that regime. Although we know of several drastic living examples of those who have been targeted at their homes, we also know about the case of Oliver Ivanović, where, unfortunately, the visit to his home was the final act,” he notes.

Vidaković adds that, however, this regime does not need to spend its resources on coming in front of people's homes when it, using our resources, is already residing within the same.

“It is no secret that at the expense of all of us, many dissenters of this regime are illegally monitored, wiretapped, and surveilled in various other ways,” concludes the KTV journalist.

This text has been republished from the daily newspaper portal Danas.

Author: Vojin Radovanović