The more repression, the less punishment.

Written by: Veran Matić

With the intensification of attacks on journalists and the media, we in journalistic associations have provided stronger and louder resistance. The police have begun to abandon investigations into attacks on journalists. Instead of protecting the victims, they have started to protect the perpetrators who attack journalists, and have even participated in the attacks themselves. More and more, the narrative has been led by aggressors, criminals, and convicted murderers.

A campaign has been launched against me through tabloids and via SNS member Nebojša Bakarec, accusing me of controlling the public prosecutors in Serbia. At the same time, Branko Stamenković, a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists, and Boris Majlat, the head of the Special Prosecutor's Office for High-Tech Crime, have also been attacked.

The prosecution was expected to do what the police had already done – to side with criminals and convicted murderers, rather than with freedom of speech, media freedom, and the protection of the public interest.

Complete Inversion of Reality

The inversion of reality was fully expressed in President Aleksandar Vučić's statement on the show Hit Tweet on TV Pink, when he commented on my protest regarding the sentencing of Marko Marjanović to a "digital prison," a user of the social network X, better known as Kristal Met Dejmon.

Instead of protecting the victims, the police have begun to protect the aggressors, and then have participated in attacks on journalists. The prosecution was expected to do what the police had already done, to side with criminals and convicted murderers, rather than with freedom of speech and the media.

On that occasion, the president practically amnestied all those who believe I am responsible for their arrests and convictions: “You see, it would be good for those who were arrested, detained, and convicted because of Veran Matić, if that was nicely erased from their records – if he is already so nice to people – and for it to be as if they were never punished at all. And that he would nicely take whiskey or a bottle of wine to their homes and apologize for them having served time because of him, for no fault of their own.”

I understood that amnesty for convicted murderers and aggressors, almost all of whom belonged to the "loyalist" group, people whom the president, as he himself stated, trusts more than the police, as a message that they could redirect their habits and skills, for which they were previously convicted or acquitted in violation of the law, towards me, my family, my associates, and all those I protect, as a member of the Permanent Working Group for the Safety of Journalists and the coordinator of the SOS hotline for reporting threats and attacks on journalists.

I immediately requested an assessment of my safety from the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Director of Police. Only a month later did I receive a phone call from the Police Directorate, informing me that it had been assessed that my safety was at risk and that the police would increase patrols in front of my apartment.

When I inquired about the reason for such an assessment, I was told that there was operational information regarding one convicted individual who had served a prison sentence at the Correctional Institution in Niš a year earlier. Due to threats against female journalists from OK Radio in Vranje, Dejan Nikolić Kantar, who was in that prison at the time, had persistently accused me during the trial of being responsible for his prosecution while organizing gatherings outside the courtroom with several hundred supporters wearing shirts with the slogan "Justice for Kantar – Vučić, help us."

Marija Popović received a death threat, Dinko Gruhonjić’s son had his car vandalized, Milan Radonjić is a target of brutal targeting, and Vuk Cvijić and at least ten other journalists are in life-threatening situations. Repression is intensifying and accelerating.

This particularly concerned me, as I knew that at the moment Vučić practically marked me as a target, that individual was already at large.

He was not the only one. During the trial for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, I was accused of being responsible for the accused sitting in the defendant’s chair; they were initially sentenced to a total of one hundred years in prison, and then, in violation of the law in their favor, were acquitted by a decision of the Supreme Court of Serbia. One of the accused, Miroslav Kurak, had been on the run throughout the trial, and upon returning to Serbia, he was reportedly seen in Pionirski Park.

The president of the municipality of Grocka, a member of the SNS Main Board, convicted for burning down the house of journalist Milan Jovanović, claimed in his defense that I was responsible for his prosecution.

The Role of the Center for Social (In)Stability

Acting in accordance with the president's message, the Center for Social Stability produced a propaganda film titled Time of Evil 2, based on the same complete inversion of reality. My anti-war engagement was presented as “the bloody traces visible in the ruined houses of Kninska Krajina, through the deserted villages of Serbian Bosnia, the crucified Kosovo, all the way to the monument to Milica Rakić in Belgrade.”

The film claims that I traded monasteries Dečani and Gračanica, that I wanted to resolve the case of the murder of the Bitići brothers, despite Vučić’s statement that he would personally invite me to participate in resolving that case. I was also accused of being an American, British, German, and Albanian spy. In the end, a sequel was announced – a new film about me, but also about another forty-five journalists, lawyers, and activists.

It would be good for those who were arrested, detained, and convicted because of Veran Matić to have that nicely erased from their records and for it to be as if they were never punished at all. And that he would nicely take whiskey or a bottle of wine and apologize for them having served time because of him, for no fault of their own.
Aleksandar Vučić

Since January, this film, aired on two national frequency television stations, has been continuously rebroadcast on Informer TV at least once a week, maintaining the atmosphere of persecution and creating new risks to my safety.

Last Thursday, I reported an attack in front of the National Assembly. By Friday, someone from the Assembly had delivered footage from security cameras to the tabloids Informer, Alu, and Novosti. The footage clearly shows one person snatching my phone and my attempts to retrieve it. Despite this, the tabloids claim that the footage shows me unlawfully filming a public gathering, harassing and insulting participants, and attacking the young man who took my phone.

Once again, a complete inversion, with a clear goal of disseminating falsehoods and inciting new attacks. On the same day, a new threat arrived on the N1 portal: “... how this thief, the scoundrel Matić, I fuck your origin, Ustasha, thief, you lie, leader of the fans, we’ll fuck your children. We will take your head off, Ustasha spawn, liar, we’ll fuck your loved ones.”

After that report, I spent the weekend on duty at the SOS hotline for reporting threats and attacks on journalists. Colleague Marija Popović from the portal Pravo u centar received a death threat, and then Dinko Gruhonjić reported that his son’s car had been vandalized. This effectively jeopardized the safety of him and his family, with no adequate protection.

During the trial for the murder of Slavko Ćuruvija, I was accused of being responsible for the accused sitting in the defendant’s chair; they were initially sentenced to a total of one hundred years in prison, and then, in violation of the law in their favor, were acquitted by a decision of the Supreme Court of Serbia.

Milan Radonjić, a journalist at Radar, is also a target of brutal targeting, from the very top of the state to the tabloids, due to his professional reporting on the use of sound cannons. He, along with Vuk Cvijić and at least ten other journalists, is today in life-threatening situations in Serbia. Repression is intensifying and accelerating. Violence has already reached the level of attempted murders. The next step is murder. The spiral of violence does not stop – on the contrary, it is constantly expanding.

Impunity is inversely proportional to the rise of repression. In over two hundred recorded attacks on journalists in the past two years, only five cases have concluded with final verdicts. And that number has a tendency to decrease further.

Everything reminds us of 1998, 1999, and 2000, when Serbia was governed by Milošević, Šešelj, and Vučić. Attacks on the university were as violent as the attacks on journalists and the media. The murder of Slavko Ćuruvija remains one of the strongest symbols of that time.

The evil committed in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo has returned to Serbia. It has settled in the very center of Belgrade. Criminals, aggressors, and convicted murderers are presented as the greatest value of society, as the greatest patriots, and as supposedly the freest part of Europe.

Nothing better reflects the nature of today’s government in Serbia than that small space in the center of Belgrade. It now poses the greatest threat to the citizens of Serbia and is one of the most serious destabilizing factors for the region and Europe.

I am convinced that such a state of affairs is unsustainable. Therefore, we must, with a lot of strength, patience, and perseverance, work to ensure that good triumphs over evil.

Source: Radar