Indictment
for Terrorism against Anarchists – a Political Trial
On
November 3, 2009 , the supposed throwing of two burning beer bottles
at the Greek embassy was qualified by the Public Prosecutor’s office
as a crime from the list of the most serious offenses.
Six proved antifascists are thus being accused of no more and no less
than international terrorism! A group for monitoring the trial
against the six anarchists has initiated a petition, collecting
signatures under an open letter that aims to bring to public
attention the fact that what we are faced with is a political trial.
The text of the letter has been supported by numerous intellectuals.
The
Group Monitoring the Trial against the Six anarchists
On
3rd and 4th September 2009 Ivan
Vulović (24), Sanja Dojkić (19), Ivan Savić (25), Ratibor Trivunac
(28), Tadej Kurepa (24) i Nikola Mitrović (29) were arrested by the
police. They were arrested on suspicion that they may have
perpetrated the criminal act of causing general danger by throwing
“Molotov cocktails” at the Greek Embassy. 24 hours later the
state prosecutor’ office changed the police qualification of the
supposed act from “causing general danger” to the “criminal
act of international terrorism”. We fear that this was an arbitrary
interpretation of the Criminal Code and a case of its use for
political purposes.
It
is necessary to state the social context in which all this is
happening. Historical revisionism is becoming more and more
normalized and legal rehabilitation of nazi collaborators from the II
World War are on the agenda. Equalization of leftist and far-right
political ideas is a consequence. Just in the year 2009 we have
witnessed the escalation of violence (as a consequence one foreign
citizen was killed) and numerous threats with violence were made by
the fascist groups. All of this was met with a mild reaction from the
state prosecution and the police. To name just one example: in
the days leading up to the Pride
Parade the
threats of physically liquidating the gay population were called just
“polemics” by a representative of the state.
The
state has created a situation where a confrontation with the same
violent right-wing groups that it initially embraced, but with whom
the relation has long since metastasized, seems unavoidable, At the
same time, the state finds its scapegoats on the left, penalizing it
with draconian measures to establish an illusory quasi-balance and
present itself state as “fair" in opposing two equally
dangerous extremes.
We
live in a state where there is no guarantee that a person will be
prosecuted for his or her promotion of racial, religious and
national hatred. In all these years, members of the clero-fascist
organisation Obraz
(operating without problems since 1993) and the Serbian
nationalist movement 1389
(which presents itself as “patriotic” while maintaining close
contacts with Russian fascist organizations) have not been held
criminally responsible for their acts which involved threats against
the LGBT population and numerous attacks and beatings of their
members! The leader of a nazi organization “Nacionalni
stroj”,
Goran Davidović, (“Fuehrer”) was allowed to openly mock the
legal system of Republic of Serbia, when he succeeded in his
complaint against the guilty verdict in his case, basing it on the
fact that documents of the trial were written in latin letters.
We
also need to remind ourselves of the fact that in the Criminal Code
of the Republic of Serbia the act of international terrorism is
listed together with genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes
against the civilian population, the organization and incitement of
genocide, war crimes and agressive war. We live in a country, that
for decades now has been governed by national-chauvinistic discourse
and where even today it debated whether or not there was a genocide
in Srebrenica, or whether mass war crimes in Kosovo even happened.
The
readiness of the prosecutor’s office to qualify two thrown
beer bottles
in the same way as the most horrific crimes known to humanity
represents a devaluation of these crimes and is a symptom of the
deeply degenerated system of values that made it possible.
On
the night between 23rd-24th October R.K.
(17), N.H. (18) i I.F. (19) were
arrested in Vršac. The reason for their arrest was that they had
been pasting posters with “Freedom for the Arrested Anarchists”
written on them. A criminal case was initiated against these young
people as they are being accused of “obstruction of justice”
(Article 336b of the Criminal Code). They are threatened with three
years in prison if found
guilty.
Despite the fact that the stated intention for initially introducing
such a paragraph into the Criminal Code was the fight against right
wing extremism, what we again see is a crackdown on the left.
We
think that the reason that a political indictment of this kind could
even be produced lies in the influence the political parties have on
the representative and judicial branch of the government. (One
example is the fact that judges are re-elected by the High Council
for legal Affairs, whose members are nominated by the parliament).
The Venice Commision at the Council of Europe and the European
Commision have both already pointed out that this arrangement is
controversial.
Taking
into account Article 10 of European Declaration om Human Rights, we
do not hesitate to openly state that all the circumstances of this
case clearly lead to the conclusion that in its essence, the trial
against the six young people is a political one. This is why we
demand the the withdrawal of this senseless indictment.
10
December 2009
Aleksej
Kišjuhas
Borka
Pavićević
Dragomir
Olujić
Goran
Despotović
Jovo
Bakić
Ljubiša
Rajić
Ljubomir
Živkov
Pavel
Domonji
Sonja
Biserko
Sonja
Drljević
Srbijanka
Turajlić
Staša
Zajović
Svetlana
Lukić
Svetlana
Vuković
Todor
Kuljić
Nebojša
Spaić
Vera
Marković
Vesna
Rakić Vodinelić
Vladimir
Ilić
Zagorka
Golubović
Zoran
Petakov
Želimir
Žilnik
