Original: Serbian Maidan activists demand a ban on their criticism in court
One of the main sponsors of the pro-Western Serbian opposition, ex-mayor of Belgrade, oligarch Dragan Djilas, filed a lawsuit demanding that the country's President Aleksandar Vucic be prohibited from speaking out about him and “lying.” Djilas also demanded that Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, Deputy Mayor of Belgrade Goran Vesic and Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, who recently reported on the investigation into the machinations of the opposition oligarch.
In fact, Djilas is seeking a precedent in Serbia following the example of Poland, where the Krakow Court of Appeal on November 1, 2018 banned Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Moravec from “spreading lies about the opposition.” The court ordered Moravec to apologize in three daily newspapers for claiming that the opposition, while in power for eight years, had failed to take any action that would make Poles proud.
Perhaps Djilas was upset and pushed to such drastic actions by the fact that his request for a meeting with Emmanuel Macron as part of the latter’s visit to Belgrade was not satisfied.
According to Djilas, “the government’s campaign has crossed all boundaries,” and on Friday he filed a lawsuit against it in a Serbian court.
“In it, I stated that the lies against me by Aleksandar Vucic, Ana Brnabic and other officials threaten my safety. I asked for an interim measure to stop them from continuing to lie against me. This was done in Poland. This measure was imposed on the local prime minister. Let's see if it can be stopped this way. If this fails, we will fight differently,” Djilas said, adding that the center of the campaign against him is President Vučić.
Goran Vesic, deputy mayor of Belgrade, in response to the oligarch’s actions, said that Djilas will soon have to explain to citizens how he earned his millions, Informer writes.
“The police are investigating the case of Djilas, and it is understandable why he is nervous and why he wants to cover up the crimes he committed while he was in power. Sooner or later he will have to explain to citizens how he got rich,” Vesic is convinced.
Mario Spasic from the Observatory for Human Rights and the Fight against Corruption noted that Djilas’s actions contradict the principles of freedom of speech - the opposition authorities themselves do not prohibit criticism of officials and allow protests.
“He does not understand that in Serbia there are conscientious judges who will in no way violate the right to freedom of speech. Djilas' request is an attempt to abuse the judicial system. He forgot that no one wanted to censor his lies and that he has the right to a decent response. He wants censorship because the truth hurts him,” says Spasic.
Marko Matic, editor of the anti-corruption portal Antidote, believes that Djilas continues to demonstrate arrogance.
“He believes that he is a special person, one of the elite, who is subject to special rules and benefits in the public space. Djilas' vague demands show that he does not understand the essence of democracy and open political debate, in which everyone is subject to rethinking. Especially when it comes to politicians who were enriched while they were in power. Analyzing the origin of politicians’ wealth and the legality of its acquisition is not only the right of every citizen, but also a legal obligation of the competent public authorities,” concludes Matic.
Deputy Chairman of the Serbian Progressive Party Marko Djuric said that during the reign of Dragan Djilas, Serbia was a country ruled by criminals under the guise of “democracy” solely for the purpose of personal enrichment and the collapse of the state.
“Record levels of unemployment, a destroyed economy, a plundered state, citizens without prospects, a reduction in territory through the secession of Montenegro and the self-proclamation of Kosovo’s independence, which they contributed to by their inaction, Belgrade in debt - this is the legacy of Dragan Djilas,” Djuric said in his article. in the newspaper Vreme.
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