Eight years ago, illegally, in the middle of the night, buildings in Savamala were demolished, and someone tied the hands of the police – so that they would not respond to citizens’ calls. The hands of the guard, an eyewitness, were also tied, and he died at the VMA a month after the incident. Exactly one year ago, and seven years after the incident, President Aleksandar Vučić decided to “proudly” admit to the public that he was the one who made the decision to demolish the “illegally built Udžerica”, repeating even then that they were “complete idiots” who didn’t listen to him to knock down those “jumps” in broad daylight. Even after eight years, it has not been fully clarified who the “idiots” are, nor have they been punished for violating laws and regulations, trampling on basic human rights.
Who, on whose order and why without permission, demolished not only twelve buildings in Savamala, but also the rule of law? By first and last name – we don’t know.
Let us recall that private buildings in Savamala were demolished at night, immediately after the parliamentary and local elections held on April 24, 2016.
As the security guard of a company told the morning after the demolition, the buildings were razed to the ground by a group of people masked as “phantoms”, equipped with excavators and clubs, who previously tied him up.
This most important eyewitness died a month later at the VMA. Slobodan Tanasković (1958 – 2016), a guard and witness to the demolition, was tied up by masked attackers that night, and his mobile phone and personal documents were taken from him.
Vučić then said that the demolition was carried out by a “complete idiot”, pointing to the highest city authorities. He blamed them for doing it at night because he “would have come with the excavator in broad daylight, if they had asked him.”
“If you ask me, I think that the one who would do it, and if anyone from the government wanted to do it, is a complete idiot, because he should have done it in broad daylight, because these are illegal buildings, which looked ugly and benefited only those who owned them,” said Vučić at the time.
He added that they could have invited him.
“I would come to stand there and say that this is where we want to make the most beautiful part of the city, not a dirty udzerica,” said Vučić. He did not mention at the time that this demolition was his personal idea, but he remembered it seven years later.
And again he talked about complete idiots, but to say their names – he didn’t remember that. By the way, he said that “competent authorities are trying to establish who are complete idiots,” so he had to add again that “it was really an idiotic idea to do it at night and not during the day.” And the authorities are still “trying”… This is the eighth year.
At the time of the demolition, the mayor of Belgrade was the minister Siniša Mali, and the prime minister was Aleksandar Vučić. The Minister of Internal Affairs was Nebojša Stefanović.
To this day, it has not been officially established who ordered the demolition of the buildings in Savamala and who issued the order to the police not to react, despite calls.
Due to the demolition, only the head of the Belgrade police duty service, Goran Stamenković, was sentenced to a five-month suspended sentence for negligent work, i.e. failure to react, despite calls from agitated citizens to the police to go to the field.
According to the documentation obtained exclusively by TV N1 two years ago, as soon as his suspended sentence expired, Stamenković had a building in Mirijevo legalized.
In his first interview given almost six years after the demolition in Savamala and almost four years after taking the blame on himself, Stamenković told BIRN the year before last that he did not feel he was the only one to blame for the events in Savamala and that he presented everything in detail to the competent institutions.
He claims that on the night of the demolition, he did not know what was being demolished and who was demolishing it, and that he received the order for the police not to act from his superior – Zvonko Kostić, the head of the Belgrade Police Duty Service.
In another interview, for KRIK, Stamenković talked about the meetings where the top police convinced him to admit guilt, as Dijana Hrkalović threatened him, but also about the meeting with President Aleksandar Vučić, who, as he claims, agreed to fulfill him the promises made to him when he took the blame.
The former protector of citizens, Saša Janković, said on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the event, that in his report he determined that such an action could only be carried out by order from a higher level than the city police. He determined then that the Ministry of Interior violated the law and requested the ministry and the police with recommendations to determine who and on whose order demolished buildings and mistreated citizens under phantoms, who within the police service sabotaged the work of the police that night, as well as to initiate appropriate actions against the perpetrators. criminal, misdemeanor and disciplinary procedures.
The European Parliament has repeatedly called on the Serbian authorities to resolve the Savamal case.
WATCH the N1 documentary from three years ago:
