DOCTOR STEFANOVIĆ RELEASED FROM DETENTION: “I Was in Solitary for 24 Hours at 50 Degrees, But I’d Do It All Again”

After being struck in the back with a baton by a Gendarmerie officer while attempting to help an injured student during the Vidovdan protest on June 28, and then being detained under the baseless accusation of attacking the police, anaesthesiologist Dr. Vladimir Stefanović from Zrenjanin spent nine hellish days in harsh detention conditions. For Nova.rs, Dr. Stefanović recounted his arrest and the days spent in his cell.

Dr. Stefanović was finally released yesterday from detention at the Central Prison in Belgrade, after 10 days. He arrived at the detention center two days after the Vidovdan protest, having spent the previous 24 hours in solitary confinement in Sopot.

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The Arrest and Initial Detention

“I remember that at the protest, some people around me were injured, and as a doctor, but also as a human being, I went to help one of them, but, unfortunately, I didn’t make it. I felt a blow to my back when a Gendarmerie officer hit me with a baton. After that, I was detained because I just wanted to explain to them that I was a doctor. I had nothing in my hands, but they claim I attacked them with some kind of stick,” Dr. Stefanović recounts.

When he was put into the police van, he and several other injured detainees were driven around in circles before finally reaching the police station.

“They drove us in circles and kept opening the doors, so I saw that we were always somewhere around the ETF. There were two other kids with me in the vehicle, who were accused of assault and had injuries. We finally arrived at the station in Zemun, where they lined us up against the wall, like a firing squad. We were told to look at the wall. After some time, they allowed us to turn around when they took our data and fingerprints. One boy, who was hit on the head with a baton, was sitting in the station yard with severe injuries. I told the police they had to take him to the hospital because there were risks of serious consequences. I don’t know if it was Luka, who was later operated on at the Zemun hospital, but it’s possible it was him; I didn’t know who was who then. They only took him away in the morning, when they also escorted me to the Emergency Room for examination, and then took me in an unknown direction,” the doctor recalls.

A Night in a “Hot Tin Box”

The next time he got out of the vehicle, they took him to solitary confinement.

“I was in a detention unit in Sopot; I found that out later. They put me in a solitary cell with one small window, through which you could barely tell if it was day or night, without water and, it seemed to me, at 90 degrees, like in a tin box, it was so hot, God forbid anyone should experience it. When I wanted water, I had to wave at the camera for them to take me to the toilet. They offered me food, but I couldn’t eat. I spent 24 hours there, in that can. The next day around noon, they took me to the Central Prison,” the doctor remembers.

There, he felt fear for the first time.

“I didn’t know what awaited me; until then, I hadn’t been scared. However, I entered a cell that was a little more comfortable than the previous solitary one, and there I heard all sorts of stories. At one point, someone said I could get 10 years in prison for attacking the police, which didn’t happen. Nevertheless, we live in a country where you always expect the worst because the worst always happens. The mere thought of it froze me. There, I showered for the first time in three days, in that heat. No one spoke to me; I was completely isolated; I didn’t know what was happening outside. When I came out, I felt like I had landed from Mars,” says Dr. Stefanović.

Refused “Indecent Proposal”

“The prosecutor told me that if I wanted, I could admit to attacking the police and pay 10,000 dinars. They would write me down as convicted, which would lead to the freezing of my license, which I absolutely don’t need now, and I didn’t attack anyone. If I am a danger to this country, then I really don’t know what to say. I heard I was also mentioned as a donkey, which I found very funny. I will keep that clip as a souvenir,” says Dr. Stefanović, who is soon to take his specialist exam.

He would do it all again, he emphasizes.

“It is the duty of all of us who are over 30 and who did not fight for our future in time to listen to these young people who are doing everything to change something and are fighting for themselves and future generations. Let them decide what and how they want, and I will gladly fight alongside them for their better tomorrow.”

All this is happening to us, says the doctor, because no one has stood up until now to say ‘The Emperor has no clothes!’ “And now we all say it, but the emperor pretends to be deaf and blind. My generation created its future poorly; we didn’t fight for anything, or we left the country, or we became isolated. These students, young people, are doing something and deserve to have a better life in this country, and all of us over 30 should either not vote anymore or vote for whoever they designate for us. I am revolted, angry, sleep-deprived, sick of everything; now I just want to recover, but I would do all this again if that is the price I have to pay, and I do not regret going to the protest, on the contrary,” Dr. Stefanović concludes.