“I AM BESIDE MYSELF WITH SHOCK!”: Father of Student Hit by Marko Pavlović’s Car Devastated After News of His Pardon!

Ratko Ponjavić, the father of student Sonja Ponjavić, who was seriously injured when Marko Pavlović drove his car into her during a student blockade in Belgrade, said he was shocked by the news that former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had pardoned the driver accused of attempting to murder his daughter.

In a brief telephone interview with N1, Ratko Ponjavić said he was “beside himself” and that he could not recover from the shock after learning about the pardon.

His daughter Sonja was seriously injured on January 16, 2025, on Roosevelt Street in Belgrade, when she was struck by a car driven by Marko Pavlović during a student blockade.

Students had gathered that day to pay tribute to the victims of the canopy collapse at the Railway Station in Novi Sad.

Sonja fell to the ground after being hit and suffered serious head injuries, while footage of the incident caused widespread public outrage.

Pavlović stood trial on charges of attempted aggravated murder, but on November 2, the Higher Court in Belgrade announced that Aleksandar Vučić had pardoned him before resigning from the office of President of Serbia.

Under the pardon, Pavlović was released from further criminal prosecution.

Following the incident, Sonja was treated at the University Clinical Centre of Serbia in Belgrade, where she was visited by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. On that occasion, he gave her an icon of the Most Holy Mother of God with Christ and wished her a speedy and full recovery.

The news of the pardon has now brought the case back into the public spotlight, while Sonja’s father said in his first reaction that he was completely shocked by the decision.