FASCISM IN CROATIA: Serb woman in Knin sentenced to 15 days in prison for taking a photo of her son wearing a šajkača and holding a badnjak!

President of the Association of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta said today that the decision by the court in Šibenik to sentence Krajina Serb Nikolina Bačkonja Filipović to 15 days in prison for posting on her Facebook profile a photograph of her seven-year-old son wearing a šajkača on his head, holding a badnjak in his hand and raising three fingers was chauvinistic, shameful and unacceptable.

According to a statement from the Association of Serbs from the Region, the photograph was posted as part of a family celebration of Christmas Eve, with no intention whatsoever of insulting, provoking or endangering anyone.

“It is absolutely unacceptable for Krajina Serbs to be arrested and convicted for celebrating their religious holidays, using national symbols, or singing national, patriotic and regional songs. This is one of many pieces of evidence that Croatia is brutally and systematically violating the human rights of Krajina Serbs, in this case their right to freely express their national, cultural and religious identity,” the statement said.

Linta called on the Government of Serbia to initiate talks with Croatia concerning the arrests and persecution of Krajina Serbs for singing songs or posting photographs containing patriotic content.

The statement specifies that Nikolina Bačkonja Filipović (39) lives in Belgrade after being expelled from her homeland along with her people in the “criminal Operation Storm” and that she and her family occasionally travel to their village of Strmica near Knin, where their family home is located. She was in her village again this year when police came to her house on July 21 and detained her over posts on her Facebook profile.

Before that, as further stated, three police officers behaved roughly toward her seven-year-old son and questioned him about the šajkača, which they called a Chetnik cap. Because of the police officers’ conduct, the child suffered trauma.

It is also emphasized that Judge Mirjana Belamarić in Šibenik sentenced Nikolina Bačkonja Filipović to 15 days in prison with the absurd and nonsensical explanation that she had allegedly violated the Law on Misdemeanors Against Public Order and Peace. Nikolina served her prison sentence in Šibenik from July 21 to August 4, after which she returned to Belgrade with her family.

The statement also recalls that in the previous period, more than ten Serbs from the Knin area were arrested and convicted for the same offense and for Facebook posts. Of that number, most were sentenced to 15-day prison terms, while one was given a suspended prison sentence and another was fined 1,000 euros.

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