Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has apologized to the citizens of Serbia and RTS for calling a journalist from the Niš branch of the news agency an “imbecile,” but in his statement, he leveled a series of accusations against the public service, journalists, and students organizing protests across Serbia.
Below is the full text of President Aleksandar Vučić’s letter:
“For months, unconstitutional and illegal blockades of roads, railways, and institutions in Serbia have been ongoing. For months, a color revolution has been conducted, hiding behind fabricated, essentially non-existent demands. Minorities are harassing, bullying, and using violence against the citizens of Serbia, taking over the functions of the prosecution, the judiciary, the police, and the self-proclaimed moral crusaders who are allowed to do anything without any responsibility or obligations. They speak of a Serbia of equal rights for all, but today only they have rights, rights obtained by force and nothing else, while everyone else who does not follow them is subjected to the harshest torture, from psychological to physical. At the same time, following the rules of foreign Western intelligence agencies, they are always the victims, while their victims are portrayed as arrogant attackers.
Just like in 1945, their actions are extinguishing and trampling institutions, unconstitutional plenums are deciding everything, and fear has crept into the homes of honest people in Serbia. We were only waiting for the day when cries and banners calling “for death” would appear in public.
And they have appeared. Those who are protesting, and their leaders led by Dragan Đilas, are openly calling for the murder of the President of the Republic. Previously, they would package it in euphemisms, but they no longer do that. This is part of the new normal in Serbia. And interestingly, everyone is silent. The silence resounds, just as the RTS journalists from Niš said, but this time, in their sweet voices, neither they nor their colleagues responded. To be clear, as President of the Republic, regardless of the daily torture I go through, although I am not authorized, I do not have the right to call anyone an imbecile, and I apologize to the citizens of Serbia and the journalists of the mentioned Niš branch of RTS for doing so.
Also, I think just as poorly of the professionalism and objectivity of the mentioned journalists, and I believe they are a disgrace to their profession, meaning they are not journalists, but political activists.
I believe that in my apology, people will see the difference, not just in responsibility, but in the respect I show toward those who think differently. I believe people see the difference between those opposition politicians who threaten death, fully aware and without any intention or desire to apologize, as well as the difference from the hypocritical RTS editorial board that has not condemned the physical interference and attack on the RTS team during the February 1st protests in Novi Sad, nor previously at Autokomanda. After all, the plenum has won at RTS, and my job is to do everything I can to ensure that the law, morality, and justice prevail in Serbia. I will always have the courage to stand alone in my fight for the Constitution, legality, rights, and justice, and I will never be intimidated by death threats, color revolutions, or anything else.
For all these years, I have selflessly and wholeheartedly fought for Serbia, together with the people, rebuilding it from the ashes, and no one can take that from me. To those who threaten, I say that life is not about how long you live, but how you live and what you do for your country and your people, and those who fear only God no longer feel fear for their own life.
Serbia will win!
Long live Serbia!” reads President Vučić’s statement.
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The editorial board of the Niš branch of Radio-Television Serbia (RTS) strongly condemned the statement made by the President of the Republic, in which he insulted our colleague, Lidija Georgijev. We welcome President Aleksandar Vučić’s apology, but the continuation of his statement further disturbed us, according to the RTS branch’s reaction.
We have requested a public apology and condemnation of any form of pressure, both from the government and the opposition, on media workers.
We welcome the fact that the President of the Republic acknowledged that he has no right to call anyone an imbecile and apologized to the citizens and the Niš branch.
Unfortunately, in the continuation of his statement, the President labeled us as a disgrace to the profession and called us political activists, which further disturbed us.
For decades, the Niš editorial board, with its network of branches across the country, has always aimed to report on all events through words and images, which we did on Saturday, March 1st, in Niš.
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Source: N1 / RTS, Foto: EPA