Eighty-three-year-old Slobodan Marinković, who has been living at the Geriatric Center in Bačka Palanka for five years, claims that after he protested against the distribution of Serbian Progressive Party packages to residents, he was told he had to move out.
BAČKA PALANKA – Eighty-three-year-old Slobodan Marinković has been a resident of the Geriatric Center in Bačka Palanka for five years. As he told BAP Vesti, officials visited this state-run institution over the weekend and distributed packages bearing the insignia of the Serbian Progressive Party to residents.
Marinković states that among those distributing the packages was Predrag Vuletić, the provincial secretary for social policy.
According to him, the packages distributed to residents contained a B-complex vitamin supplement, a jar of honey bearing the Serbian Progressive Party slogan “Serbia Is Winning,” a notepad, a pen, a lighter, and candy.
Marinković says he reacted to the situation and addressed questions to both the institution’s director and Secretary Vuletić. He believed that political promotion had no place in a social care institution where elderly and dependent residents live.
“I asked the director: ‘What is this? Is this an SNS call center, an election campaign? Here, in the home? Aren’t you ashamed of turning these poor people into what you’re turning them into, buying votes with these little gift packages?’” Marinković stated, adding that a verbal confrontation followed.
He Claims He Was Told to Move Out
According to Marinković, he received no answers to the questions he had asked. Shortly after the argument, he claims, a social worker approached him and verbally informed him that he had until Monday to leave the Geriatric Center.
“I said, ‘Only over my dead body,’” Marinković says.
He emphasizes that he has been living at the Geriatric Center for more than five years and that, according to his claims, he has not violated the institution’s rules. He says he is now worried that he could lose his accommodation because he has nowhere to go.
“He Asked Me for My Phone So I Would Delete What I Had Photographed”
Marinković claims that the unpleasant incidents did not end with the conversation about his eviction. As he was returning to his room after the argument, he says, a young man he did not know caught up with him.
“I started heading to my room, and a young, strong man caught up with me. By the middle of the staircase, he was asking for my phone so I would delete what I had photographed. I told him there was no chance,” Marinković recounted.
When asked who the man was who had allegedly demanded his phone, Marinković said he did not know.
“I have no idea who that man is. I don’t recognize him from the home, and he certainly isn’t from Bačka Palanka,” he said.
Slobodan Marinković’s allegations regarding the distribution of party-branded packages, the circumstances in which it was organized, and the claim that he was told to leave the institution after voicing his objections require answers from the competent authorities.
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Source: BAP Vesti Foto: N1
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