Nikolina Sinđelić and Dušan Cvetković, the students who were arrested on the street on August 14 by members of the Unit for Securing Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO) and then insulted, humiliated, beaten, and threatened in the Government of the Republic of Serbia building, have given their statements to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. The collection of other evidence is pending, Nova.rs was told.
Student Nikolina Sinđelić and her colleague Dušan Cvetković gave statements to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office regarding the criminal complaint filed against JZO Commander Marko Kričak and his associates, who ran out of the Government of the Republic of Serbia building on August 14 and arrested several individuals, then insulted, beat, and abused them in the courtyard of the Government building. The abusers were led by their commander, Marko Kričak, who particularly stood out in the abuse. He allegedly hit Nikolina’s head against a wall and threatened her with rape.
The First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed to the Nova.rs portal that statements were taken from the injured students and several witnesses. Since several criminal complaints have been filed against Marko Kričak by both individuals and non-governmental organizations involved in the protection of women’s rights, all these various complaints have been combined into a single case.
“A criminal complaint was submitted to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, originating from the ‘Serbia Centar’ organization, against the Commander of the Unit for Securing Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO), Marko Kričak, and others, for the criminal offense of abuse and torture, which relates to the event of August 14, also described in the criminal complaint filed with this prosecutor’s office on August 26 by N.S. and D.C.,” states the response from the First BPO in Belgrade, adding:
“Furthermore, I note that on September 1, a criminal complaint related to the same event was submitted by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, filed by Member of Parliament Slavica Radovanović, Novi Sad Municipal Councilor Miša Bačulov, the ‘Women for Peace’ Association, and the ‘Autonomous Women’s Center’,” the response from the First BPO in Belgrade states.
The next steps in the investigation against Marko Kričak were also listed.
“In this regard, in accordance with the Methodology for Conducting Investigations in Cases of Police Abuse, the public prosecutor of the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade took statements from N.S., D.C., Z.S., and others, and then sent a Request for the Collection of Necessary Information to the Internal Control Sector of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, ordering that the reported individuals provide a statement regarding the circumstances of the August 14 event, as well as the collection of evidence.”
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Detailed Account of the Events on the Critical Night
Unfortunately, communication between the prosecutor’s office and the police, especially the Internal Control Sector of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs, often does not function well, particularly in cases where the accused are close to or important to the regime.
“I can confirm that Nikolina Sinđelić and Dušan Cvetković gave a statement to the prosecutor’s office and described in detail what happened on the critical night, who did what, who kicked whom, who hit whom, who made threats… Another person was also questioned as a citizen and witness to the event. This is just the first step, and we expect the investigation to continue and for all evidence to be gathered and all actions proposed in the criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office to be carried out, and not to stop at just taking statements. We also expect all JZO members and all individuals who participated in the abuse of the students to be identified,” said attorney Aleksandar Ivanović, who represents the abused students Nikolina Sinđelić and Dušan Cvetković, to the Nova.rs portal.
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Source: Nova.rs; Foto: ATA Images