“WE DID NOT WANT HARM TO THE PRESIDENT, BUT VICTORY IN THE ELECTIONS”: Students from Novi Pazar released to freedom after more than 10 days!

Students from Novi Pazar, Nikola Marjanović and Hamza Ziljkić, who were arrested for the alleged criminal offense of undermining the constitutional order, specifically for alleged threats directed at the president of the state, have been released to freedom. Hamza Ziljkić says that in the conversation recorded by the authorities there is nothing suspicious, and that they do not want harm to the president, but elections where, he says, they will defeat him democratically.

Hamza told N1 how the police detained him.

“It was Sunday, lunch with my family, the police just appeared and forcibly detained me, I even have bruises, and I didn’t know why they were detaining me. After two days in solitary confinement, I was told in the courtroom that we were detained because we wanted to violate the constitutional order. We didn’t even remember why or how until the prosecutor told us that we were detained because of our conversation. We had forgotten that conversation, it was an ordinary talk between friends, and the authorities recorded that conversation. There is nothing suspicious, nor that we wanted to overthrow the constitutional order; we do not want any harm to the president, but elections, where we will beat him democratically. We have the support of the people who do not want this government; they are forcibly detaining students and citizens,” said student Ziljkić.

He says that based on the evidence presented, he did not expect to even be in custody, let alone in prison.

“A forensic examination of the phones was done and of course nothing was found, because we are reputable citizens; an attempt was made to frame us for violating the constitutional order. Solitary confinement was hard for me, the detention was not hard, no problem for us. We proved that we are innocent, there is no evidence,” he added.

He sees all this as a form of government repression.

“Since we are the last university to emerge from the blockade and the university that watched the blockade the most and pushed forward. They have no evidence, but we will see what the prosecution has to say,” Ziljkić pointed out.

Lawyer: Evidence points to their absolute innocence

Lawyer Majda Toković pointed out that they see all this as pressure and intimidation of activists.

“As for the qualification of the crime, it is the preparation of an attack on the constitutional order. The investigation is ongoing, the evidence points to their absolute innocence, we are waiting to see what the prosecution will do; it is their move now. From March 22 to 24, we did not know which event was in question, and only yesterday did we receive the transcript of the conversation. There was no order for that type of monitoring in the case files,” said the lawyer.