Justice Minister Calls on Prosecution to React to ‘Terrorism in the Streets’

Nenad Vujic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIĆ)

Serbian Minister of Justice Nenad Vujic said on Aug. 18 that the recent events on Serbia’s streets can no longer be considered mere violence but rather a form of terrorism – to which he expects an appropriate response from the relevant prosecutor’s office.

“Only a strong reaction from institutions such as the prosecutor’s office and court can send a clear message to these thugs and terrorists that the state will not retreat,” Vujic told Pink TV, adding that justice cannot be sought or achieved in the streets.

With regards to said potential domestic terrorism charges, Vujic maintained that the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime should address the matter and decide whether to open a case. Specifically, whether this week’s violent clashes and the destruction of local administration and Progressive offices in Valjevo “should be treated as terrorism or will be processed as a crime by the Higher Prosecutor’s Office in Valjevo.”

The minister went on to express his hopes that at least some of the country’s prosecutor’s offices, “particularly those who signed various declarations [and] statements, will ask themselves whether their signatures contributed to such a brutal attack on the building of the Prosecutor’s Office in Valjevo.”