Opposition Party Leader: EU Should Impose Sanctions on Commanders of Authority-exceeding Units

Zdravko Ponos/BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV

The president of the Serbia Center (SRCE) party, Zdravko Ponos, stated on Sept. 3 that “those responsible for the violence” against the students and citizens who protest should be subjected to personalized sanctions, including a ban of entry in the European Union.

“This primarily applies on the commanders of those units that have participated in the brutal beatings at the protests, who have exceeded legal authority, beaten the detainees or threatened them rape,” Ponos stated at a panel discussion in Brussels, organized by the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS). He assessed that the EU could no longer accomplish anything with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, including peace and stability in the region.

“Vucic must be treated differently from now on. He can no longer be respected as a democratic European leader. He is not one. He is an autocrat and there is no reason to treat him differently than (President of Belarus Alexander) Lukashenko,” Ponos stated.

He stated that the first task of the new authorities must be to bring to justice all those who have violated laws and participated in the looting of the country. “A democratic and peaceful solution to the political crisis in Serbia also envisages general elections under fair and just conditions. Whatever is created and agreed on as a way out of the crisis, be it elections or some transitional mechanism, credible foreign participation will be necessary in the capacity of mediator, guarantor, observer. That someone has to be a representative with credentials and with EU authority behind them,” Ponos said.