High Prosecutorial Council Chief: Some Media Outlets Leading Propaganda Campaign Against Prosecutors

Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade (BETAPHOTO/Ana Slovic)

High Prosecutorial Council President Branko Stamenkovic said on Dec. 11 that the media sphere had been saturated for some time now with "an unbelievable amount of incorrect information" with regard to prosecutors and that "this propaganda campaign" was unseen, adding that threatening a prosecutor was a special crime that envisaged a prison sentence.

In an interview with the Vreme weekly he said that there had been attacks before but that there had been a sudden change after proceedings involving senior executive government officials were launched.

Asked to comment on incumbent Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic's behavior, he said that it was part of "an unprecedented attempt to pressure and intimidate." On Nov. 28 Selakovic did not appear at a hearing at the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime after which it issued police an order to bring the minister in.

Selakovic then appeared in front of the prosecutor's office after work hours accompanied by pro-government media reporters during which he insulted certain prosecutors. The Minister was ultimately heard on Dec. 4 after which he gave a statement to journalists that the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime's hands were bloody and that its prosecutors were working against the state, the law and people. Selakovic is suspected of abusing office and forging official documents in the General Staff building case involving the canceling of the downtown Belgrade building's status as a cultural monument.