Dragan J. Vučićević’s statement about how the trains stopped on Saturday because “Roma blockaders” stole copper cables provoked a reaction from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, and now the Minister of Information has come to the defense of the editor-in-chief of Informer
As an attempt to extinguish the freedom of the media – that’s what the Minister of Information and Telecommunications of Serbia said Boris Bratina assessed, as he said, “continuous attacks” on Informer television and its editor-in-chief Dragan J. Vučićević, which he also condemned.
In particular, he criticized the commissioner for the protection of equality, Milan Antonijević, whom he said “looks at the world through the wide-eyed eyes of the Hague Tribunal, through the matrix he adopted in the Jukom organization”, reports FoNet.
“This is not the first time that Milan Antonijević is trying to discredit political dissidents and media that are not under the control of the so-called other Serbia through manipulations and selective interpretation of statements,” Bratina said, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications announced.
What preceded
Informer editor Dragan J. Vučićević stated that the trains did not run on Saturday, the day of the student protest at Slavija, because “Roma blockaders” stole copper cables.
Milan Antonijević, the commissioner for the protection of equality, responded to such a statement by saying that public speech, especially when it comes from media with a large reach, must be responsible and devoid of stereotypes, especially when talking about national minorities.
He also said that the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination prohibits the presentation of ideas, information and opinions that encourage prejudice and intolerance towards members of national minorities.
“Every criminal offense has a name and a surname, not a nationality, and if there was theft of cables or endangerment of railway traffic during the weekend, that should be dealt with by the police, the prosecution and competent public companies, based on facts and evidence,” said Antonijevic on the X network.
He emphasized that it is inadmissible to link the entire Roma community to crime, railway breakdowns and political blockades, stating that such generalizations deepen prejudices, encourage intolerance and further endanger people who already face discrimination on a daily basis.
Soon, Vučićević himself reacted and, as Informer writes, “read a lesson to the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Milan Antonijević”.
“They accused me of hate speech against Roma. Me? Me who grew up with Roma, who has Roma godfathers, who went to a school with the second largest number of Roma enrolled,” Vučićević said, and then he went after Antonijević, writes Informer.
“None of what you accuse me of, I did not say to Milan Antonijević. And you know it. Since Milan Antonijević is threatening to publish our correspondence, here I am going to publish the correspondence,” said Vučićević and read the messages he exchanged with Antonijević.
“Vučićević answered clearly and principledly”
Bratina assessed that Vučićević responded clearly and principledly to Antonijević’s accusations, stressing that he never uttered any insult against the Roma people, nor spread hate speech, and that the attacks on Informer and him represent an attempt to stifle media freedom and target anyone who dares to speak differently “from ideologically appropriate circles”.
According to Bratina, Antonijevic did not advertise when certain media and television stations “close to tycoon structures openly insulted Roma, calling them people who vote for Vučić for money.”
“That’s why today the question is justified, what will Serbia do with a commissioner who uses his position for political calculations, targeting unsuitable media and enforcing the interests of those who openly work against the state of Serbia”, asked Bratina, who believes that Serbia must remain a country where the media will have the right to speak freely.
Source: Vreme
