Brković: Aleksandar Vučić should be tried for coup d’état and undermining the constitutional order

The activist of the ‘Bravo’ movement, Brajan Brković, stated regarding the large number of arrests of students and civil activists in Serbia that ‘it is darkest before dawn’ and that repression in every repressive dictatorial regime is always strongest just before that regime falls, which we are unfortunately currently experiencing.

Brković commented on data published by the “Release Them All” initiative, which states that at least 920 citizens have been deprived of their liberty since November, saying that we must bear in mind the fact that this number is increasing every day, “as we can see that the courts and the prosecution are constantly working in cooperation with the police at the behest of Informer and other television stations” and that “the repression continues.”

“What we are experiencing now has never happened before in Serbia,” Brković said.

He compared the current situation with the previous six years of intense activist experience.

“Perhaps the best example and analogy for me is Šodroš, when we defended that green oasis and faced a large police force for the first time, the maximum extent of this repression was 24 to 48 hours of detention. Today, we see that detentions are being imposed for minor offenses, while for some offenses—such as staged violent behavior—the situation is such that they not only receive 30 days of detention, but this is even extended,” said Brković.

He emphasized that he would compare this to the saying that “it is always darkest before dawn” and that repression in any repressive dictatorial regime is always strongest before the regime itself actually collapses, which is unfortunately what we are currently experiencing.

We asked him to comment on the fact that activist citizens and students are being charged with increasingly serious criminal offenses. These are not just violent acts, but also, among other things, the destruction of the constitutional order and, in the case of the alleged attack on Kobra, even attempted murder.

“This is happening mainly because the police are being exploited to the maximum by the authorities, while on the other hand, part of the prosecution is doing what the political line directly orders them to do, which should not be the case, and in general, our experience is that prosecutors do not want to abandon their indictments even when the court clearly warns them that such an indictment is worthless, they stand behind indictments that are truly absurd,” says Brković.

He emphasizes that the accusations of subversion of the constitutional order, as well as the attack on Kobra, are situations that did not happen, “fictional reality.” “On the other hand, we have Aleksandar Vučić, who should definitely be tried for a coup d’état and subversion of the constitutional order, and we are just waiting to see who will be the hero from the prosecution who will initiate this, and I believe that all citizens will stand behind him,” said Brković.

He also referred to the case of Bogdan Jovicic

We asked Brković how we got from a moment when “a student will not lose a single hair on his head” to a moment when a student, wearing handcuffs and accompanied by the police, arrives at his father’s funeral and then goes on hunger strike after his detention is extended for another 30 days.

“The government is carrying out a kind of state terrorism against its citizens.”

“Because we live in two parallel realities—one is the reality that the main narrator, Aleksandar Vučić, persistently propagates on his channels, and the other is the reality we see on the streets.

And on the streets, we see young people who have been arrested, who are not allowed to attend the funerals of their loved ones, but are walking in chains, which really speaks volumes about the criminal nature of this government, and this behavior sends a very intimidating message to all citizens who would dare to resist,” says Brković.

“I can freely call this behavior by the government a kind of state terrorism that the government is carrying out against its citizens,” concluded Brković. Regarding the students’ demands for changes to the criminal code that would define traffic blockades as a criminal offense, he says:

“Every year, they try to introduce certain provisions into the criminal code that would make repression much easier for them. But nothing will come of it. Simply put, the moment we allow such provisions to end up in the criminal code, we will cease to exist as a country with freedom of opinion. And then many SNS voters, who do not understand the nature of Vučić’s regime, will see that he is a maniac who will rename Serbia to Alexandria and will be able to do whatever he wants,” emphasized Brković, who was in Novi Sad at a protest demanding the release of student Bogdan Jovičić from custody./N1/