Attack on journalist shrouded in mystery

Despite being a police priority, it is still unclear who attempted to murder journalist Dejan Anastasijevic in April. Anastasijevic has tried not to derail the investigation with public appearances in the meantime, but he has now decided to write about the incident in weekly Vreme, rather than address the Interior Ministry, in an article entitled, “Who planted that bomb”. Attack on journalist shrouded in mystery The journalist says that he has been forced to play private detective, and to his mind, he has enough indicators to deduce that a political-police underground that survived both October 5 and Operation Sword – launched in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the late prime minister, Zoran Djindjic - stands behind the attack. He says that at the beginning of that month he was summoned by the Hague Tribunal to testify against Jovica Stanisic, and that he was surprised by the summons, as he had never before met the former head of state security. As far as Anastasijevic is aware, the Tribunal informed Stanisic’s legal team of their decision back on April 2, 12 days before a bomb exploded on his window-sill. “I was even more surprised when they told me that I had been on a list of witnesses six months ago, on April 2, and that that list had been delivered to Stanisic’s lawyers. When I asked them why they hadn’t informed me, they replied that they had forgotten because there was always a big turnover of staff at the Hague. “I asked one woman at the tribunal whether they had any better witnesses than me, and I was told there was a problem as several people on the list had suddenly died, while others had refused to testify, or had changed their testimonies,” writes the journalist. He adds that last year, he had been warned that Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Seselj had put together a list of potential witnesses, who were either to be eliminated or threatened, that had included his name. Anastasijevic writes that Seselj then sent the list to Belgrade via his wife Jadranka, who was subsequently forbidden from visiting her husband for some time, after the list was discovered. The journalist’s name was on the list following his testimony against Slobodan Milosevic in 2002. Part of that testimony referred to Seselj, which the Prosecution decided to include in their case against him. The person who received the list has excellent connections with the underground, he says. SRS General Secretary Aleksandar Vucic responded to Anastasijevic’s remarks in his own inimitable way. “That’s pathetic, I’m not even going to comment. The person who dreamed that up is scum, I have nothing else to say. It’s rubbish,” said Vucic. One of the journalist’s colleagues, Milos Vasic, says that after hearing this previously unknown information, that there was a clear motive behind the attack: namely, preventing Anastasijevic from testifying at the Hague. Furthermore, in the light of this information, it was clear in which direction the police inquiry should be heading. “It’s leading to a snake with one head and several tentacles that’s buried under a lime tree in Pozarevac. However, he’s not the only snake, another is Stanisic. The Seselj-Stanisic combination doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, as they were close even on the outside,” he says. Meanwhile, Anastasijevic still goes to bed every night with the knowledge that “the culprit could return and finish off the job he started six months ago.”

Attack on journalist shrouded in mystery

The journalist says that he has been forced to play private detective, and to his mind, he has enough indicators to deduce that a political-police underground that survived both October 5 and Operation Sword – launched in the immediate aftermath of the assassination of the late prime minister, Zoran Đinđić - stands behind the attack.

He says that at the beginning of that month he was summoned by the Hague Tribunal to testify against Jovica Stanišić, and that he was surprised by the summons, as he had never before met the former head of state security.

As far as Anastasijević is aware, the Tribunal informed Stanišić’s legal team of their decision back on April 2, 12 days before a bomb exploded on his window-sill.

“I was even more surprised when they told me that I had been on a list of witnesses six months ago, on April 2, and that that list had been delivered to Stanišić’s lawyers. When I asked them why they hadn’t informed me, they replied that they had forgotten because there was always a big turnover of staff at the Hague.

“I asked one woman at the tribunal whether they had any better witnesses than me, and I was told there was a problem as several people on the list had suddenly died, while others had refused to testify, or had changed their testimonies,” writes the journalist.

He adds that last year, he had been warned that Serb Radical Party (SRS) leader Vojislav Šešelj had put together a list of potential witnesses, who were either to be eliminated or threatened, that had included his name. Anastasijević writes that Šešelj then sent the list to Belgrade via his wife Jadranka, who was subsequently forbidden from visiting her husband for some time, after the list was discovered.

The journalist’s name was on the list following his testimony against Slobodan Milošević in 2002. Part of that testimony referred to Šešelj, which the Prosecution decided to include in their case against him. The person who received the list has excellent connections with the underground, he says.

SRS General Secretary Aleksandar Vučić responded to Anastasijević’s remarks in his own inimitable way. “That’s pathetic, I’m not even going to comment. The person who dreamed that up is scum, I have nothing else to say. It’s rubbish,” said Vučić.

One of the journalist’s colleagues, Miloš Vasić, says that after hearing this previously unknown information, that there was a clear motive behind the attack: namely, preventing Anastasijević from testifying at the Hague. Furthermore, in the light of this information, it was clear in which direction the police inquiry should be heading.

“It’s leading to a snake with one head and several tentacles that’s buried under a lime tree in Požarevac. However, he’s not the only snake, another is Stanišić. The Šešelj-Stanišić combination doesn’t surprise me in the slightest, as they were close even on the outside,” he says.

Meanwhile, Anastasijević still goes to bed every night with the knowledge that “the culprit could return and finish off the job he started six months ago.”