Serbia's vice consul to U.S. withdrawn

This is not the entire story. The fact is that Serbian govermant put up 100 thousand dollars bail. I have posted a coment in regard to this about week ago, but never made it.

This is not the whole story! First of all, it does not explain any details, but indicts whose fault it is. Milan Kovacevic was involved in a fight that he did not start; actually he was protecting Melissa Cartagena from Steinhauer who was sexually assaulting her! Why this information was not published? Is it because Serbs are violent and does not mater of circumstance if is always their responsibility the first place. Just check who is involved from this case - Hilary Clinton! Give me a break, do you believe any of her motives

Ahmet,

B92 was hiding this news for a long time. There were long articles and pictures in New York area newspapers about it and Serbian journalists, who were camping around the house of the "suspect's" parents also knew about. Why is this late and short reporting? Also the "suspect" returned to Serbia by taking first a Lufhansa flight to Germany.

Americans are hypocrites. In Perugia in Italy, two Italians, two Americans, a Senegalese and a Briton were involved in the sexual torturing and death of a British student. The Americans visited the American embassy and embassy staff told them to flee the country. Luckily they were caught.

I sincerely sympathize with the victim, another innocent to suffer from Serb aggression.

Kovacevic was nearly twice his size (literally), and kicked him to the head repeatedly when he was down. On top of that, he ran away instead of facing up to his actions like a man. Truly a despicable person.

The down side is, the victim has barely made any improvement. As a New Yorker, I take special offense to this!

It should be noted the guy is in a MEDICALLY INDUCED COMA. That means he is drugged to be in that state. This is done to protect his brain. They will not really know if he was brain damaged or not until they stop the drugs to take him out of the coma.

Furthermore, discussion on another forum says there is an 80 page police report which claims the beating was done by Kovacevic's friend, not Kovacevic.

So it may be that he only tried to break up the fight and the two Muslims were the ones who continued the beating.

Mark,

I sincerely hope that justice will prevail. Should Serbia not cooperate with the US authorities to shed full light on this case in court than the minimum the US should do is to cut all aid to that country. Enough is enough.

"the minimum the US should do is to cut all aid to that country"

And actually this would be a very good thing for Serbia as the "aid" is mainly for U.S. projects for its own manipulation of the Serbian government or projects it tells the Serbian government to do - projects in which they attach strings requiring Serbs to hire U.S. consultants who line their pockets with that "aid" money which is loans. Then the Serbian taxpayers are stuck paying back money for projects and advise which do it no good - that includes projects done for the minorities in Serbia.

The U.S. wouldn't want to cut off aid because it would interfere with their projects and meddling.

U.S. "aid" is all ultimately self-serving for the U.S. and its agenda.

Serbia would be better off if it received no U.S. aid ever and if Serbs never put their money in U.S. banks which froze money, didn't pay interest and in some cases helped itself to the money citing varies fees or penalties.

to joe:

So what would be the maximum? Maybe to do another "humanitarion mission" against Serbia?

I am posting a link to the other forum where the commenter says the police report fingers Kovacevic's friend as doing the beating:

http://www.nydailynews.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=25782&start=60&tstart=0

ClayS- that post about the 80 page police report should clear up most things, if it was being reported in the news. That same report identified the Serb guys friend as the one who beat the **** out of Bryan. It also states that the girl believes that he didnt touch her at all!

Two Muslims were also involved in the beating and it all started when one of them believed Steinhauer had grabbed his girlfriend's backside.

There was an altercation started between the boyfriend (a Bosniak/Bosnian Muslim) Sanel Softic and Steinhauer. Steinhauer then head-butted Softic, according to the girlfriend Melissa, and bloodied his nose. Then he took a swing at either Softic or Kovacevic (the girlfriend couldn't tell exactly) then next thing he was on the floor.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06292008/news/regionalnews/how_brute_left_victim_for_dead_117766.htm?page=1

Kovacevic's co-defendants and their pals insisted there was no trouble until Steinhauer grabbed the buttocks of the sexy sophomore, whose Facebook profile is adorned with dozens of provocative pictures - including one of her holding a penis-shaped cake and a condom.

"Melissa had her back to him, and he was getting very close to her," Softic, who is also charged in the beating, told the police right after the fight.

"I stepped between them and said, 'What the hell are you doing? This is my girlfriend! Get the f- - - out of here!" said Softic, 21.


But Steinhauer clenched his fists and twice yelled, "You don't f- - -ing know me!" before butting his head into the taller Softic's face, bloodying his nose, according to Softic's statement.

That's when Kovacevic, a 20-year-old known to pals as "Minja," jumped in. In her statement, Cartagena, 20, said she then saw Steinhauer throw a punch.

"I don't know if the punch was directed at Senal or Minja," she said. "Then I saw that the guy that head-butted Senal was lying on the floor on his back. Minja was over top of the kid, and I seen Minja punch the kid at least four times."

The police say Kovacevic, Softic and Edin Dzubur, 24, went on to stomp Steinhauer repeatedly about the head and body.

Kind of shows that the withdrawing of Ambassadors from those countries recognizing Kosovo was nothing more than a propaganda stunt for the Serbian people. It is business as usual at all these embassies. Serbian's were duped again.

Ahmet Isufi lost all credibility, in my opinion, when he posted the following.."I am highly eductaed and I know english better than you, but I rather play down my knowledge so that you can potray yorself as more superior but you lack the sparks when time comes for fireworks."

Foolish.

This was all started over the girlfriend, Melissa Cartagena, of a Bosniak Muslim aquaintance/friend, Sanel Softic.

Kovacevic interfered after Sanel Softic was head-butted by the guy now in a coma. So the victim is not so innocent - if that is the truth - he started the violence.

It's interesting to note the 2 guys with Kovacevic have Muslim names:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06302008/news/regionalnews/heartbreak_laugh_117842.htm

People involved in the fight told Binghamton police it started when Steinhauer got too close to Melissa Cartagena, 20, on the dance floor of the Rathskeller bar and may have grabbed her rear-end. This angered her boyfriend, Sanel Softic, 22, and when he confronted Steinhauer, he says, the Binghamton University senior head-butted him.

That brought the hulking Kovacevic into the fray, and after he knocked Steinhauer unconscious, he kicked him repeatedly in the head and chest as he lay on the floor, police said.

Kovacevic was arrested the following day along with Softic and Elin Dzubur, 24.

I forgot to add that we want Ahmet Isufi to be appointed as B92's new correspondent from the New York city.

I really don't care much about who hit whom, when or what. People get beaten up, killed or worse every day.

What interests me more is comments like this: "I stepped between them and said, 'What the hell are you doing? This is my girlfriend! Get out of here!"

"My girlfriend" - said as if she was a dog, a chair, or something else that he owned. I would have had much more sympathy for Softic et al, if the woman had turned around and said "Stop that!" and then called on her friends for backup.

And to try to twist this into something related to ethnicity is so laughable. If anything, it is a case of male chauvinism spread through almost all societies on Earth.

laki,

It is the old story: as per Ida Serbs are never doing anything wrong, only other people.
Also the parents of Kovacevic made fun of people of the Upstate New York area by criticizing them for "small town values". By being against knocking somebody into coma represent for them "small town values". Is it because "small town values" in Serbia hardly exist?

To add on to my previous comment, and to perhaps give others a better perspective, I advise reading the article entitled "Cut Serbia aid if thug walks free" in the NY Daily News. It may shed some light on whether the Serb government will cooperate or not. You can find it here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/28/2008-06-28_cut_serbia_aid_if_thug_walks_free.html

he-he those responses are hilarious

Wow, are you Albanian guys all amateur detectives?

so glad to have this bunch to hunt for all the missing information, gratis.

I think we don't need you B92 anymore.

Dare I ask what is the point of having moderators then allowing the likes Mark Shqype to use a tragic story like this to make an irrelevant racist jibe. Let's restrict the professional Albanians and their stuck record to the Kosovo topics, eh?

Its funny how “defenders" of human rights "Ida" defends a thug by justifying his actions! Despicable!

Serbia should not extradite Kovaqevic. Accomodate him as a hero. They even have experience in hiding fugitives. So....

Being that I live in New York and Bingampton is in New York State I can say for sure I read more about this incident than most of commentators in this site. It does not matter if Milan was attacked or was he defending his honor, but the fact that they (there were a total of three serb)beat a person laying on the ground is unforgiven.

"This is not the entire story. The fact is that Serbian govermant put up 100 thousand dollars bail. I have posted a coment in regard to this about week ago, but never made it."
(Ahmet Isufi, 30 June 2008 14:00)

thanks ahmet, and keep us updated, whatever the true story is. by the way, you cannot imagine how many of my comments have also not made it in, but you CAN imagine why.

peace.

robert-0/ san francisco

"forgot to add that we want Ahmet Isufi to be appointed as B92's new correspondent from the New York city.
(veki, 1 July 2008 03:17)"

ha ha ha... that was a good laugh, thanks veki!

they should also appoint "Joe" the Albanian presenting himself as "hungarian-american" ... :)

jesus, it is so great reading those comments about "serb aggression" committed by "three Serbs" ( two of them bearing muslim names, but that doesn´t count )...

I can remember how silent our dear albanian friends were, when the Fort Dix Plot was reported...

you know, those Albanians who planned to kill "as much Americans as possible"...

kids, whatever you do, it´s simply ridiculous.

With civilized countries,consulates aren't for helping escaping criminals. Serbia must be appropiately punished .I suggest with holding financial aid and total isolation. NATO must also be on stand be.

On 2 July 2008 14:00, azir wrote:

"Serbia must be appropiately punished .I suggest with holding financial aid and total isolation. NATO must also be on stand be."

Are you serious??? One rotten apple in the consulate, and you are ready to punish an entire nation and to have NATO bomber in the air?

If that is your attitude, I hope no athlete from your country ever get caught using performance enhancing drugs, since that would mean expelling all your athletes from competitions everywhere?

The whole lot of them involved in this crime, including the victim and the girlfriend, sound like thoroughly nasty pieces of work, to be honest. Making this an ethnic issue is ridiculous. It sounds like the sort of thing that happens in every major city in every country in the world, every day.

People seem to be getting awfully carried away with this one:

1. Regardless of who started the fight, you can't justify beating someone to a pulp.
Kovacevic should be punished if found guilty, and his ethnicity has nothing to do with it.

2. The consular official in question was extremely unprofessional, and is already being punished. Fair enough.

3. 'Bad apple' or not, the Serbian government IS responsible for the on-duty actions of its employees. It has a duty to rectify them - in this case through extradition. That should be the end of it.

4. All this talk of sanctions and NATO is just plain ludicruous. 'Diplomatic incidents' like this happen every day across the world. US-Serbian relations have some far more important problems to overcome, as I'm sure you'd all agree.

5. What does it matter if Kovacevic is a Serb and his mates muslims, other than giving some people a chance to twist the story for their own ends? As for example the author of the New York Post article posted by ida (#4), which contains some of the most appallingly partisan journalism I've read for a while: "massive Serbian brute"... "his relatives whined"... "260-pound thug". You wouldn't get that on B92. I normally stick up for the western media against accusations of anti-Serbianism, but the NYP coverage of this story is pretty shocking.

7. I'm moving to Binghamton next year. Oh well.

Common guys, this is just a good example of the old mutual help between people in Ex-Yougoslavia, wasn't it Bratsvo Jedinsvo (excuse my poor serbo-croatian)?

Saves the US taxpayers the cost of trial and "protecting his rights", and years of up keep in a prison. Now he is back on hes homeland soil to continue his criminal life where he belongs.
The only thing is look who he has to choose his victims from now.

D, UK: Couldn't agree more.

Jan Andersen; your damn right I'm serious. This Serb mercilessly attacked his victim and with the help of family connections he fled from having to face justice.The Serbian Consulates #1 and #2 leadership resigned in disgrace.If that Serb is not extradited to America, NATO must go in and take him out.

Ida- please, enough with you "muslim this and muslim that". What I REALY want to know is when will you Serbs actually accept responsibilty for their own actions?? If the two "muslims" were at fault, why then did the innocent Serb throw away 100,000 dollars on bail by fleeing to Serbia? No, let me guess ,the "muslims" made him do it, right? .

This is not the entire story. The fact is that Serbian govermant put up 100 thousand dollars bail. I have posted a coment in regard to this about week ago, but never made it.

I sincerely sympathize with the victim, another innocent to suffer from Serb aggression.

Kovacevic was nearly twice his size (literally), and kicked him to the head repeatedly when he was down. On top of that, he ran away instead of facing up to his actions like a man. Truly a despicable person.

The down side is, the victim has barely made any improvement. As a New Yorker, I take special offense to this!

To add on to my previous comment, and to perhaps give others a better perspective, I advise reading the article entitled "Cut Serbia aid if thug walks free" in the NY Daily News. It may shed some light on whether the Serb government will cooperate or not. You can find it here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/06/28/2008-06-28_cut_serbia_aid_if_thug_walks_free.html

Mark,

I sincerely hope that justice will prevail. Should Serbia not cooperate with the US authorities to shed full light on this case in court than the minimum the US should do is to cut all aid to that country. Enough is enough.

Ahmet,

B92 was hiding this news for a long time. There were long articles and pictures in New York area newspapers about it and Serbian journalists, who were camping around the house of the "suspect's" parents also knew about. Why is this late and short reporting? Also the "suspect" returned to Serbia by taking first a Lufhansa flight to Germany.

Kind of shows that the withdrawing of Ambassadors from those countries recognizing Kosovo was nothing more than a propaganda stunt for the Serbian people. It is business as usual at all these embassies. Serbian's were duped again.

"This is not the entire story. The fact is that Serbian govermant put up 100 thousand dollars bail. I have posted a coment in regard to this about week ago, but never made it."
(Ahmet Isufi, 30 June 2008 14:00)

thanks ahmet, and keep us updated, whatever the true story is. by the way, you cannot imagine how many of my comments have also not made it in, but you CAN imagine why.

peace.

robert-0/ san francisco

I forgot to add that we want Ahmet Isufi to be appointed as B92's new correspondent from the New York city.

Its funny how “defenders" of human rights "Ida" defends a thug by justifying his actions! Despicable!

laki,

It is the old story: as per Ida Serbs are never doing anything wrong, only other people.
Also the parents of Kovacevic made fun of people of the Upstate New York area by criticizing them for "small town values". By being against knocking somebody into coma represent for them "small town values". Is it because "small town values" in Serbia hardly exist?

With civilized countries,consulates aren't for helping escaping criminals. Serbia must be appropiately punished .I suggest with holding financial aid and total isolation. NATO must also be on stand be.

This was all started over the girlfriend, Melissa Cartagena, of a Bosniak Muslim aquaintance/friend, Sanel Softic.

Kovacevic interfered after Sanel Softic was head-butted by the guy now in a coma. So the victim is not so innocent - if that is the truth - he started the violence.

It's interesting to note the 2 guys with Kovacevic have Muslim names:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06302008/news/regionalnews/heartbreak_laugh_117842.htm

People involved in the fight told Binghamton police it started when Steinhauer got too close to Melissa Cartagena, 20, on the dance floor of the Rathskeller bar and may have grabbed her rear-end. This angered her boyfriend, Sanel Softic, 22, and when he confronted Steinhauer, he says, the Binghamton University senior head-butted him.

That brought the hulking Kovacevic into the fray, and after he knocked Steinhauer unconscious, he kicked him repeatedly in the head and chest as he lay on the floor, police said.

Kovacevic was arrested the following day along with Softic and Elin Dzubur, 24.

Two Muslims were also involved in the beating and it all started when one of them believed Steinhauer had grabbed his girlfriend's backside.

There was an altercation started between the boyfriend (a Bosniak/Bosnian Muslim) Sanel Softic and Steinhauer. Steinhauer then head-butted Softic, according to the girlfriend Melissa, and bloodied his nose. Then he took a swing at either Softic or Kovacevic (the girlfriend couldn't tell exactly) then next thing he was on the floor.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/06292008/news/regionalnews/how_brute_left_victim_for_dead_117766.htm?page=1

Kovacevic's co-defendants and their pals insisted there was no trouble until Steinhauer grabbed the buttocks of the sexy sophomore, whose Facebook profile is adorned with dozens of provocative pictures - including one of her holding a penis-shaped cake and a condom.

"Melissa had her back to him, and he was getting very close to her," Softic, who is also charged in the beating, told the police right after the fight.

"I stepped between them and said, 'What the hell are you doing? This is my girlfriend! Get the f- - - out of here!" said Softic, 21.


But Steinhauer clenched his fists and twice yelled, "You don't f- - -ing know me!" before butting his head into the taller Softic's face, bloodying his nose, according to Softic's statement.

That's when Kovacevic, a 20-year-old known to pals as "Minja," jumped in. In her statement, Cartagena, 20, said she then saw Steinhauer throw a punch.

"I don't know if the punch was directed at Senal or Minja," she said. "Then I saw that the guy that head-butted Senal was lying on the floor on his back. Minja was over top of the kid, and I seen Minja punch the kid at least four times."

The police say Kovacevic, Softic and Edin Dzubur, 24, went on to stomp Steinhauer repeatedly about the head and body.

This is not the whole story! First of all, it does not explain any details, but indicts whose fault it is. Milan Kovacevic was involved in a fight that he did not start; actually he was protecting Melissa Cartagena from Steinhauer who was sexually assaulting her! Why this information was not published? Is it because Serbs are violent and does not mater of circumstance if is always their responsibility the first place. Just check who is involved from this case - Hilary Clinton! Give me a break, do you believe any of her motives

It should be noted the guy is in a MEDICALLY INDUCED COMA. That means he is drugged to be in that state. This is done to protect his brain. They will not really know if he was brain damaged or not until they stop the drugs to take him out of the coma.

Furthermore, discussion on another forum says there is an 80 page police report which claims the beating was done by Kovacevic's friend, not Kovacevic.

So it may be that he only tried to break up the fight and the two Muslims were the ones who continued the beating.

I am posting a link to the other forum where the commenter says the police report fingers Kovacevic's friend as doing the beating:

http://www.nydailynews.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=25782&start=60&tstart=0

ClayS- that post about the 80 page police report should clear up most things, if it was being reported in the news. That same report identified the Serb guys friend as the one who beat the **** out of Bryan. It also states that the girl believes that he didnt touch her at all!

"the minimum the US should do is to cut all aid to that country"

And actually this would be a very good thing for Serbia as the "aid" is mainly for U.S. projects for its own manipulation of the Serbian government or projects it tells the Serbian government to do - projects in which they attach strings requiring Serbs to hire U.S. consultants who line their pockets with that "aid" money which is loans. Then the Serbian taxpayers are stuck paying back money for projects and advise which do it no good - that includes projects done for the minorities in Serbia.

The U.S. wouldn't want to cut off aid because it would interfere with their projects and meddling.

U.S. "aid" is all ultimately self-serving for the U.S. and its agenda.

Serbia would be better off if it received no U.S. aid ever and if Serbs never put their money in U.S. banks which froze money, didn't pay interest and in some cases helped itself to the money citing varies fees or penalties.

Americans are hypocrites. In Perugia in Italy, two Italians, two Americans, a Senegalese and a Briton were involved in the sexual torturing and death of a British student. The Americans visited the American embassy and embassy staff told them to flee the country. Luckily they were caught.

to joe:

So what would be the maximum? Maybe to do another "humanitarion mission" against Serbia?

he-he those responses are hilarious

Wow, are you Albanian guys all amateur detectives?

so glad to have this bunch to hunt for all the missing information, gratis.

I think we don't need you B92 anymore.

Dare I ask what is the point of having moderators then allowing the likes Mark Shqype to use a tragic story like this to make an irrelevant racist jibe. Let's restrict the professional Albanians and their stuck record to the Kosovo topics, eh?

I really don't care much about who hit whom, when or what. People get beaten up, killed or worse every day.

What interests me more is comments like this: "I stepped between them and said, 'What the hell are you doing? This is my girlfriend! Get out of here!"

"My girlfriend" - said as if she was a dog, a chair, or something else that he owned. I would have had much more sympathy for Softic et al, if the woman had turned around and said "Stop that!" and then called on her friends for backup.

And to try to twist this into something related to ethnicity is so laughable. If anything, it is a case of male chauvinism spread through almost all societies on Earth.

Ahmet Isufi lost all credibility, in my opinion, when he posted the following.."I am highly eductaed and I know english better than you, but I rather play down my knowledge so that you can potray yorself as more superior but you lack the sparks when time comes for fireworks."

Foolish.

Serbia should not extradite Kovaqevic. Accomodate him as a hero. They even have experience in hiding fugitives. So....

Being that I live in New York and Bingampton is in New York State I can say for sure I read more about this incident than most of commentators in this site. It does not matter if Milan was attacked or was he defending his honor, but the fact that they (there were a total of three serb)beat a person laying on the ground is unforgiven.

Common guys, this is just a good example of the old mutual help between people in Ex-Yougoslavia, wasn't it Bratsvo Jedinsvo (excuse my poor serbo-croatian)?

"forgot to add that we want Ahmet Isufi to be appointed as B92's new correspondent from the New York city.
(veki, 1 July 2008 03:17)"

ha ha ha... that was a good laugh, thanks veki!

they should also appoint "Joe" the Albanian presenting himself as "hungarian-american" ... :)

jesus, it is so great reading those comments about "serb aggression" committed by "three Serbs" ( two of them bearing muslim names, but that doesn´t count )...

I can remember how silent our dear albanian friends were, when the Fort Dix Plot was reported...

you know, those Albanians who planned to kill "as much Americans as possible"...

kids, whatever you do, it´s simply ridiculous.

Saves the US taxpayers the cost of trial and "protecting his rights", and years of up keep in a prison. Now he is back on hes homeland soil to continue his criminal life where he belongs.
The only thing is look who he has to choose his victims from now.

On 2 July 2008 14:00, azir wrote:

"Serbia must be appropiately punished .I suggest with holding financial aid and total isolation. NATO must also be on stand be."

Are you serious??? One rotten apple in the consulate, and you are ready to punish an entire nation and to have NATO bomber in the air?

If that is your attitude, I hope no athlete from your country ever get caught using performance enhancing drugs, since that would mean expelling all your athletes from competitions everywhere?

The whole lot of them involved in this crime, including the victim and the girlfriend, sound like thoroughly nasty pieces of work, to be honest. Making this an ethnic issue is ridiculous. It sounds like the sort of thing that happens in every major city in every country in the world, every day.

People seem to be getting awfully carried away with this one:

1. Regardless of who started the fight, you can't justify beating someone to a pulp.
Kovacevic should be punished if found guilty, and his ethnicity has nothing to do with it.

2. The consular official in question was extremely unprofessional, and is already being punished. Fair enough.

3. 'Bad apple' or not, the Serbian government IS responsible for the on-duty actions of its employees. It has a duty to rectify them - in this case through extradition. That should be the end of it.

4. All this talk of sanctions and NATO is just plain ludicruous. 'Diplomatic incidents' like this happen every day across the world. US-Serbian relations have some far more important problems to overcome, as I'm sure you'd all agree.

5. What does it matter if Kovacevic is a Serb and his mates muslims, other than giving some people a chance to twist the story for their own ends? As for example the author of the New York Post article posted by ida (#4), which contains some of the most appallingly partisan journalism I've read for a while: "massive Serbian brute"... "his relatives whined"... "260-pound thug". You wouldn't get that on B92. I normally stick up for the western media against accusations of anti-Serbianism, but the NYP coverage of this story is pretty shocking.

7. I'm moving to Binghamton next year. Oh well.

D, UK: Couldn't agree more.

Jan Andersen; your damn right I'm serious. This Serb mercilessly attacked his victim and with the help of family connections he fled from having to face justice.The Serbian Consulates #1 and #2 leadership resigned in disgrace.If that Serb is not extradited to America, NATO must go in and take him out.

Ida- please, enough with you "muslim this and muslim that". What I REALY want to know is when will you Serbs actually accept responsibilty for their own actions?? If the two "muslims" were at fault, why then did the innocent Serb throw away 100,000 dollars on bail by fleeing to Serbia? No, let me guess ,the "muslims" made him do it, right? .