"Riot police to be brought to account"

IM Ivica Dacic has pledged that policemen who exceeded their authority at the July 29 SRS meeting will be disciplined. In an interview with weekly Vreme, Dacic said that the police would submit all their information on the goings-on at the Serb Radical Party (SRS) protest to the prosecution and the investigative judge. "Riot police to be brought to account" “It’s important to understand that none of the police officers intended to endanger his (Ranko Panic’s) life. We also need to establish what treatment he received. According to the autopsy, the immediate cause of death was sepsis brought about by a blow, for which whoever it was that overstepped their authorities will certainly be brought to account, but we need to see if there are any other details concerning his treatment in hospital, if there were any lapses there,“ said the minister. He said that the hospital had not informed the Interior Ministry that Panic had been admitted and that he had been admitted as a result of being hit by a police officer. “As concerns the event itself, a fight broke out between a number of protestors that not even the organizers themselves were able to bring under control, and the police. It’s clear that in certain cases police exceeded their authorities on their own initiative. They will all be sanctioned,“ said the minister. He added that where it was not possible to apportion responsibility, the senior police officers in charge would be disciplined. “It’s not in my interests to protect anyone from MUP—however, I am obliged to protect all officers from unjustified attacks. The whole of Serbia could see that the police had a defensive role in this case until their safety came under threat,“ said Dacic. According to the minister, the security situation in Serbia is relatively stable, even though there have recently been increased clashes between rival organized crime groups, which is a result of the police’s efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking. He said that he had met with his predecessor Dragan Jocic prior to taking up his new post, and that he had thanked him “for what he had done in the ministry and for the ministry.“ Ivica Dacic (FoNet, archive)

"Riot police to be brought to account"

“It’s important to understand that none of the police officers intended to endanger his (Ranko Panić’s) life. We also need to establish what treatment he received. According to the autopsy, the immediate cause of death was sepsis brought about by a blow, for which whoever it was that overstepped their authorities will certainly be brought to account, but we need to see if there are any other details concerning his treatment in hospital, if there were any lapses there,“ said the minister.

He said that the hospital had not informed the Interior Ministry that Panić had been admitted and that he had been admitted as a result of being hit by a police officer.

“As concerns the event itself, a fight broke out between a number of protestors that not even the organizers themselves were able to bring under control, and the police. It’s clear that in certain cases police exceeded their authorities on their own initiative. They will all be sanctioned,“ said the minister.

He added that where it was not possible to apportion responsibility, the senior police officers in charge would be disciplined.

“It’s not in my interests to protect anyone from MUP—however, I am obliged to protect all officers from unjustified attacks. The whole of Serbia could see that the police had a defensive role in this case until their safety came under threat,“ said Dačić.

According to the minister, the security situation in Serbia is relatively stable, even though there have recently been increased clashes between rival organized crime groups, which is a result of the police’s efforts to clamp down on drug trafficking.

He said that he had met with his predecessor Dragan Jočić prior to taking up his new post, and that he had thanked him “for what he had done in the ministry and for the ministry.“