Minister wins suit filed against weekly over Savamala report

Minister wins suit filed against weekly over Savamala report

Culibrk said that NIN will appeal the verdict, "and if necessary go to the Constitutional Court or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg."

"We had nothing against citizen Nebojsa Stefanovic, we have (something) against Police Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, because the police in the night between April 24 and 25 last year did not intervene as people with balaclavas and bulldozers were demolishing the center of Belgrade, and because eight months after that the police did nothing to reveal who these people were, and under whose orders they did the tearing down. As long as this is the case we will consider the minister of the police to be the most responsible in the whole story," said Culibrk.

He added that NIN will continue to write about the events in Savamala "until it's discovered who the main phantom was - if it wasn't Police Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic".

During the trial, held on November 29 before the Higher Court in Belgrade, Stefanovic said that his professional reputation and honor were damaged by the weekly's writings, while Culibrk and journalist Sandra Petrusic, both of whom Stefanovic sued along with the magazine, said the article never claimed that Stefanovic demolished the buildings in Hercegovacka St. - but instead spoke about his political responsibility "as the personification of the first man of the police."

The contentious article concerned the role of the minister in the tearing town of three buildings in the Savamala district.

"The demolition in Savamala involved several different structures: state, non-state, and several levels of government, vertically. Hence the responsibility of top city officials is indisputable. It's just that it isn't sufficient. Because a job like this would not have been possible without the knowledge and the help of the police minister," the article said.

The buildings were demolished with bulldozers during the night between April 24 and 25 as people wearing balaclavas stopped and harassed citizens who reported this to the police, which in turn did not react.

The report of Citizens' Ombudsman Sasa Jankovic about the actions of the police during that night shows that the police were ordered "from on high" not to respond.

Stefanovic recently stated that the court will determine whether the police had responded to the citizens' calls.

Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said earlier that the "main culprits" for the demolition during the election night were the city authorities in Belgrade.