A few days ago, citizen Lazar Gligorijević (41) was invited to come to the Misdemeanor Court in mid-November, he can also bring a lawyer.
Gligorijevic allegedly behaved "impertinently and recklessly" in May of this year - he showed the middle finger and whistled to the "gathered citizens" from the car, thus "causing anxiety and endangering their tranquility", it is stated in police report from the scene.
This could cost Gligorijević between 10.000 and 150.000 dinars, if it is determined that he was "impertinent and reckless" and violated public order and peace.
The Chief in Black
But the story becomes even more bizarre when it is revealed who the "citizens" were who Gligorijević supposedly deprived of their serenity. "On that day, they met at Sajmište in Kragujevac gathered buses and children to go to the rally in Nis. Opposite them were five or six men in black, with a battering appearance," describes Gligorijevic for "Vreme".
He was returning from shopping with his mother in a taxi. He rolled down the window, blew his whistle and did, he says, show the middle finger to the men in black. "We passed, closed the windows, when there was a traffic police patrol behind us," he says.
Traffic drivers first asked the taxi driver for documents, but then, says Gligorijević, a gray civilian Škoda approached, and Vladimir Šebek, the chief of the Kragujevac police, got out of it. All in black, so Gligorijević only then realized that Šebek was also in the group to which he was gesturing.
"Sebek opens my door and asks if I know who he is. I say that I do. He asks if I know that I showed him the middle finger, and I say that I know that too. He says that he cannot allow that because he is the chief. He asked that the traffic officers search me and take me into custody. They even handcuffed me and took me to the police department," says Gligorijević.
There they wanted to take his data, and Gligorijevic wanted to wait for a lawyer. Then they told him that they would let him go in an hour - as long as the buses to Niš leave. "I asked for my phone to tell my family, friends and lawyer. They let me."
"But then I saw on a Viber student support group that it was announced that I had been taken into custody. The students who were blocking the Academy of Vocational Studies building at the time were preparing to come to the police department."
Then someone called the policeman and he said into the receiver: "So I should let him go right now?" Thus, Gligorijević was released immediately and a popular rebellion was prevented because of one middle finger.
Insulted vanity or disturbed public order
"It was all petty intimidation because of Šebek's vanity," says this citizen. In court, he has no intention of denying the "action", but he has arguments for the defense.
"Since the essence of the misdemeanor is showing the middle finger to the head of the police department, it may be a violation of vanity, but not public order and peace. No one was disturbed, there is no question about it. It is a violation of one man's vanity, and that is not public order, peace, or public morals that are protected by law."
Gligorijević, active in protests against the government, finally says that Kragujevac has so far been bypassed by police repression. Admittedly, there were misdemeanor fines due to road blocks. "The head of the police even has civil relations with the citizens, including that Šebek. But they are also part of the monopoly of state power that is now being used against the citizens."
After all, maybe things are getting better! In a country where people are detained on trumped-up charges of subverting the state order and where they are taken to the funerals of their loved ones, the police and the judiciary obviously find time to engage in gesticulating with citizens and insulting the vanity of the police chief. If that's not proof that the system is working…
