Witness intimidation

The affair with Dragan Marković Palma did not subside or disappear. Only the holidays are behind us, during which there was not much happening. That, however, did not prevent Palma from continuing its media offensive on televisions with a national frequency and a tabloid character.

The last relevant information regarding this case is the statement of the vice-president of the Party of Freedom and Justice, Marinika Tepić, who said that there are witnesses and victims from Jagodina, ready to testify, but only if they receive the status of particularly sensitive witnesses. In practice, at least for the victims, it should not be difficult, all that is required is for the prosecutor to request that status. Furthermore, the testimony takes place via video link, the victim or witness is in a room where the defendant is not, and they are accompanied by the prosecutor, their legal representative (if they have one) or a psychologist, if the victim needs that kind of support.

However, Dragan Marković Palma had to say to that, from one of the tabloid televisions: "If they are afraid, I have to say it again, more than once - if the victims are afraid of me, they will not go to the prosecutor's office and the police, they will go through Skype." and online, I will then also find out their names and surnames and all those witnesses, you understand. It's all a lie."

In translation: if they fear me, they should fear me.

And they should be afraid of him, really, because this system, this judiciary, does nothing to encourage the victims or give them the sense of security that they need most in these situations. The status of a particularly sensitive witness can only be obtained when the court proceedings begin. In the pre-investigation and investigation procedure, such possibility does not exist. Let's also remember Daniela Steinfeld, who fought with herself for months and weighed what to do, because the prosecutor's office could not guarantee her that information would not be leaked when she announced the name of her rapist. It turned out that she was right, the name she mentioned, that of Branislav Lečić, was leaked the same day.

There's more, for those who don't read the tabloids: the name of at least one minor victim in the proceedings against acting teacher Miroslav Aleksić became public before the holidays, in an apparent media offensive by Aleksić's defense via Srpski Telegraf, Večernje Novosti and Happy Television. That name was discovered by the (also minor) students of Aleksić's school, who were brought before the microphones to prove their loyalty and to harm themselves and others with weak, half childish, half memorized arguments.

And in the end, here is Palme, to say quite nakedly and without hesitation that he will find out who the particularly sensitive witnesses against him are, if there are any. And what should all the victims in this country do now who, motivated by these cases, are torn whether to report their abusers? That they traumatize themselves again, that they curl up in even greater fear of the one they already live with, that they die of guilt because he might be doing the same to someone else somewhere? To bury their wounds even deeper, so that when trauma hits them, they suffer astonishment and anger from their surroundings because no one knows what is wrong with them, why they are angry, aggressive, depressed, why they drink, why they behave strangely? Is this what we want? Difficult. Nothing has to change here, everything has to change here.