Sunday

Traffic

Let's still chase 30

Hundreds of people have died on Serbian roads since the beginning of the year. Among experts, this has revived the debate about whether the speed limit in cities should be 30 km/h. This is how it is done in many cities around the world.

The law has been allowing the introduction of "30 zones" for about fifteen years. In Belgrade, this is the case on Dorćol, except in larger streets. By expanding those zones, practically the entire city could be covered, Damir Okanović from the Committee for Traffic Safety tells us.

"Studies carried out in other countries show positive results of the general limit of 30 per hour, but on the other hand, we should take into account the high level of violation of traffic rules in Serbia", Okanović told "Vreme".

"The question is whether a general reduction in vehicle speed will encourage pedestrians in Belgrade or Niš to cross the red light more often or outside the pedestrian crossing. Would driving at 30 per hour on Novi Sad boulevards stimulate drivers to look at their mobile phones more?", asks Okanović.

Therefore, he believes that a thorough analysis is needed, in which psychologists must also participate.

Prosecutor's Office

Just a matter of "political will"

What if the police do not act according to the order of the prosecutor? Well, nothing. There is no evidence, no apprehension, and the procedure is in place.

This is the reason why prosecutors Bojana Savović and Raša Lazić are proposing simple changes to the law that would introduce prosecutorial police - one that answers to the prosecutors and not to the political figure of the Minister of the Interior. Bojana Savović says for "Vreme" that now prosecutors' hands are tied when the police ignore them.

"There is a nonsensical provision that the prosecutor can initiate the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against a police officer, but not initiate it, but only initiate it, and every citizen can do that," she says. "There is no mechanism by which the prosecutor can make the police work."

Countries in the region already have prosecutorial police. And it's just a question of the famous "political will", says Savović.

"The police is under strict control and organized hierarchically and it is headed by the Minister of the Interior, who is always an exponent of the ruling group. By introducing prosecutorial police, a significant part of the power would be transferred to the auspices of the judiciary, which is always the weakest branch of government."

Arrests in Serbia

Pig heads, Russian fingers

There is no evidence that the people arrested are God knows what kind of commandos. Not even if they're too smart. But French investigators have indications that, hoping for a quick profit, they acted on behalf of Russia.

On Monday, eleven suspects were arrested in Velika Plana and Belgrade for leaving pig heads in front of mosques in Paris at the beginning of the month. The same people are probably involved in anti-Semitic provocations in France and similar actions in the Berlin area.

Back in June, three Serbian citizens were arrested on suspicion of defacing a memorial dedicated to the Holocaust, two synagogues and a kosher restaurant in Paris with green paint.

These are not the first suspicions that Serbian citizens are being used for Russian "hybrid operations" in Western Europe. Admittedly, those of the lowest intensity, for dusting jobs.

In December, three people were arrested in Germany - citizens of Serbia, BiH and Germany - who blocked the exhaust pipes of around 270 cars with a rubber pen, leaving stickers that were supposed to indicate that it was an action by supporters of the Greens. One of the defendants stated that they were recruited by a Russian promising one hundred euros per damaged car.

Recently, two people were arrested in Serbia on suspicion of organizing training camps for Romanian and Moldovan citizens to oppose the police after the elections in Moldova on Sunday (September 28th).

Is Serbia resolved or forced to deal more concretely with part of the Russian operations that go through its territory?

You could read that between the lines the other day when Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić spoke for the German "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung". He wanted to give that interview because it bothered him that the German newspaper called Vučić and Russian President Vladimir Putin "allies".

Vučić said that the "most offensive step" against Serbia was made by the Russian SVR service when it announced that Serbia was arming Ukraine. "I am a political veteran, I understand the language of such announcements," said Vučić.

Moscow must also understand the language of such arrests in Serbia. And they understand the same language in the West.

Nebojsa Pavković

From prison to hospital

photo: a. Angel

Dragan J. Vučićević, the editor of Informer, "couldn't hold back his tears" so he cried in the live program. Because General Nebojsa Pavković returned to Serbia, with hymns about patriotism and welcome billboards rented by the "Knights from Košar".

On Sunday (September 28), Pavković flew in from Finland on a state plane and was admitted to the Military Medical Academy due to his serious health condition. "Doctors at the Medical Academy gave him the greatest possible support and care. He waited to see his Serbia, the country he fought for, free," Vučićević reported, adding that the general was watching Informer in the hospital room.

Pavkovic was previously released at the request of the Government of Serbia. "This act confirms that the state cares for its citizens and that it stands for humane principles in international relations," stated Prime Minister Đuro Macut.

During the bombing in 1999, General Pavković was the commander of the Third Army, which was deployed in Kosovo. In 2009, the Hague Tribunal sentenced him to 22 years in prison, and the Prosecutor's Office charged him with crimes against humanity and violation of the laws and customs of war.

Vladimir Lazarević, Nikola Šainović, Dragoljub Ojdanić and Sreten Lukić were convicted together with him. The first defendant, Slobodan Milošević, died in custody, and Milan Milutinović was acquitted.

Kosovo law

Strangers at home

As of this October, authorities in Pristina have introduced a new catch-22 that Kosovo Serbs believe is targeting the university and health facilities. And that, in the end, it makes their life even more difficult.

The new Law on Foreigners stipulates that citizens of Serbia without Kosovo documents can come to study, but that they must report a stay longer than three days. For that, they need proof that they are studying at an institution accredited by Pristina.

The University of Pristina with its temporary headquarters in Kosovska Mitrovica, on the other hand, functions in the Serbian system. There are about 8.500 students and about 1.200 employees.

"It is inevitable to resolve the status of the university first, and then the paperwork and obtaining permits in general," Jovan Zafirović, a student there, told "Vreme". He doesn't know how things will turn out.

The law also affects employees in hospitals, but also other citizens who live where they were born, only until today they did not want to take Kosovo documents.

Professor of the Faculty of Law there, Dejan Mirović, told the portal Alternativna that the students would not accept if the authorities in Belgrade decided that the university should be accredited in Pristina. "First we will run out of students, then we will run out of accreditation, programs and jobs," he said.

photo: dragan kujundžić / tanjug

National Theatre

Pumping prohibited

In the National Theater, from now on you can be fired immediately for "pumping". This is how the critical public read the amendment to the Rulebook on Work Discipline that employees found on the notice board these days.

In addition to the usual - one must come to work and work conscientiously, one must not be drunk or drugged - point 7 of Article 3 was added, where it is written that an employee violates work discipline if "in performing the work of the Theater, publicly, verbally, with symbols and gestures, he expresses his political or other commitment that is not related to the performance of the work of the Theater". It is forbidden to "publicly communicate political or other content", which is a bizarrely broad wording.

Some actors and directors did not keep quiet. Dragana Varagić, the champion of Drama, referred to these provisions that came after the appointment of Dragoslav Bokan, a director close to the regime, at the head of the theater.

"When they bring the leader of a paramilitary organization from the dark nineties as the president of the National Theater Board, and then the same National Theater forbids the public expression of political views under the threat of dismissal (this probably refers to indexes and red gloves as a fight against corruption and for the rule of law), what can we say about that irony?", she wrote.

Thus, the disciplining of culture continued, from the naming of theaters and libraries to the cancellation or undermining of important festivals such as Nishville and Bitef, to the non-announcement of cultural competitions.

Jovana Karaulić, assistant professor at FDU and coordinator of the Departmental Committee for Culture of the Democratic Party, writes for "Vreme" that one must not remain silent in that atmosphere.

"In a country where the theater and the university can no longer speak freely, where students are starving to be heard, where festivals are disappearing and no one announces competitions, the question is no longer whether we will speak. The real and only question is whether we will recognize the moment when silence stopped protecting us and began to define us."