Aleksandar Vučić held one of the most bizarre media conferences in recent history on August 15. Sitting next to Dačić and the top police chiefs, he announced that it was a matter of days when someone would be there killed and varied the theme in a number of ways. The bottom line is that rebellious citizens and students will be responsible.
Vučić did not stop here. He also announced that the "state" would withdraw from the streets for six or seven days and then retaliate with all its might. Where is the president of Serbia aiming? Does it - God forbid - leave room for political murder? And who would carry it out?
Conspiracy theories flourish. There are opinions that it is a preparation for an operation under a false flag - underground structures close to the regime do something, the government attributes the crime to the protesters and starts a dirty war against the rebel society under the guise of fighting terrorism. Additional concern of the public is reinforced by plainclothes policemen with drawn pistols at protests.
When announcing the future murder, Vučić referred to the fate of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro, who was killed on May 9, 1978 by members of the terrorist and ultra-leftist group Red Brigade. With this, the President of Serbia insinuated that at least part of the rebellious society was inspired by extreme and violent anarchist ideology.
Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Students and citizens do not demonstrate to abolish the police and the state, but demand that they do their job. In addition, the kidnapping and liquidation of Aldo Mora do not mean much to many citizens of Serbia, especially to the youth. This is all the more so since the ideological and political context of those times and the present are diametrically opposed.
But if he really wanted to open the chronicle of the announced death, the local head of state had an example from which Serbia has not fully recovered even after twenty-two years. It is about the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić. His murder was announced for months by both of Vučić's mentors, Šešelj and Toma Nikolić. The former admitted that before the assassination he met with Legija, Dusan Spasojević and other organizers and executors of the assassination. And while Vučić shed bitter tears at the send-off of Šešelj to The Hague, Toma Nikolić told Đinđić from the podium that "Tito also had problems with his leg before his death."
It is understandable that the President of Serbia does not talk about these announcements and, practically speaking, calls for assassination. And how can it? He was too close to Seselj and Nikolic to have differences of opinion, including those about Djindjic.
Vučić's political maturation is felt even now. Among the tents of Ćaciland paraded the Red Berets, whose top was behind the assassination of Đinđić and other political liquidations. If that team possessed any ideology, it can only be described as mafia-ultra-right. However, Vučić does not have a problem with that, but with the fighters for democracy and justice that he systematically dehumanizes, criminalizes and demonizes. Now he is considering accusing them of terrorism.
Unlike Đinđić, the President of Serbia often mentions the death of Ranko Panić. He was a participant in the violent demonstrations at the end of July 2006 organized by Vučić and Nikolić - still radicals - in support of Radovan Karadžić before his extradition to The Hague. Panić died shortly after the police seriously injured him during the riots.
When and how did it happen? The President of Serbia has not said that for a long time. That is why a relatively uninformed person - let's say a good part of the progressive voting body - could easily conclude that Ranko Panić was killed by the same people who are protesting in the streets today. Although Vučić did not allude to the police, Ivica Dacić understood him perfectly. Namely, when Panić was killed, Dacić was the Minister of Internal Affairs in the government of Mirko Cvetković, and today he holds the same position in the cabinet of Đur Macut. So, the concrete message is: when you could beat Dačić with all your might, beat Dačić even now; You will be blamed for everything because Vučić is always a victim - both in 2008 and in 2025.
You have to be honest. Vučić does not avoid the topic of his own death either. In the first years of power, he claimed that he would not end his life naturally because he knew his people well. His statement from 2023 is also famous: "If they kill me, my brother Andrej will remain. If they kill my brother, my son Danilo will remain. If they kill my son, my daughter Milica will remain. If they kill her, my son Vukan will remain..."
That the head of state is politically obsessed with death is also evidenced by the regime's spin doctors - they probably don't even know how many times they claimed that an assassination was planned or attempted against him. And Vučić Kanda, who is always sullen and grumpy, is not even able to simulate joy, so it turns out that he is constantly seared by thanatological thoughts.
Finally, a return to the beginning and the statement that it is a matter of days when someone will be killed. Instead of a rational and composed address to the citizens, the President of Serbia incited fear and panic. It would be best for the people, the state and Vučić himself if it was just the outburst of a nervous, frustrated and frightened politician, faced with the biggest crisis in his career and for whom absolutely nothing is going right.
But if it is a self-fulfilling prophecy, the bottom of the already too deep chasm of dishonor and corruption has been broken. The chronicle of the announced death of Zoran Đinđić warns, and the people have long known who they are dealing with.
