Former director of the Culture Center in Novi Sad and ex Third Serbia activist Andrej Fajgelj issued a death threat to ombudsman Sasa Jankovic via Twitter.
In his own words, he did this in response to the ombudsman’s opinion that parents who refuse to vaccinate their children should be have their children taken away from them.
Lawyers agree that the Prosecutor’s Office should take action.
“Mr. Jankovic, I have to tell You something. I don’t care if the police comes for me, because I have to say this. If you take my child away from me I will kill you.” Fajgelj said over social networks.
This is how Fajgelj reacted to Jankovic’s opinion that should a pediatrician, when asked by social workers, give an opinion that the life of a child is endangered by the parent’s refusal to vaccinate him, that could lead to a court decision to take the child out of parental custody.
Though the ombudsman himself said that “such a scenario is very unlikely and excessive”, threats were issued to him none the less.
Milan Antonijevic, YUCOM President, says that these messages are dangerous because they influence a large number of people.
“A clear message must be sent that threats aren’t allowed and that such behavior won’t be tolerated, that such threats don’t represent anyone’s right to freedom of expression and could result in individuals being attacked not by the person making the threats in particular, but by those who follow his work and might in a certain way interpret this as an incitement to violence,” Antonijevic says.
This is but one in a series of serious threats issued to Jankovic over social networks. The trial of SNM Nasi’s leader Ivan Ivanovic is for the publishing of the list of Top 30 Serb-haters is still underway before the High Court in Belgrade.
The lawyer Milos Stojkovic says the Prosecutor’s Office should start an investigation into the Fajgelj case.
“In this particular situation criminal charges for the endangerment of safety should be taken into consideration. Such an offence exists when an individual is being issued death threats or threats of assault. As we can see, the situation in question can be grouped under this category,” Stojkovic says.
Andrej Fajgelj was arrested last November on charges that he was calling for the violent overthrowing of the constitutional order.
At that time, he criticized the current government in Serbia for the Brussels negotiations and cooperation with NATO in a video on Youtube, calling for a revolution to change the political situation in the country.
