During the main hearing at the High court in Belgrade in the case against the ex-spokesperson for MIA’s anti-terrorist unit Radomir Pocuca he said the he did not commit the criminal act he is being charged with.
The prosecutor’s office for high-tech crime has filed criminal charges against Pocuca for threats issued over the Facebook social network to Women in Black.
“My FB status is my opinion and stance, not an order. I had no intention of endangering people’s lives”, said Pocuca during his hearing before the High court in Belgrade.
He added that he had no intention partaking in the “lynch of Women in Black orchestrated by the media”, nor calling for anyone to lynch someone.
Pocuca remarked that the non-government organizations Women in Black, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, Humanitarian Law Center and the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights are stooping to provocations and the government allowed for it.
“It is clear that the charges are pointless, but that NGO needed a scapegoat to smother the patriotic sentiments of our people”, he added.
The judge Tatjana Sretenovic said that the deputy public prosecutor will have to explain at the next hearing scheduled for July 19th why are the coordinator Stasa Zajovic and two members of Women in Black Violeta Djikanovic and Ljiljana Radovanovic stated as the injured parties in the indictment.
“I can understand the reasoning for Zajovic since she is the coordinator but I don’t see the grounds on which the other two are stated. Why not state all the members of the NGO then? That is the question the deputy public prosecutor has to answer”, Sretenovic added.
The prosecutors remarked that the fact that the defendant and his legal councils don’t see elements of a criminal act speaks of their “lack of knowledge about the current systems of communication and their unawareness that in the 21st century a serious threat can be committed via social networks.”
Three members of the “Women in Black”, Stasa Zajovic, Violeta Djikanovic and Ljiljana Radovanovic, will give their statements at the next hearing. Over the course of the proceedings Pocuca’s Facebook status and criminal record will also be analyzed.
Pocuca was arrested in late march in Serbia based on a warrant issued for avoiding trial but he was soon released on bail and his passport had been taken away.
