Almir Merdić for NAP: How I became Asim S., the main organizer of the attack on Vučić

Ever since the media reported that I am the main organizer of the attack on Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić, my life has turned into hell. I am constantly receiving threats. I also see on Facebook that some people are organizing and inquiring about me.

Honestly, my health has also deteriorated a bit due to all of this. It's not easy. I don't know how all of this will end – says 40-year-old farmer from Tešanj, Almir Merdić, in an exclusive confession for the news agency Patria.

Serbian intelligence services declared him the main organizer of the attack on Vučić on July 11 during the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Potočari, when a group of hooligans headed towards the convoy in which the Serbian Prime Minister was located.
Because of this information, which Merdić says he could not even dream of, the lives of his family and himself are now endangered. He only hopes that he will prove his innocence very quickly and that he will not get into bigger problems.

Merdić apparently found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time during the funeral in Potočari, when Prime Minister Vučić was attacked. He explains that he was only a few meters away from the incident, he raised his hand to protect the camera he had with him, and then the media, citing Serbian intelligence services, published Merdić's photo with the explanation that Merdić is the main organizer of the attack on the Serbian Prime Minister, that he is a high-ranking official of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), an associate of Bakir Izetbegović, and they claimed that due to the incident in Srebrenica, he gathered a group of criminals close to the wartime commander in Srebrenica, Naser Orić.

They even invented a name for him. Instead of Almir Merdić, they stated his name was Asim. S.

None of that, Merdić says, is true. He didn't even, he claims, see well what happened during the incident in Potočari, so he is not sure how competent a witness he can be for the entire event.

Photo of Merdić published by BIA, identifying him as the organizer of the attack on Vučić 

- When I opened the newspapers this morning, I was shocked – Merdić explains on NAP, again noting that the new situation has upset him. Since Monday morning, he has been feeling nervous, tense, and nauseous. Ever since he was diagnosed with PTSD, he has been avoiding stress, but since this morning, he has been having trouble controlling himself.

- I am a patriot. As soon as I turned 18 in 1993, I joined the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. But I don't see anything wrong with that, on the contrary, I am proud because I defended my country and my people. I did not commit crimes, I fought honestly for my country. As for Vučić, attacks, organizing incidents, I haven't thought about that even in my wildest dreams – says Merdić, adding that he goes to Srebrenica every year to pay tribute to the victims of the genocide. Because they deserve it. And he will continue to do so.

He doesn't have a particular opinion on the attack on Vučić. He only knows that he personally would not stoop so low as to attack the prime minister of a country at the funeral of his compatriots.

Merdić hopes that BiH will now take the necessary measures so that he does not end up on various Serbian blacklists, because of which the Serbian authorities would persecute him, just as they persecute some other former members of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.