Brave Women in Black Targeted Again: Attacks on Us in Serbia Are Countless and Unpunished

Staša Zajović, one of the founders and main coordinator of the association "Women in Black" from Belgrade, was verbally attacked last night at the bus station in Zemun, Zajović confirmed to the Patria News Agency.

As Zajović stated, a tall, corpulent man, between 30 and 40 years old, uttered a series of threats over a few minutes, which she reported to the police, but she does not expect him to be found, because, as she says, there is no number of criminal charges filed by "Women in Black" activists due to attacks, but no one has ever been found.

- How is it possible that a man on the street says terrible things to me, "we operate from the shadows," "we are invisible," "you have no place in Serbia, leave Serbia," "we will find you." There are countless such incidents. A criminal complaint has been filed, and we are now waiting to see what will happen, but so far, the perpetrator has never been identified – says Zajović.

Otherwise, the first hearing was supposed to be held this morning regarding the attack by a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Radomir Počuča, on "Women in Black," a campaign and hunt, and a call for lynching that he issued at the end of March. Počuča, a former spokesperson for the anti-terrorist unit of the Serbian MUP, wrote on his Facebook profile, "How long will we allow 'Women in Black' to dance on the graves of our fallen soldiers? Why don't they protest Operation Flash? Why don't they protest the expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo? Why is their only goal to spit on Serbs?"

- His call opened the door for the targeting of "Women in Black" activists at various levels, and the attacks simply do not stop. Sometimes it involves physical injuries, but it is impossible to even register the huge number of threats, whether by phone, in writing, or on the street. This most often happens around the commemoration of the genocide in Srebrenica, but not only then; it is very difficult to determine who is behind these groups, as we are subjected to violence by both state and non-state actors – says Zajović.

The hearing was canceled because, according to Zajović, they are buying time and creating legalistic traps.

- They are playing tricks; an intern showed up, not a legal representative. But that's irrelevant. What's important is that the qualification of the criminal offense is changed, because they want to change it and classify the act as endangering security. This is procrastination by the judicial bodies and the state, to show that they are doing something within the framework of European integration, when in fact they are doing nothing – added Zajović.

She further adds that no one is protecting them, but that she, as a responsible activist, takes care of herself.

- This form of intimidation deters people from activities and causes great fear. That is the goal of repression, to intimidate people and make them doubt what they are doing. There is great exhaustion because a number of people in our organization have been active since 1991 – added Zajović.