Vlaisavljević responds to Arnautović: See you in court again

I greatly appreciate the effort of the Novinska agencija Patria to adhere to professional standards and to publish denials. I am equally pleased by the fact that indicates good relations with the Sarajevo public and academic scene. However, reading the denial published on 25.1.2016 under the title „Reaction of Samir Arnautović to the press release of Sanja Vlaisavljević“, regarding the press release from the court hearing in the lawsuit that Samir Arnautović filed against me on 14.8.2014, and after my text published on Patria, I cannot help but notice several interesting facts:

Anyone can notice that the key words of the denial are serious qualifications that contain elements of hate speech: „untruths“, „distortion of facts“, „defamatory intentions“, „causing permanent damage to the plaintiff“, „falsifies documents“, „constructs plagiarisms“, „the most ordinary manipulator and querulant who wants to transform from executioner into victim“, „confirmation of media harangues and constant presentation of untruths about this lawsuit“, „according to the theory of known 'masters' of propaganda“, „elaborating this as a method of legal and verbal violence by the defendant“, „clearly showing that it is a forgery that she obtained illegally“…

In his „denial“, Arnautović even presents more severe qualifications, introducing a person who has nothing to do with the lawsuit and thereby causing them permanent damage: „In this sense, the defendant wants to present portals that write critically about the nepotistic manner of her obtaining university diplomas, illegal creation of material gain and plagiarism of her husband, as media owned by the plaintiff, which is a complete untruth!“ It is completely unclear in what context this street language is related to the press release from the court hearing that your portal published? Apart from explicit qualifications that the defendant „obtained a diploma nepotistically“, “illegally created material gain“ and that her husband is a „plagiarist“, no connection with the press release is found. Unfortunately, these crudely presented claims will be the subject of a lawsuit against publicly uttered slander published on Patria, signed by Samir Arnautović.

In which „known style“ Sanja Vlaisavljević published untruths is not stated in the published denial, but what remains unequivocally clear are the qualifications regarding the person of Sanja Vlaisavljević. I wish to note that Sanja Vlaisavljević has never, in any public appearance, uttered an untruth regarding the lawsuit, including in the case Arnautović speaks of. If she had, she would have received a warning from the court or Arnautović would have reacted earlier.

It is completely unclear why Arnautović reacts only now, and failed to do so when it was his legal obligation. The fact that he failed to do so actually supports the claim that the plaintiff did not aim with the lawsuit to reduce damage possibly caused by the disputed text, but to cause damage to the defendant. He does this again this time because in the denial he writes about everything except the content of the press release from the said hearing.

Whoever the reporter from the lawsuit in this case is, it is completely irrelevant, bearing in mind two facts: 1. After the second hearing, Arnautović refused any form of communication with the media, which is recorded in the minutes of the hearing. 2. At the hearing, besides the parties in the dispute, there were also other civilian persons.

Also, even if Sanja Vlaisavljević had written the press release from the court hearing, the press release states that it is mine. In journalistic practice, press releases are written and presented to the media, while a report is a completely different form that has nothing to do with a press release.

Sanja Vlaisavljević did offer to the court, whether someone likes it or not, material evidence that the three sentences for which she was sued are factually grounded, and all evidence was published in her books: „Plagiarism for Beginners. A Guide through the Plagiarisms of Full Professor Samir Arnautović (Parts I and II). These books are located in the National University Library and on the Internet and are available to all who are lovers of the written word and truth. At the same time, these books list, and through simple comparison, numerous pieces of evidence of Arnautović's plagiarism are evident.

The content of the disputed press release refers to „loss of friends and projects“ which Arnautović does not address in the denial. Unfortunately, the only witness of Samir Arnautović in court, former rector Faruk Čaklovica, stated, which was entered into the minutes, that the two of them socialize just as before and that even today they lead „the largest project in the Balkans“. Since the key aspect of the lawsuit is the loss of friends and projects, at the last hearing Sanja Vlaisavljević, precisely by referring to the words of the plaintiff's only witness, proved that the plaintiff stated an untruth in the lawsuit. This information, and the only one related to the content of the press release, Arnautović overlooks in the denial, and it is easily verifiable by inspecting the minutes and transcript of the hearing.

The insinuation presented as a categorical claim about „forged documents“ is very easily verifiable. The content of one of the mentioned books contains certified letters to the Rectorate of UNSA as well as documents obtained officially from the same address, according to the Law on Free Access to Information. Therefore, here too Arnautović very recklessly presents qualifications and categorical claims that can only be the subject of some new lawsuit for slander.

Readers will probably remain unclear about the following claim from Arnautović's denial: „We also showed that Sanja Vlaisavljević, forgetting about dates, falsifies documents about 'ownership' in such a way that the institution she represents becomes the owner of something before it even existed!“ But to avoid any dilemma, Arnautović very carelessly states at the court hearing that he could not have been responsible for writing on the portal Ekran.ba, because the portal was launched before the association he heads and which owns the portal Ekran.ba was founded. That is absolutely true! Arnautović committed a criminal offense in this regard. For domain registration, he reported an association that would only later be registered, and at the address where the portal is also registered (Branislava Đurđeva, SDP building), and the president of that association is precisely Samir Arnautović, which means that in legal transactions he is responsible for everything related to the association, including the work of the portal it owns. Ekran.ba was registered (registration on nic.ba) on 15.04.2013, and the Association for the Development of Academic Freedoms (decision in the register) on 26.12.2013; p. 162, Book 2.

Sanja Vlaisavljević may „construct plagiarism“ but even a mere glance at Arnautović's texts and the original texts makes it easy to see that Arnautović copied from the original texts in the most obvious way.

The court documents that Samir Arnautović submitted to the court have already been published by Sanja Vlaisavljević on the Internet so that generations of pupils and students can learn what hate speech, street language, and inciting speech are.

And finally, I wish to point out that besides the fact that before the judge at the penultimate hearing Arnautović's lawyers expressed a desire for a settlement, they have never from that moment until the last hearing presented any proposal, which only supports the assumption that Arnautović is actually afraid of the possible outcome of the lawsuit.

The content of the denial signed by full professor Samir Arnautović can only be one more argument in support of the claim that Arnautović spreads street language and hate speech in the public space.

Sincerely,

Sanja Vlaisavljević