Ub: Ten Suspects Held 30 Days After Attack on Celebration
Prosecutors in Ub questioned 13 suspects over violent behavior, and a judge ordered detention for ten. Media reports speak of at least 14 arrests.
A pretrial judge at the Basic Court in Ub has ordered detention of up to 30 days for ten suspects in the attack on citizens and students who were celebrating the Student List’s win in the parliamentary elections. The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ub confirmed to Nova.rs that 13 suspects were questioned on suspicion of violent behavior, and that it asked for detention for ten of them. The date of the ruling was not given.
The suspects are presumed innocent, and guilt can only be established in court proceedings.
What do we know about the detention decision?
The prosecutor’s office confirmed three facts to Nova.rs: how many suspects were questioned, which offense they are accused of, and for how many of them detention was requested. The pretrial judge accepted the motion in full, so detention of up to 30 days was ordered for all ten for whom it had been sought.
Some of the suspects were also questioned at the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Valjevo. That office did not say how many people were questioned or what they are accused of.
The numbers differ from source to source. Nova.rs reports that at least 14 people were arrested, while the prosecutor’s office speaks of 13 questioned. The gap has not been explained.
What happened on the night of October 25 to 26?
According to the complaint, the attack took place around 1:30 a.m. on Vuka Karadzica Street in Ub. Luka Jovanovic reported that he was attacked by 15 to 20 men who arrived in three or four cars, and that a tooth was knocked out of his companion, as we reported on October 26. Two people, a student and a citizen, were seriously injured.
Milos Petkovic, an activist from Ub, described to Nova.rs how the attack unfolded:
The thugs waited until the number of people celebrating thinned out and then they showed up, about fifteen of them, people who are known in Ub for doing harm. They attacked those gathered, they were armed with sticks and metal bars, and some were carrying pistols. They beat people and injured two, a student and a citizen.
Petkovic added that police arrived and the attackers scattered. According to him, one of them ran off with a pistol in his hand. “We ran after one who was fleeing with a pistol in his hand, and it is interesting that he was running toward the police station,” Petkovic said, and then described how the man was arrested at the station door.
What does the footage of the police intervention show?
A video of the intervention was posted on social media. According to Nova.rs, gunshots can be heard on it, and the shots were fired into the air by police officers when they saw armed men getting into vehicles and trying to flee.
Among those arrested, according to Nova.rs, is S. P., who was previously convicted of offenses involving violence.
Who has responded, and who has not?
Petkovic claims the attackers are close to Darko Glisic, an official of the Serbian Progressive Party and a former minister for public investments. That is the activist’s claim, and the sources do not say that any authority has confirmed it. According to the sources, neither Glisic nor the party had responded by the time those reports were published.
Detention has been ordered for up to 30 days, and the prosecutor’s office in Valjevo had not, by the time of the source reports, answered questions about the number of people questioned and the offenses they are accused of.
