Darko Lazic: "I Don't Even Know Her"

Singer Darko Lazic spoke out today, September 15, denying any closeness with influencer Kristina Kika Zivkovic, whose name has been linked to his in recent days. He posted the statement on Instagram and sent the identical text to media outlets.

Zivkovic posted a video late last week that she says shows a physical attack she survived on May 31. According to her own description, the clip shows an unidentified man hitting her and then dragging her. Kurir reports that the influencer is from Sabac, works in hospitality, and has more than 13,000 followers on Instagram. In her post, she identified her attacker only by the initials N. R., also from Sabac. In the days after the video went up, some outlets described Zivkovic as a close family friend of the Lazics, since she had previously posted photos on her profile with Darko Lazic and his late brother, Dragan Lazic.

That part of the story is exactly what Lazic set out to deny publicly. In the statement he sent to media, according to Elita, he said nothing connects him to Zivkovic.

Regarding the articles and videos linking my name to a girl I don’t know at all, I want to clearly and unequivocally deny these claims.

He opened his broader message to the media with that line, then went on to explain why, in his view, photos taken together prove nothing.

“A single photograph cannot be proof of friendship, closeness, or any kind of special relationship,” Lazic wrote on Instagram, according to Informer.

The singer added that he is photographed with large numbers of people at concerts and private events, and that he cannot be expected to remember everyone who happened to be in front of a camera with him on a given night. He asked that his name no longer be mentioned in connection with crime reporting and said he did not want to be tied to stories he has nothing to do with.

Alongside the video of the attack, Zivkovic herself posted a lengthy statement saying she had reported the case to the relevant authorities. She says she has additional evidence, including threats, harassment, and misuse of her private photos, and that she is prepared to hand all of it over to the institutions. She also said she had long been afraid to report what was happening to her, fearing for herself and her family, but no longer wanted to stay silent.

In the same post, she wrote that she does not want anyone passing judgment on social media, and that she expects the relevant authorities to examine everything she reported and establish the facts. She also mentioned the people who helped her that night, describing them as individuals who were at the scene and who, she said, were themselves subjected to unpleasant treatment, rather than as mere bystanders.

Unlike other outlets, Informer also reports that the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Sabac issued a statement on the case, saying that Zivkovic’s report did not contain specific allegations of a physical attack. For now, that detail appears only in that outlet’s report, while Kurir, Mondo, and Elita make no mention of any response from the prosecutor’s office.

Kurir and Mondo also published the domestic violence hotline numbers, 0800 100 600 and 192, which the Interior Ministry lists as available around the clock. They also listed the free SOS line of the Counseling Center Against Domestic Violence, 0800 011 011, available on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

So far there has been no word on whether Kristina Kika Zivkovic has responded to Lazic’s statement, nor has anyone else been named in connection with the alleged attack beyond the initials she gave herself.