Ninic Files Complaint Against Terzic, Djurovic Over AI Video

Lawyer Ivan Ninic said on September 24 that a criminal complaint has been filed against Kraljevo Mayor Predrag Terzic and Vrnjacka Banja municipality president Boban Djurovic, over a video made with artificial intelligence that, according to Ninic, targets Jovana Jemovic, a Student List candidate for the National Assembly. The complaint has gone to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High Tech Crime in Belgrade.

Ninic first announced legal action on September 21, but at that point spoke only about Terzic. By September 24 the circle of suspects had widened to include Djurovic, who Ninic says further shared the disputed video over WhatsApp. Alongside the criminal complaint, the lawyer also announced a damages lawsuit before the Basic Court in Kraljevo.

Terzic posted the video on his official Facebook page a day after Jemovic spoke at the welcome for student cyclists from the “Guardians of the Constitution” campaign, who arrived in Kraljevo on Sunday evening. Jemovic, a graduate technology engineer from Baljevac in the Raska municipality, is ranked 79th on the Student List. Srpske Novine previously reported on the arrival of “Guardians of the Constitution” in Kraljevo in the article “Torches for Guardians of the Constitution in Kraljevo, Nis Next.”

According to Ninic, the content had still not disappeared from Terzic’s account as of this morning.

“Mayor Terzic hasn’t reacted in at least the past two days. There’s no reaction at all, and that’s typical, authentic behavior for him. Overnight the content was still up on his page, and this morning I didn’t see that it had been taken down,” Ninic told N1.

Sources differ on how they classify the offense Terzic and Djurovic are accused of. N1 reports that Ninic described the act as unauthorized collection and processing of personal data, Radio Free Europe writes about a violation of reputation and honor, and Razglas describes it as insulting and compromising the candidate. Accounts also differ on the surname of the Vrnjacka Banja municipality president: N1 and Radio Free Europe list him as Boban Djurovic, while the portal Nova.rs identified the same person as Boban Djordjevic on September 22.

Why Is the Vrnjacka Banja Municipality President Also Facing a Complaint?

According to Jemovic, as relayed to N1, the Vrnjacka Banja municipality president did not just watch the disputed video, he also shared it further over WhatsApp, which, in Ninic’s assessment, made him a participant in the unauthorized processing of her personal data as well. Ninic told Razglas that the video amounts to an attack not just on Jemovic, but on every woman who engages in politics.

“It is unprecedented anywhere in modern Europe for a mayor to promote this degree of primitivism toward his own fellow citizens,” Ninic said.

Jemovic herself described to Nova.rs how she experienced the video’s publication.

“I didn’t expect my four year old child to be attacked in this campaign,” she said, adding that she is continuing her campaign and plans to defend her version of events in court.

Neither Terzic nor Djurovic has commented on the complaint so far. According to Nova.rs, the official of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) did not respond to questions sent by phone, text message or email, either about who made the video or about whether he considers the post appropriate for the office of mayor. Ninic also said that, in his view, this is not the first time Terzic has insulted Kraljevo residents in public appearances, pointing to previously published photos from the private life of Ivan Matovic’s family.

The case is now with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for High Tech Crime, which will assess whether there are grounds for criminal prosecution, while the Basic Court in Kraljevo will rule on the damages claim.