The Surcin Incident

Last week's assault of an eminent Serbian reporter, Milovan Brkic, is another drop in an ocean of lawlessness flooding this country. The incident has made it crystal clear that Yugoslavia is divided into two separate states: one in which common citizens have to respect the law, the authorities and the judicial system, and another called the Mickey-mouse state owned by those who are above the law - a new tribe of warlords and gangsters which emerged from the ruins of an era girding the police, common criminals and paramilitary forces into a frightening coalition. The latter is a state in which the noveau riches have the power to lynch, rob and even kill anyone they see fit with the consent and sometimes in the presence of the authorities. That was quite apparent long before Milovan Brkic, a reporter of the weekly Srpska Rec, was taken away from his office by men who identified themselves as members of the state security police department. It is not surprising that an outrages crime which happened over three years ago, when innocent civilians were taken off a train, robbed and killed, was "solved" last Tuesday. The fate of the 19 unfortunate passengers was officially a mystery although there was never much doubt about who abducted and killed them, why, how it happened and with whose assistance. We chose to mention this particular incident for one simple reason: there is no essential difference in the unpunished abduction and murder of 19 innocent people and the unpunished abduction and beating of one innocent man in a country supposedly defined and ruled by law. Similar fortune befell one of our own editors a few years back. Our former editor, Dusan Reljic, was taken away in downtown Belgrade by men who produced some sort of official identification and kept him in captivity for two days in a secret jail. We kept asking very loudly for Reljic's whereabouts until he showed up. We kept asking because the incident, like many others of its kind, resembled the 1933 German Reich and post-war Argentina, where people had disappeared without a trace and their relatives weren't even allowed to ask what happened to them.

Milovan Brkic has had the reputation of someone who likes to "stick his nose" into things that aren't his business since the early seventies. A "controversial" character (the favourite expression of the authorities for the likes of him) who likes to rock the boat, cause scandals, get involved in law suits passionately and relentlessly. Some say that Brkic is often an unbearable pain in the neck. Perhaps he is to some individuals, such as Aleksandar Tijanic - the new information minister and our former colleague. Tijanic's statement that he would have beaten the hell out of Brkic had he been there should bear no lawful or political significance: being "controversial", "unbearable" and a "pain in the neck" is not against the law.

What should and surely will send shiver through the bones of every sane individual is the fact that offences such as false arrest, grave bodily harm and rape often go unpunished. A minister who says he would have stopped the

police from beating Brkic and done it himself instead, for the latter is "nothing more than an individual who has been declared mentally unfit for compulsoray military service", is a cynical and arrogant person with cheap manners. More importantly, he has no respect whatsoever for the law he has sworn to protect under oath. The entire case has an ironical dimension too, which only makes it worse. A few years ago, Tijanic intruded into Brkic's flat presumably with the intention to teach him a lesson bearing in mind he was armed. However, the move was ill-judged and tactically unwise as Brkic had a companion, a policeman, who stopped Tijanic in a manner which could hardly be described as gentle. The mentioning of Brkic's "mental unfitness" also came at a very inconvenient time, for Brkic is currently involved in a law suit with the president's son, Marko Milosevic, who is suing Brkic and his magazine for slander. According to Brkic, who says he actually did complete his military service in 1981, Milosevic junior was recently relieved of military service for reasons similar to the one mentioned above. All that, nevertheless, is nothing more than a bunch of spicy, colourful details often deliberately exploited to cover up the real issue: Can everyone with the ability to pull strings in the police have someone arrested, detained, beaten and killed for would-be slander ? Is it becoming reality that individuals not to the liking of an army of scumbags above the law will just disappear into the night without trace ? Many questions of vital importance to the citizens of this country need urgent answers which will in many ways determine the fate of this regime. Our regime did not invent the model by which this country is ruled: there are a number of historic precedents, and we all know what happened to them.

The issue is therefore not only about one Milovan Brkic, a local reporter who might not be perfect, for none of us are and no law says that someone has to be perfect. The issue is about law and respect for it. Slander is against the law, and so is false arrest, grave bodily harm and rape. A state calling itself lawful must apply the law impartially to all its individuals - including Milovan Brkic and those who abducted and abused him.

The 41st Annual Books Fair

A 19-th century Russian writer, Chernyshevsky, once wondered what was more important to a man: Shakespeare or sausages ? The question whether real or spiritual food is dominant in a country whose population has had periods in which it lacked one, the other or both could stir some interesting debates. Serbia, however, is another matter. That is quite apparent from what can be seen at the 41st annual Belgrade book fair, ceremoniously opened on Tuesday, October 22. There are plenty of new books, considerably cheaper than in the city's book shops, but there is no shortage of sausages either, sold at "discount prices" some 30 percent higher than in town. Shakespeare was also mentioned by Ognjen Lakicevic, the managing director of the Yugoslav publishers' association, who opened the fair with an appropriate speech. The ceremonial part of the opening was entrusted to Vladimir Volkov, a French writer of Russian origin whose inspired speech proved that only "ascertained allies of the Serbian nation" are eligible for such honours.

Disagreements about an agreement

The Macedonian parliament has ratified a trade agreement with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia without consulting the authorized foreign policy committee. Members of the committee sharply criticized the government for allowing the implementation of the agreenment before it was made official by the highest legislative body. Prime minister Branko Crvenkovski's cabinet was scorned for "subjecting law to common politics" and "violating the onstitutinal order". Among the critics were members of the ruling party, the SDSM. When the committee was given one of the documents related to the disputed agreement, two of its members from the opposition Liberal party angrily abandoned the meeting because the document was in Serbian. Their act resulted in no quorum for approving or disapproving the trade agreement. However, no one found a single objection to the agreement nor was its implemetation opposed by any of the deputies at the subsequent parliamentary session.

Public Transport

Boris Burden should thank heaven that his book "The Barricade" did reach this year's annual Belgrade Fair on time. Thirty copies were being transported in a public bus crammed with nervous passengers. When the courrier tried to find his way out he was intercepted by a tough old lady who accused him of stealing her white plastic bag. The unfortunate lad tried to explain he was carrying books, but the old lady refused to part with the big white bag until another one was somehow found under one of the seats. She apologised to the courrier who got past the unlikely barricade to reach the fair on time.

Safari

Citizens looking for entertainment, sport and recreation have something to look forward to - says the daily Vecernje Novosti. The monthly Kalibar and the "Safari Club" of Nis have launched a rally involving shooting, a sport which - as the daily puts it - "is quite popular in America and Europe and stands to gain many supporters in Yugoslavia". Assistance is expected from the Nis municipal assembly, special army and police forces, paratroopers, Belgrade police SQUAT teams, anti-terrorist units, commandos and civilian volunteers. The safari rally should become international next year and an annual event if all goes according to plan.

A step into the 22nd century

Mihalj Kertes, a member of the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) in charge of the Federal Customs department won the Backa Palanka annual October award by a landslide. The ingenious Kertes was given the award for beating the deadline for a project called "Backa Palanka - a step into the new century". Speaking about Kertes's "charitable mind and deeds" materialzed in a number of "infrastructural objects", the Backa Palanka mayor Ljubomir Novakovic said the project was worth no less than 250 million dinars. The triumphant Kertes pointed out the speed with which the project was completed and promised in revolutionary fashion that all future goals, whatever they are, will be accomplished "and more" before they are even set. "We have gone ahead of plan, but we must go even further", he told his admiring supporters after receiving the award.