How were you arrested? Did the police behave correctly?
We were arrested in front of the Belgrade University Natural Sciences and Mathematics Department building while we were writing [anti-government] graffiti. We noticed a man dressed in a rain-coat; he was looking at us and talking to someone on the mobile phone. Soon afterwards an ordinary [police] patrol appeared, apparently by chance, and they started with the standard question: "What are you doing?". Marina and I were caught "red handed", while Nikola and Dragana showed up during our conversation with the policemen; I still don't understand why they got the same sentence as Marina and I. They arrested us and took us to a police station. We spent that night in a room behind the front desk, since they apparently didn't want to put us in a cell. I do not have trouble sleeping in a chair, so I slept the whole night, while the other three stayed awake.
The following day certain inspectors showed up and began questioning. We still expected to be released soon, and I had already come us with a schedule for that day in my head. Then, a really nasty inspector showed up. He screamed at us. Of course, he didn't scare me, but I am sorry that I couldn't tell him that.
| Red fist symbol of the student resistance movement "Otpor" |
Nobody tried to influence our statements. However, while I wrote my statement stood a policeman with a rifle behind my back. He pretended to clean his rifle, then he cocked it, aimed at me and then at a window. Still I wrote what I wanted.
After that, they took us to [the Central Belgrade Police Station in] November 29 street. There, we got a different treatment. They took away our shoelaces, emptied our pockets (I was harassed because of a used up bus ticket for several rides). We were not beaten there either, but we saw how policemen beat up some guys who were standing next to us. First one of them got slapped because of asking whether he can take one of his cigarettes. Then they brought in a boy who was obviously a minor. They had apparently found a gun on him and beat him up really bad.
When a judge asked how we had been treated by the police, I said that the treatment was horrible, that we hadn't slept for 24 hours, that we were not given anything to eat or drink, that they shouted at us tried to intimidate us, that we had just seen police beat up a boy... The judge responded that such things shouldn't happen and that, if what we had just said was correct, he would do everything to make sure it didn't happen again. By the way, that whole conversation took place in a room next to the one in which policemen were still beating that boy, whose cries the judge could hear clearly through the door. He was such a hypocrite.
What kind of accommodation did you get in jail?
At first, we were in a communal cell. Steel beds, stinky soiled blankets, greasy dirty plates and cutlery, a dirty toilet and a cold water tap above it as the only means for private hygiene... I adapt really well, so I wasn't bothered that much, but my friends had a hard time. Walking in circle was my favorite time, although I used to think that that was yet another way to mistreat prisoners. You walk and the skies are above you!
However, once they started to bring other prisoners to our cell, I kept telling myself that no matter how hard it was for us they had it much worse. We shared a cell with a nineteen year old Romanian prostitute, a Bulgarian woman who was in jail because she hadn't reported to the police, had health problems and worked as a physical worker at a market, then a Moldavian woman who had been kidnapped in Temisoara [in Romania] and brought here... When she contacted police to report the kidnapping, she was arrested and sentenced to 15 days in jail [because of illegal entry]; after that she will be deported. The worst time was when I was going to see my mother who had come to visit and one of the female guards began to shout at me because of my shoes and demanded that I adjust my trousers. Once I responded in Serbian, she apologized for shouting; apparently, she had thought I was a Russian. So what if I were? The guards behave as if they are allowed to mistreat foreigners. All the time they try to make you hate fellow prisoners with whom you share a cell.
I regret that here there is no control of the prison system by the public. We don't know what happens in prisons. There was a lot of "noise" about us because we are students. And how many people are in jails just because they stepped in the path of the regime? Just remember Pavle Bozic, a conscientious objector who was sentenced to a year in prison and is serving his sentence in Zabela prison. He is a student too, but no one seemed to notice his arrest.
Will you withdraw from political activism after this?
Of course..! Common, you're kidding, right? I'll just make sure they don't catch me next time. The only way to stop me would be to destroy me in jail, but they were not even close this time. I will continue to use all means for struggle against fascism. I am not ashamed for being in jail. Just the opposite, I believe that it is commendable to be a political prisoner these days. If nothing else, that will come handy if I request asylum in the West.
What about parents? How did they react to your sentence?
Naturally, they were concerned. They were worried, as all parents. But I am certain that my mother was proud.
"We were especially pleasantly surprised because of a pile of letters we got while we were in jail. From the start, we decided that we would not feel guilty and allow to be crushed. Regardless, it was nice to see that someone outside fought for us as well".
Miroslav Hristodulo stated that SDO had planned to greet the four students in front of the jail gates. "We are led to believe that that is why they were released at 6 a.m. Someone didn't want to see a protest gathering," said Hristodulo.
