Wide, extremely ugly central town square actually sits on the roofs of several boutiques with the circular staircase in the middle. People stand around, but it seems to the speaker as if they try to stay far from the rostrum. The people of Leskovac have been gathering every night since Monday, July 5, to protest the case of Ivan Novkovic. They take turns at the rostrum (open to all) and actually say very little about him and much more about their own troubles. During the nine days of the protest nine people have been arrested, mostly high profile participants in the previous rallies. The blackmail of the workers in their destroyed factories has also begun, starting an even stronger wave of fear. With every coming day the number of participants has been falling and most of them now usually walk in a wide circle around the square, dressed in their Sunday best, and with their families, or neighbors, friends... They stop and watch the rally, but from afar.
Ivan Novkovic, their hero was the first to be arrested, a day after about 20 thousand people gathered at the first rally. Novkovic demonstrated courage and used the facilities of the local TV, where he worked as a program assistant, to play (in a break between two halves of a basketball match) a tape with his prerecorded speech: "Nice of Zivojin Stefanovic to be head of our district, but it is horrible that he produced disastrous consequences for us citizens and farmers. Owing to him we became underdeveloped, but I am sure that, as of today, people will only laugh at him, the largest looser of the Serbian south. Why don't you show that deep down you are a good man and resign." On Tuesday evening when the people started their march on the prison where Novkovic is held, the audio recording of his tape was played for the first time. That same evening the people of Leskovac were stopped by a cordon of the police. This time there was no brawl or rampage as it had happened only a week ago when the people broke through all cordons and into Zivojin Stefanovic's house. A few protesters, who went back to the square after the march, found there a group engaged in conversation holding the leaflets they had just collected from the nearby mailboxes. The city was littered by leaflets with pictures of the most prominent demonstrators (most of whom had been arrested) with derogatory captions. The picture of Ivan Novkovic was marked "expelled from the army". All were terrified.
COURT MARTIAL: The trial of Ivan Novkovic was attended by the defendant, a stenographer, the justice Mirjana Markovic and a legal officer of the Internal Affairs Department. Two policemen named as witnesses for the prosecution were not questioned before the accused and went unseen by anyone. Novkovic was not informed about his rights and was not permitted to have a legal counsel or witnesses for the defense. The trial was organized as a matter of emergency, immediately after the arrest and, were it not for the three-hour wait for the reading of the verdict, it would have lasted the total of 20 minutes, which is how long it took the court to sentence Novkovic to a 30-day prison sentence. Gradimir Nalic, Novkovic's attorney described the trial as "a para-judicial procedure". Trials of Miodrag Mitic, who was sentenced to 60 days in prison, and the master of ceremonies at the protests, Bratislav Stamenkovic, sentenced to 25 days in prison, were very similar.
"We from the organizational council do not care whether they will arrest us, but how to find new and fresh speakers," says one of the members of the organizational council, which was founded during the first days of the protest by the citizens (there is one person from the city hall, then a worker, a farmer and a student). The council is supposed to take care of the organization of the protests. At the most recent meeting, held on the eighth day of the protests, they discussed what could be done to prevent the drop in the number of protesters. "They cannot arrest all of us. But, it's true, the people got scared. Now we can't get more than 2,000 people, no matter what," says one of them. Ratomir Nikolic adds that "Marlboro sells all over the world because is it sold by a cowboy. We must work on marketing". He suggests that a celebrity be brought to address one of the future protests. The previous night Nikolic refused to read the statement by the local Serbian Renewal Movement [SRM, an opposition party], the party which supported the rally without getting involved in the organization of the protest. SRM assisted the rally by providing the PA system, and by registering the rally with the authorities. "We found out that we have the same attitude with respect to Boris Bizetic. In one interview he said that he would continue to work as long as he can sing his own songs. I told Bojana Ristic from SRM that I want to say what I think, while I can think. That night, no one read anything from SRM," says Nikolic for Vreme.
On the third day of protests in Leskovac, Bojana Ristic announced that SRM will take on itself the organization of the rallies because legally the citizens are not allowed to register a gathering with the authorities. Only at the beginning of this week when MC Bata was arrested after trying to "register a rally with the authorities" and when Ms Ristic received six citations on the same occasion, it turned out that the rallies were not registered with the authorities, although "they were also not banned". "We only reported that a group of citizens would hold a rally in order to protect the citizens from maltreatment and arrests, and also to make sure that the rally takes place. We are convinced that the protests would have stopped had we not backed them up, and no one else in the city was willing to do that. We approached numerous individuals and organizations and asked them to support the protests, but no one dared do that. We do not want to steal somebody else's laurels, since the protests were started by Ivan Novkovic. As far as the political benefit is concerned, we'll see at the next election. We do not want to impose our will by organizing the gathering, but it is the fact that we have helped in the organization of the rallies. There is no secret agreement with the local authorities. We have simply submitted a request for the holding of a public gathering and no one has so far touched us," says for Vreme Bojana Ristic.
You've actually never received a permit, although it has been said that you have it?
"No, we never got a permit, nor was our request rejected. Actually, I thought there would not be any problems. And it is not true that we were not pressured. I have received six citations for the organization of a public gathering," says Ms. Ristic and dejectedly rejects the theory that the number of participants in the protests has decreased because "political parties have tried to take over the organization of the rallies".
"Threats and fear are the main reason. And it isn't exactly that they do not want political parties. They have read Vuk Draskovic's statement and my statement at their rallies, and even statements by other political parties, and all of them received applause. Furthermore, according to the information I have, most of the participants are members of various political parties".
To your reporter, the protesters looked more like the former Socialist voters than like the supporters of other parties. A pensioner from the group which went towards the prison says that his neighbor did not want to come "because he want to get rid of Zivojin Stefanovic [head of the county], but he does not like this stuff about Milosevic that much. He likes Milosevic for other reasons".
The Democratic Party also offered assistance to the Leskovac protests during the first days but were warned not to set up their PA system "because it was to be confiscated and all members of the local party organization arrested". The Democrats say that, when SRM received "silent approval" for everything, they tried to make an agreement with them to work together, but that at first none of the agreed points was respected by the other side. Nevertheless, during the last days, the morale at the Democratic Party has improved. Before a recent protest, the citizens of Leskovac gave a standing ovation to [mayor of Nis, vice-president of the Democratic Party] Zoran Zivkovic. The Democrats will also try to do everything in their power to make sure protests continue. Zivkovic called on the citizens of Leskovac to hold out until Ivan Novkovic is released from prison and to demonstrate for Novkovic's sake. "Ivan for president" he shouted and the citizens repeated his call.
"He came home the day when a train was destroyed by NATO on a bridge in the Grdelica gorge. He told me to sit and watch and that the tape was only a small part of what he had cut away during editing. He was angry and bitter. Then, his neighbor, his childhood friend, was killed. My colleague from work also got killed," says for Vreme Vesna Novkovic. She is yet to be allowed to visit her husband in prison. Once, she was there with the child and was sent back, politely, with a promise that she would be allowed to see Ivan during visiting hours. "I do not know what he would do now. I do not know what to do. I am afraid and many have told me not to talk to anyone, to make sure I do not harm Ivan in some way with my words. He will decide what to do once he gets out of jail." She adds that very few noticed that he cried when he spoke at the square, especially when he said that he is not "a foreign hireling but a tenant". When the Police came to pick him up, he told them with a smile that he had been expecting them. "He was very excited when he came home after the rally. All of us were happy for him and we threw a small celebration. He didn't explain anything. He only said that he had decided to do something for his town and that, if now nothing changes, Leskovac deserves what it gets".
Ivan reads a lot. He likes Formula 1 racing, and Schumacher is his favorite driver. His dream is to buy a BMW. He even said that at the rally.