Krokodil Association demands investigation into attackers and instigators of assault on writer Arsenijević

The management board of the "Krokodil" Association has demanded a thorough investigation into the masterminds and instigators behind a recent attack on its president, acclaimed writer Vladimir Arsenijević. The association is calling for public condemnation of the assault and immediate action from relevant authorities to apprehend the perpetrators.

In a statement signed by prominent figures including Dubravka Stojanović and Igor Štiks, the board also requested urgent measures to ensure the physical safety of Arsenijević and all citizens participating in commemorations of the Srebrenica genocide and similar events. They stressed the need for state officials to unequivocally acknowledge the Srebrenica genocide and to cease the practice of denial, relativization, or glorification of war criminals, stating that attacks like the one on Arsenijević are a direct consequence of such attitudes.

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Krokodil demands that state officials unequivocally recognize the Srebrenica genocide and a final break from the practice of denial, relativization, and glorification of war criminals, as attacks like the attack on Arsenijević are their direct consequence.

Arsenijević was attacked on a Saturday morning by a group of 20 to 30 youths who allegedly threatened and beat him. The attackers also defaced the site where a commemoration for the victims of the Srebrenica genocide was to be held, using graffiti to glorify Ratko Mladić, a convicted war criminal, and the Army of Republika Srpska, which committed the genocide.

The "Krokodil" Association highlighted that the attack forced the cancellation of a commemoration event, preventing Serbian citizens from honoring the victims peacefully and with dignity. They pointed out that this is not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of attacks against "Krokodil" and those who critically examine responsibility for the wars of the 1990s, including within Serbia's own institutions. The association warned that such organized groups, acting as "assault squads," are extensions of political structures and have escalated from online harassment to physical violence.

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These assault squads never choose their victims alone and never react independently - they are an extended arm of political structures acting on their orders.