Politics

Did Šešelj Incident Really Happen at All?

By 19 April 2018

There are no photos or videos, and the only “witness” seems to be Šešelj himself.

Wednesday’s incident in the parliament building in Belgrade, when notorious Serbian politician and convicted war criminal Vojislav Šešelj allegedly trampled on the Croatian flag and cursed members of the Croatian parliamentary delegation, is the leading political story in the Croatian media for the second day running. The delegation, led by Speaker of Croatian Parliament Gordan Jandroković, abruptly ended its official visit and returned to Zagreb due to the incident. However, some wonder whether the incident in question occurred at all, reports tportal.hr on April 19, 2018.

Although all members of the Croatian parliamentary delegation who were visiting the Serbian parliament spoke about Šešelj cursing, there are more and more people who do not believe that the flag trampling incident has actually happened. An additional reason to doubt the official version of events is a reply from the media service of the Serbian Parliament, received by the N1 television station, that there is no photo or video recording of the incident because it took place in an area of the building which is not covered by security cameras.

“With regards to your request, we would like to notify you that there is no video footage of the incident. The video surveillance system of the National Assembly of Serbia does not cover the area where the flags were placed,” announced the Serbian Assembly.

Addressing reporters today in Zagreb, MP Anka Mrak Taritaš once again explained what happened. She said that, during a tour of the parliament building which followed a series of meetings, she heard a noise in the distance and clearly recognised Šešelj’s voice, and heard the insults against the Croatian delegation.

Former Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor and Aleksandra Jerkov, an opposition MP in the Serbian Parliament, suspect whether the incident has occurred. Kosor wondered why there were no recordings of the event, while Jerkov accused Speaker of the Serbian Parliament Maja Gojković of trying to hide the video.

Responding to allegations that the incident has not occurred, Šešelj said, “I will obviously have to trample on the Ustasha flag once again because people do not believe me. You are trying to say that we have invented it all and that the fools have believed us? It would be great if that were true, but we have not invented it,” he said.

Still, despite numerous journalists and cameras which were present in the parliament building covering the Croatian delegation’ visit, there are no recording or witnesses of the incident.

Translated from tportal.hr

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