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Dejan Pavlović, a first-class sergeant and president of the “Sloga” employees’ union at the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army, started a conversation with a Danas journalist apologizing for not being able to answer the phone earlier: “Forensic, military police, VBA people, I couldn’t call earlier. “
Her voice is calm. Calmly, without omitting details, he recounts the event of the previous night, as if it was not he who barely survived the fire.
– I went to bed around one. At the back of the house I have a box in which I keep three dogs. Besides them, I have a dog in the house. I was awakened by the barking of the dogs in the box, but I got up only when this little one started to bark and scratch the door uncontrollably. I thought someone was sneaking around the house, and when I opened the door, I saw a large flame engulfing the back of the house, Pavlović says.
Dejan, as a military tenant, lives in a house at the “Surcin” Recreation Center. According to him, he could not start extinguishing the fire on his own because, for reasons unknown to him, the water supply had been shut off since the afternoon of the previous day.
– I ran into the house, picked up the leash and took the dogs. I called the fire department first, but I couldn’t contact them. So I called the police. Firefighters arrived in fifteen minutes, most of the house was on fire. When they started going out, the upper part of the house collapsed and the flames swallowed everything, furniture, laptop, documents … I was left with only what I was wearing, Pavlović says.
Although he cannot speak with 100% certainty, Pavlović points out that he suspects that the fire was started.
– The fire started from the back of the house, which does not face the street. Also, I was in Medvedja the days before and uploaded photos from there, so maybe they thought I was still there, he says.
He does not know who they are. However, as he adds, in the previous weeks, he faced great pressure due to union activism and the fact that he spoke publicly about the situation in the army.
– It started with an interview I gave to the list of “Witnesses”, in which I spoke about the reasons for the departure of personnel in the army and emphasized that a member of the Serbian Army has the same salary as someone who works in traffic . Then they initiated disciplinary proceedings against me. During the state of emergency, I filed two criminal charges. I filed one against Lt. Col. Nebojsa Lojpur, the commander of the Intervidov range “Pasuljanske livade” because it endangered the health of his soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Lojpur, after being in the company of the hospital director in Ćuprija, did not isolate himself, but forced people to do their duty. As a result, 27 people were infected with the corona virus. I filed another complaint against Colonel Zoran Smiljanic, the commander of the Second Training Center, who, when he learned that one soldier had flu symptoms, ordered that all soldiers, a total of approximately 90, be locked in one room, along with that soldier, Pavlovic said. .
At that time, warnings from his superiors “to calm down, not to say hello, to be careful” started more often.
The warnings did not stop when, in a public statement in early May, reacting to the promises made to members of the Third Missile Division in Jakovo by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, he reminded the President that three years ago he also made promises that were not kept. .
– I wrote that you should first fulfill the promises you made three years ago, before you start promising new things, Pavlović says.
When asked what he would do next, he replied briefly: “The army provided me with a nearby bungalow. I will go there until I succeed.”
Political attack and political defense
The information that Dejan Pavlović’s house was burned down was the first to be made public by the “Sloga” union. In their statement, they stated that their house was burned down around 1.45 at night between Saturday and Sunday, and they insisted on an urgent reaction from the competent authorities to discover the author and the author. “Sloga” said they believe the fire was started by “a combination of the current government and crime, which is indicated by various indications.”
“The fact that Pavlović was repeatedly suggested by his superiors to curtail their union activities, not to make announcements, public interviews and write on social media, indicates that the fire started,” the statement said.
Following them, the Defense Ministry released a statement, alleging that a fire investigation is underway. The ministry announced lawsuits against all those who “disturb the public by prejudging the cause of the fire,” and urged the “Sloga” union to refrain from “political attacks and wait for the results of the investigation before it begins to sue and prosecute.”
In a statement to Danas, the president of the “Sloga” union, Zeljko Veselinovic, described the ministry’s statement as “scandalous”. “Man has lost everything and no one except the sick mind now depends on politics. In our statement, we only draw attention to the fact that this is symptomatic after Dejan Pavlović was repeatedly warned to reduce their union activities. “I am looking forward to an investigation, so we can definitely see if politics has anything to do with this,” says Veselinović.
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