Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior (MUP) has responded to requests for information about Sunday evening’s events, in which police officers broke into the home and offices of Balkanist’s editor-in-chief while she was sleeping and demanded to know why she was in Serbia.
MUP has yet to respond to Balkanist’s own inquiries, but instead answered questions posed by journalists from other media outlets.
The press office at MUP acknowledged that they visited Balkanist’s address to investigate an open door on Sunday night, but claim the door was closed when they arrived and therefore, “did not intervene”.
But MUP’s explanation is contradictory. As we reported yesterday, the police officers told Balkanist’s editor-in-chief that they had entered her home (and bedroom) without a warrant because the front door was open. Now they’re denying that such a conversation ever took place, and claiming that the door was in fact closed.
“According to a report from the Savski Venac Police Department, after the police received a call that one apartment door on Zagrebacka street was open on January 1st at 11.30 PM, the police arrived at the site and saw that the doors were closed and that there were no signs of a break-in. Therefore, the police officers did not intervene.
Press Bureau”
If the Serbian police and the Ministry of the Interior lied about this relatively small matter, it raises major concerns about what else they have lied about.
