LINTA QUESTIONS HOW ATTACKED SERB IS JAILED WHILE ATTACKER WALKS FREE

BELGRADE, SEPTEMBER 20 /SRNA/ – President of the Union of Serbs from the Region Miodrag Linta said today that the European Union Representation in Zagreb should condemn the physical attack on a 49-year-old Serbian citizen in Makarska, who ended up in detention while the man who allegedly pushed him into the sea was released.

Linta said the case was one of many examples of what he described as double standards in the Croatian judiciary, the Union of Serbs from the Region said in a statement. "How is it possible that the man who was attacked ends up in jail, while the person who physically attacked him is free? Wearing a Red Star shirt is not a crime and cannot justify anyone physically assaulting a person, let alone pushing him into the sea," Linta said. He argued that the EU Representation in Zagreb should not remain silent on the case and should ask the Croatian authorities for a full and public explanation of all the circumstances surrounding the incident and the treatment of the Serbian citizen. "A physical attack on a man because of the sports insignia he was wearing must not be pushed into the background while the man who was attacked is sent to jail. It is clear that the problem is not the Red Star shirt, but hatred toward Serbs and everything Serbian that, in my view, dominates in Croatia," Linta said. He reminded that the Serbian citizen was attacked in Makarska, where a 43-year-old Croatian man allegedly pushed him into the sea after he refused to remove a Red Star jersey. A Croatian court ordered the Serbian citizen to 14 days of detention and sent him to a prison in Split over allegations that he had insulted Croatia and its citizens and glorified Ratko Mladić on social media. The man who allegedly pushed the Serbian citizen into the sea on September 17 was released after being questioned by police.