Original article (in Serbian) was published on 17/11/2021
Yesterday, the website VICE published an article in German about the “German who stirs up Serbian politics”. It is stated that the plants seized from Predrag Koluvija had a maximum value of the psychoactive substance THC of only 0.54 percent. They write that although it is illegal, it is not real “marijuana”. The website claims that it had an insight into the results of the laboratory analysis from December 2019. However, there are at least 18 more reports from Koluvija’s plants’ analysis, and the amount of as much as 17.54 percent of THC was found in some of the samples. Several pro-government tabloids used this text to claim that “the Germans proved that cannabis from Jovanjica is not a drug”.
“According to the forensic analysis, which has not been mentioned by the Serbian media yet and which is important evidence in the procedure against Koluvija, the maximum value of THC in ten samples of confiscated plants was 0.54. Although this is above the allowed 0.3 percent, it is still far from the real marijuana”, German VICE wrote in a text published on November 16 about how a German citizen, Predrag Koluvija, is at the center of one of the most important court proceedings in Serbia.
However, in the article, VICE cites only one of at least 18 reports and records from the analysis on the share of the psychoactive substance THC in the plants found on the “Jovanjica” property.
The level of THC in plants makes the key difference between industrial hemp, which is legally allowed to be grown in Serbia, and Indian hemp, better known as marijuana, the cultivation and keeping of which is prohibited. So, if hemp plants contain more than 0.3 percent THC, they will be considered marijuana.
The indictment of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime states that the level of THC in the results ranged from below 0.3 to almost 18 percent. For example, according to the expertise from March 2020, the share of THC was between 4.93 and 17.54 percent.
The claim of the German VICE that the Serbian media “have not mentioned the forensic analysis yet, which is an important part of the evidence in the procedure against Koluvija”, is also incorrect. Media, such as BIRN, N1, nova.rs, have repeatedly written about various expert reports and the content of THC in plants found on Koluvija’s estate “Jovanjica”. KRIK website also reported on them on several occasions and the allegations of Koluvija’s defense, which claims that the procedure was rigged.
VICE says in the text that the percentage of 0.54 percent of THC is the result of the analysis from December 16, 2019. However, they add that the Serbian media wrote even before this analysis that marijuana was found on “Jovanjica”, linking the Insajder’s text from November 20 of the same year.
This claim, however, is not true either. In the indictment in the case colloquially called “Jovanjica 1”, there are records on the expertise of the National Center for Criminal Forensics even before the analysis referred to by VICE, from November 15, 19, 25 and 28 of the same year. This expertise showed higher percentages of THC in the samples of plants from “Jovanjica”.
Michael Knott, the author of the text, has two interlocutors in the article.
The first is Predrag Koluvija, and the second is allegedly an anonymous source from the German embassy, who finds it unusual “that someone who produces cannabis with only 0.54 percent of THC spends two years in detention”. VICE did not answer the questions of the KRIK’s journalist whether Knot had contacted the Serbian prosecutor’s office and whether they had information that there was more expertise. They state that they have supplemented the text with new knowledge, as well as that they do not want to reveal their sources.
Koluvija told a German journalist about the alleged rigging of evidence and the suspicions he has regarding the procedure in Serbia, which he plans to prove in court. He adds for VICE that he “believes in the rule of law” and is convinced that his verdict will be revolutionary for the future of industrial hemp in Serbia.
Government and pro-government media on the offensive of Koluvija’s defense
The text of the German VICE comes after a series of relativizations of the “Jovanjica” case, both from the representatives of the authorities and from the media close to them.
It all started with the release of Predrag Koluvija from custody and the interview he gave to his defense attorney, Vladimir Djukanovic, an MP and official of the Serbian Progressive Party. The interview was published on a website called Objektiv, which is extremely close to the ruling party.
On that occasion, he again accused the police inspectors who arrested him of setting him up and that after his arrest they grew marijuana on his property in order to charge him. These claims were followed by the regime’s tabloids, which wrote for days that the inspectors were preparing a coup d’etat because they allegedly wanted to force Koluvija to admit that he worked with the brother of the President of Serbia.
Only a day after this interview, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, joined Koluvija’s defense. He said in a live broadcast from Dubai on the pro-regime Pink television about the “Jovanjica” case that there was no similar case where a man accused of such a crime had spent two years in detention.
“It’s very strange, because he didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t have 10 tons of cocaine or something like that, but, as far as I understood, a ton of marijuana, as much as half of the environment, the Germans and others legalized (…)”, the president said at the time.
VICE’s text about Koluvija was only partially shared by the Deutsche Welle website in Serbian yesterday. Immediately afterward, the tabloids “Informer” and “Objektiv” prepared today’s covers on which they claim that “the Germans proved: Jovanjica is an artificial affair” and “Deutsche Welle published: Cannabis from Jovanjica is not a drug”.
However, after violent reactions to the text, VICE briefly added that “the article caused a lot of media coverage in Serbia. The Serbian research platform KRIK stated on Twitter that it has further test results that show a higher THC content of 0.54 percent. We have supplemented the text in the appropriate place”.
However, only one short sentence was added to the text, which states that “Serbian media report there are other tests that showed a higher level of THC”.
As many as two indictments of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, which together number more than 700 pages, have been filed against Predrag Koluvija and 18 of his associates. According to the first, Koluvija, as the head of a criminal group and workers from the estate, are being tried for growing 1.6 tons of marijuana. In another case, Koluvija was accused of being the head of a group consisting of members of the police, the Security Information Agency and the Military Intelligence Agency, who provided him with security and logistical support at “Jovanjica”.