{"id":11848,"date":"2025-11-18T18:51:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:51:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/?p=11848"},"modified":"2025-11-18T18:52:39","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T17:52:39","slug":"vucic-did-not-wait-a-year-to-express-condolences-to-families-of-canopy-collapse-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/2025\/11\/18\/vucic-did-not-wait-a-year-to-express-condolences-to-families-of-canopy-collapse-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"Vu\u010di\u0107 Did Not Wait a Year to Express Condolences to Families of Canopy-Collapse Victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Original article<\/a> (in Slovenian) was published on 18\/11\/2025; Author: Antun Kataleni\u0107<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and their relatives on the day of the tragedy in Novi Sad, on 1 November last year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sa\u0161a Banjanac Lubej, the Balkan correspondent for public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, reported on 1 November on the first anniversary of the collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy. The incident, which claimed 16 lives, triggered a wave of protests against the Serbian authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During her reporting for the radio programme Dogodki in Odmevi<\/em> on Radio Slovenija\u2019s first channel, Banjanac Lubej endorsed the presenter\u2019s statement that Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 had \u201cfor the first time expressed condolences to the families of the deceased\u201d the day before, on 31 October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Vu\u010di\u0107 had already expressed condolences<\/a> to the victims\u2019 families and their relatives on behalf of all Serbian citizens on the day of the accident, on 1 November last year. He also conveyed condolences<\/a> to the bereaved in a media statement on 1 May this year, six months after the tragedy in Novi Sad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the anniversary of the accident in Novi Sad, the president apologised<\/a> to demonstrators and students who had taken part in protests lasting more than a year and whom he had repeatedly disparaged, the correspondent added in her piece for Dogodki in Odmevi<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Milica Blagojevi\u0107, a journalist with KRIK, Serbia\u2019s network for investigating crime and corruption, told Razkrinkavanje.si that Vu\u010di\u0107, his supporters and pro-government media had labelled the students, who occupied universities in protest and occasionally blocked roads, as \u201cblockaders\u201d and \u201cterrorists\u201d. After violent incidents that, according to the Serbian journalist, were in fact directed against the students, the authorities branded them \u201cthugs, thereby completely distorting the events\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Serbian president further claimed that the protests were an attempt at a \u201ccolour revolution\u201d. As Blagojevi\u0107 explained, this is a propaganda tactic portraying mass protests and public dissatisfaction with state authorities as a foreign-funded attack on the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her view, the president\u2019s latest apology was therefore not sincere. She noted that it was likely intended merely as a signal to a European audience. \u201cIt is crucial to underline that incidents and attacks soon followed Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s apology, targeting citizens who had gathered around the parliament in Belgrade,\u201d Blagojevi\u0107 said. \u201cJournalists and students were attacked, while the police looked on calmly and turned a blind eye,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protesters\u2019 demands, including early elections, remain unmet, she concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to our findings, Banjanac Lubej explained that she had not come across any information while working on the report that would indicate Vu\u010di\u0107 had expressed condolences before 31 October this year. \u201cClearly I did not check this information carefully enough under time pressure. I prepared the draft questions for the presenter myself, so the mistake is my responsibility,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We classify Banjanac Lubej\u2019s claim that Vu\u010di\u0107 expressed condolences to the victims\u2019 families only after a year as a reckless mistake, as the author of the report acknowledged that she had made a mistake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Original article (in Slovenian) was published on 18\/11\/2025; Author: Antun Kataleni\u0107 Serbian President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 expressed his condolences to the families of the victims and their relatives on the day of the tragedy in Novi Sad, on 1 November last year. Sa\u0161a Banjanac Lubej, the Balkan correspondent for public broadcaster RTV Slovenija, reported on 1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":11849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[316],"tags":[25,10,565,28,34],"class_list":["post-11848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-checks","tag-aleksandar-vucic","tag-politics","tag-protests-serbia","tag-serbia","tag-slovenia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11848"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11851,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11848\/revisions\/11851"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seecheck.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}