In my previous report on the action “You are Albanian, so you should go back to where you came from” I informed the public that the Government of the Savski Venac Municipality had evicted Ljiljana Nedzibe Mitrović and her two children onto the street without providing other living arrangements. This eviction was aided by the presiding Belgrade city authorities and the Department of Internal Affairs of the Savski Venac municipality.
After posting my report on Women in Black activist Jasmina Tesanović’s blog, I was surprised by the numerous reactions of the citizens of Serbia on this topic. The blog was visited frequently while posted, and the reactions were very positive. The readers were very critical towards the Savski Venac Municipality and supportive of Ljiljana Nedzibe Mitrović. After seeing the citizens’ reactions, I received call from a Savski Venac Municipality administrator, Nemanje Petrović, who stated that he was calling to inform me about the situation of Ljiljana Nedzibe Mitrović. During this call, he asked me to recall my statement from the blog. He said it was causing damage to the municipality and the Republic of Serbia.
The phone call encouraged me to increase my appeals to citizens for actions of solidarity with Ljiljana Nedzibe Mitrovic, and to encourage people to help her find another home. She soon received help so that she would have a place to live for the following six months, when the Second Municipality Court’s final verdict will be made.
Throughout this time I remained in contact with Ljiljana’s lawyer. Her lawyer informed me when she was visited by an investor offering her a settlement lower than the original offer. He said, “I am suffering from a big loss, I am running late in completing my job, and the municipality is causing me some problems at the moment.” At the end of January, Ljiljana’s lawyer let me know that the investor had visited her again. He agreed to fulfill the original offer and paid the full amount to the bank account of Ljiljana Nedzibe Mitrović. In return, Ljiljana had to withdraw all accusations against him.
This account is evidence that without actions of solidarity, such as the one I led in this case, the injustices of the system and the state would triumph over citizens, especially those who are different nationalities.
Belgrade, February 28, 2008 Ljiljana Radovanović
For Women in Black
