Pajtic, Davenport discuss human rights

BELGRADE - Democratic Party (DS) leader Bojan Pajtic met with the head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Michael Davenport on Thursday to discuss a letter he recently sent on behalf of the party to foreign ambassadors in Serbia.

Pajtic reiterated that the letter was not intended to garner him support for his political goals, but for the preservation of independent institutions, rule of law, the rule-of-law state, democracy and human rights in Serbia, the DS said in a statement.

Pajtic explained to Davenport that, over the past two years, 74 DS members have been arrested and that, in dozens of cases, the charges were eventually dropped, but that most of them were declared guilty on the front pages of some media outlets after their arrests had been announced for months before they happened.

"Since its inception, the Democratic Party has been fighting against any type of autocracy of individuals in power, against uncontrolled rule and against pressures on institutions, while the current government is demonstrating that it does not only intend to stifle the opposition, but to also silence any kind of critical opinion," the statement said.

Davenport noted that the EU is committed to rule of law in Serbia and the establishment of independent institutions that will be free of pressure because that is one of the fundamental principles of the European Union, the statement said.

Respect of human rights is the cornerstone of those requirements, and respect of the presumption of innocence and the possibility of fair and just trials is certainly part of the very foundation of building an independent judiciary as a precondition for establishing the rule of law and a rule-of-law state, the DS statement quoted him as saying.