Serbia Ruling Party Official Sentenced for Arson Attack on Journalist’s House

Dragoljub Simonovic, the former president of the Belgrade municipality of Grocka and a member of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party, SNS, has been sentenced to five years in prison for inciting other persons to jeopardize the life of journalist Milan Jovanovic.

On the night of December 11-12, 2018, three persons throw a Molotov cocktail at the car of the wife of Jovanovic, journalist of the "Zig info" portal. The fire then spread to his garage and house, while Jovanovic and his wife were sleeping there.

Besides Simonovic, three others were sentenced - Vladimir Mihajlovic to four years in prison, Aleksandar Marinkovic to four years and six months, and Vladimir Novakovic to three years and six months, as the perpetrators of this crime.

Marinkovic was tried in absentia as he has been on the run since 2020, and an international warrant has been issued for him.

This is the second first-instance verdict, since the first one, under which all the defendants were sentenced to prison, was annulled by the Court of Appeal, which ordered a retrial.

Simonovic categorically denied the accusations while Jovanovic claimed that he was attacked solely because of his writing about the affairs of Simonovic, then Mayor of Grocka.

All the defendants have the right to appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The case was shaped by political accusations. The prosecutor that led the case initially, Predrag Milovanovic, who achieved a first-instance verdict against the mayor was released from the case by State Prosecutorial Council, although he wanted to finish what he had started and get a final conviction.

The decision stirred controversy because the accused mayor told Milovanovic in 2019 at his trial that it could happen that he would not...