Movie director under fire from Serbian state officials, ruling party

Vesna Lalić/Nova.rs

A prominent Serbian movie director’s warning to President Aleksandar Vucic has drawn attacks from state and ruling party officials.

Director Goran Markovic said in an interview to the independent weekly Novi Magazin that he hopes Vucic will remember how Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu ended up and would step down with no blood spilt. Ceausescu was executed by firing squad at the end of a popular rebellion against Romania’s Communist authorities and secret police.

“In my opinion, we should concentrate on him (Vucic) personally, demand that he go and if he doesn’t topple him… We are a people on the brink of survival and if there is any desire for life left we will topple him or else he will finish us off,” Markovic said in the interview.

His words about Ceausescu, drew fierce reactions from officials of Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) including claims that he was calling for Vuccic’s execution by firing squad.

Labor and Social Affairs Minister Darija Kisic Tepavcevic said in an Instagram post that “Serbs disgust” Markovic. “Diagnosis: frustrated and aggressive, artistically impotent with no national identity,” she wrote along with several other offensive and inflammatory remarks.

Prime Minister Ana Brnabic accused Markovic of taking more money from the state than other movie makers, adding that he should be grateful to Vucic.

Vladimir Orlic, a member of the SNS Presidency said that Markovic “is out for blood”, and labeled him as a “typical representative of the self-proclaimed elite”. The SNS called Markovic “a frustrated and failed member of the Serbian opposition”. SNS Main Board member Aleksandar Mirkovic called Markovic’s words “morbid threats” which are part of a “sick campaign of hatred towards Vucic” and linked him to opposition leader Dragan Djilas.

A number of prominent public figures spoke up to defend Markovic from the assault.