Serbia’s Def Min denies Jovanjica marijuana plant is an affair

Nebojša Stefanović
FOTO TANJUG/RADE PRELIĆ

Nebojsa Stefanovic, Serbia’s Defence Minister, denied on Tuesday that the Jovanjica marijuana plant, the largest in Europe, was an affair and blamed the opposition for trying to present it as such.

He also rebuffed accusations that the authorities tried to cover it up, saying, “this Government, fully supported by President Aleksandar Vucic, discovered the case, arrested the suspects and transferred them to the judiciary.”

The independent production Insajder was the first to publish the story about Jovanjica marijuana plant in northern Serbia, following news on the arrest of a few people linked to the illegal growing of cannabis.

It then caught the attention of other independent media and the judiciary. The story ended in two indictments, the second one covering police and state security service members who safeguarded Predrag Koluvija, the plant owner and main defendant.

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Earlier this year, the European Parliament (EP) report mentioned Jovanjica and some other high-profile affairs and called on Serbia’s authorities to deal with them.

On Tuesday, Stefanovic specifically attacked the opposition People’s Party, led by the former Foreign Minister and the President of the United Nations General Assembly from September 2012 and September 2013, Vuk Jeremic.

“Not even a handful of his supporters does not listen to idle gossip about Jovanjica anymore,” Stefanovic said in a written statement.

He also denied affairs linked to his current Ministry and discovered by a whistleblower and independent media, one of them mentioning the role of his late father Branko Stefanovic.

He added that many affairs happened when Jeremic was in power but did not mention any of them.

“Vuk Jermic and his party’s vassals are panicking in fear of the forthcoming elections, especially of Vucic’s candidacy for the second term. They know they have nothing to look for in the elections and had no guts to face people and check their support,” Stefanovic said, alluding to the main opposition parties’ boycott of the 2020 general vote.

Serbia holds presidential, early general, Belgrade and some local elections on April 3 2022.

The early general vote seems to be forced by the 2020 ballot, which ended in an almost unified parliament without any opposition except a couple of representatives of a minority party.