BETA DAILY NEWS
NGOs CONDEMN TREATMENT OF
MURDER OF GAY ACTIVIST
January 13
A number of non-government and other
organizations in Belgrade condemned the manner in which the authorities were treating the
murder of Dejan Nebrigic, the founder of the Arkadija gay rights movement in Serbia. They
especially protested the statement by the Pancevo district court investigative judge in
the case, Nedeljko Martinovic, who said that organizations such as Arkadija were "a
danger to society."
The Belgrade-based Politika Ekspres daily on Jan. 5 quoted
Martinovic as saying, "Arkadija was practically 'a ticket' to various sects, which
are waging a special war against our country."
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Yugoslavia
Chairwoman Sonja Biserko said that Milanovic's statement was "an indicator of the
creation of a fascist society." She said that Martinovic's statement was
"another in a series of attempts to marginalize the right of all minorities,"
and that it also "shows the level of his professionalism and ethics and a crude abuse
of his official position."
Officials of several non-government organizations attended
the meeting held at the Belgrade-based Center for Cultural Decontamination on Jan. 11.
They concluded that during his life time Nebrigic had consistently campaigned against
homophobia and all forms of discriminations, and recalled that he actively participated in
the anti-war movement.
Those attending the meeting, including Lepa Mladjenovic and
Dusan Maljkovic of Arkadija, and Natasa Rasic of the Humanitarian Law Fund, concluded that
Serb society was extremely homophobic and susceptible to other forms of discrimination.
The Belgrade press reported that Nebrigic (28) was
strangled with a computer cable in his apartment in Pancevo during the night between Dec.
28 and Dec. 29. Milan Lazarov, a suspect in the murder case, said during the investigation
that he had supplied the late Nebrigic with narcotics, but denied that he had an affair
with the victim.
Nebrigic, who called himself "the only openly gay man
in Serbia," accused the police of failing to protect him after his apartment was
robbed four times in 1999 out of what he had described as "pure homophobic
unruliness." |
