Reaction
Initially reported in Sunday bulletins as a traffic accident with four casualties, it soon became clear that there was much more to the crash.
The very next day, on Monday, Drašković himself called it a "clear attempt on my life".
Other political factors in Serbia at the time also reacted on the same day. The opposition coalition Alliance for Changes (SZP) called on the Serbian police authorities to "investigate every single detail of the crash". Speaking as a SZP representative, Democratic Party president Zoran Đinđić said that the traffic accident near Lazarevac looked suspicious. He also relayed his expectation about the authorities "providing an immediate and convincing explanation of the event because if that doesn't happen, there will be suspicions that something abnormal occurred". Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) vice president Milorad Jovanović said that "it's too early to discuss the reasons for this tragedy since the police didn't yet provide all the information". The release by the New Democracy political party was the strongest: it clearly referred to the event as an "assassination attempt on Drašković" and strongly condemned it.
On Tuesday, 5 October, Veselin Bošković was buried at Topčider cemetery in Belgrade. Many opposition leaders came to the funeral, however no one from the ruling coalition showed up. Eulogizing his brother-in-law, Drašković gave an impassioned speech:
| “ | May those evil people be damned, those lucifers who've been building their own happiness for the last 10 years on the misery and sorrow of others. They've killed so much humanity, they've taken so much blood, they've destroyed countries, they've been producing only hatred - for how much longer? And, God, to you I pose a question: why do you let the worst kill our best. If it's because the foundation of a new Serbia needs to have the best laid into it - then I say to you - you've already taken too many of the good ones, don't let the evil ones kill the good ones any longer, enough of the good ones have already been laid into the foundation. | ” |
On the following day, Wednesday, 6 October, Zvonko Osmajlić, Vučko Rakočević, and Dragan Vušurović were being laid to rest at the same cemetery, and Drašković delivered another impassioned eulogy:
| “ | All of those who killed these individuals will pay with their heads. That will not be revenge, but justice. The majority of citizens, not just SPO, have had it with the empire of evil that has torn down everything that we built up since Karađorđe, onwards. That empire will be torn down. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Ibar Highway Assassination Attempt
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