Todorović: Petrović announced that he would beat Knežević to death, the DNP leader did not file a complaint

Democratic People's Party (DNP) spokesperson Jovana Todorović announced today that Jovan Petrović announced that he would beat DNP president Milan Knežević to death, and that Knežević denied any feeling of threat or fear, and that he refused to come to the Security Center (CB) to give a statement.

She stated this in a statement after the Police Directorate (UP) announced earlier today that JP (41) from Berane had insulted Knežević on his Facebook account.

The UP statement states that the state prosecutor at the Basic State Prosecutor's Office in Berane stated that in this specific case there are no elements of a criminal offense that is prosecuted ex officio, and that a misdemeanor charge has been filed against JP for the misdemeanor of insulting another or insolent behavior. The UP also said that Knežević was invited to the police premises, in his capacity as a citizen, to provide information regarding the incident in question, and that he did not do so.

"Regarding the press release of the Police Directorate regarding the arrest of Jovan Petrović, who sent threats to Milan Knežević via the social network Facebook, we are obliged to announce the following. The DNP leader did not file a report due to the threats he received from a certain Jovan Petrović. When called by police inspector Pavle Milutinović from the Central Bureau of Investigation to state whether he felt threatened, Knežević denied any feeling of threat or fear, and refused to come to the Central Bureau of Investigation to give a statement," Todorović stressed in the statement.

She added that "bearing in mind that the prosecution has already determined that there are no elements of a criminal offense in Petrović's post to beat Knežević to death, but rather that it is about insults, then it is quite logical that the DNP president, having learned from the previous reactions of the police and the prosecution, refused to come to the Central Bureau of Investigation and give a statement."

"Qualifying someone's publicly published desire to beat an MP and the president of a parliamentary party to death as a brazen insult represents a huge step forward in expressing civil rights and freedoms, for which we heartily congratulate the prosecution. And the fact that Jovan Petrović did not even delete his post in which he threatened Milan Knežević with death speaks volumes about the strength of the state and its institutions. And finally, for the sake of the public, the reason for this reaction towards Milan Knežević was his statement and position that the supreme head of the Serbian Orthodox Church is His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. Reason enough for someone to want to beat him to death, provided that he does not have to go to prison," Todorović said.