Serbian journalist in exile: "Everything started when Vučić came to power"

Introducing Marko Vidojković (48), who is, among other things, a writer, former editor-in-chief of the magazines "Maksim" and "Playboy", TV host, podcaster and columnist of the newspaper "Danas", Frankfurter Rundschau journalist Evelyn Schau writes that he is "one is one of the most prominent critics of President Aleksandar Vučić".

"Since the publication of the novel 'Garbage' at the end of 2020, he received about a hundred death threats and did not leave his apartment for almost two years. At the beginning of 2023, the pressure became so great that he fled abroad with the help of the international association of writers PEN. It included him on the list 115 of the worst cases of repression of freedom of thought in the world. Since then, he and his wife have been traveling around Europe, hiding from the public."

"The regime rules by intimidation"

When asked why he had to leave the country, Vidojković states that, "the closer the regime is to the end, the more severe the attacks on its critics", and that "in the last two or three years, it has become unbearable".

He says that "the regime rules by intimidation, with total media censorship and complete suppression of all critical voices", that "it controls almost all media, all public television and more than 90 percent of daily newspapers and magazines".

Vidojković reminds that he has been active in the public since 2004, that he "harshly criticized the governments of Vojislav Koštunica and Boris Tadić", and then points out: "But I never feared for my life." It all started when Vučić came to power". Vidojković also adds that "the attacks come directly from Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić".

"The government wants to intimidate others"

In any other country, he says, his work would at best be perceived as an "alternative marginal position". But in Serbia, criticism of the regime made him "the target of numerous orchestrated campaigns." He believes that "the authorities want to intimidate others" with their attitude towards him.

When they launch a campaign against someone, he explains, the attacks are all over the front pages at once, followed by thousands of attacks on social media. "If, like me, you are characterized as a traitor because you dared to speak about the genocide in Srebrenica or because you criticized the Serbian Orthodox Church, death threats will soon arrive in your mailbox or be broadcast live on national television," says Vidojković.

The German journalist also reminds that Vidojković condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine, and that he was the target of new threats then, and asks him if this is a consequence of the increase in Putin's influence on Serbia. Vidojković only briefly replies that Serbia is balancing between fronts, that on the one hand it will not impose sanctions on Russia, and on the other hand "Vučić has proven that he supplies weapons to Ukraine".

"You have no friends anymore, because everyone is afraid"

Then he returns to the attacks on him, which, he says, started back in 2020, when he published the novel "Dumb", in which the theme is "the regime and contemporary Serbian society".

When asked how his environment reacts to everything that happens to him, Vidojković says that "in such a situation you no longer have friends, because everyone is afraid". Then he talks about the death threats that came to the newspaper "Danas" for which he is a columnist, and how "Aleksandar Vulin publicly threatened him with arrest".

"And when someone like that threatens you," he says, "then you can no longer feel safe."

And does she feel safe in exile, asks a journalist from a German newspaper. "Not really. My wife and I, as well as my mother in Serbia, always carry pepper spray with us. Some people recognize me even outside the country. On the other hand, I don't want to hide. I'm cautious, but not paranoid. It was different in Serbia. With a reason, because the danger is real", says Marko Vidojković for the "Frankfurter Rundschau".