The British newspaper Guardian reported today about the death threats addressed to the scientific associate of the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade, Aleksandar Matković, whom he describes as one of the environmental activists who are at the head of the demonstrations against the opening of a lithium mine in Serbia.
The newspaper states that Matković thought the first message, which was sent to him on August 14 around midnight via the Telegram application, was a joke. The message read "We will follow you until you disappear, you scum".
"At first I thought someone was joking, but during the morning I received another message, with the question 'how is the fight against Rio Tinto going', from another unknown profile, and the application showed that the distance of the sender was 500 meters from me," reports the Guardian. Matković's words.
The text states that Matković lives in Belgrade, but that at the time he was in Split with a friend, and that this suggested to him that he was being followed. His concern was further heightened by the mention of Rio Tinto, whose plan to open a $2,4 billion lithium mine had sparked a huge protest in Belgrade four days earlier, the newspaper added.
"When I saw how far away the sender was, I thought, 'What the hell is going on?' The idea that someone might be following me was terrifying, so I contacted my lawyer, and about an hour later I received a third message. This time it was very serious," said Matković.
In the third message, in bad German, it was written that "they know about his relationship with the leaders of the rebellion", the British newspaper says and adds that Matkovic is one of the authors of the Jadar declaration against lithium mining, which activists from several countries signed in July 2022 in front of headquarters of Rio Tinto in Gornji Nedeljice.
"We know that everything originates from you. And if you misbehave and then disappear somewhere, we will follow you. We will follow you, and you can't even ask for the police's help because you know very well that you can't, trust me. Stay away public for a while if you want to continue writing and breathing. Behave impeccably on social networks. You must understand that you should be afraid for yourself and for your little brother," reports the Guardian.
Matković then reported the threats to the Belgrade police, who opened an investigation, according to the Guardian, referring to the correspondence he had access to.
A few days before he received death threats, Matković published an open letter in the opposition newspaper Danas in which he advocated for alternative forms of green transportation, according to the Guardian.
The paper adds that the issues in question are complex and have implications that extend far beyond the public prosecutor's office in Belgrade.
The campaign against lithium mines in Serbia has mobilized tens of thousands of people for several years, including ultranationalists angry about economic integration with the West, environmentalists, leftists and local residents who fear their groundwater will be poisoned, the paper said.
The Guardian also states that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić warned last Sunday that those opposition forces were preparing a "colored revolution".
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