Radio Free Europe recently published the news that Bojan Markovic from the municipality of Ranilug, according to his own testimony, lost his job because he refused to vote for Adriana Hodzic in the Kosovo parliamentary elections on February 14th. The KoSSev portal also picked up and published the news. Last night, however, Markovic denied his previous statement for KoSSev.
As RFE reported, referring to Markovic’s statement, the mayor of Ranilug, Vladica Aritonovic, allegedly asked him to vote for the leader of the newly formed Bosniak initiative from North Mitrovica, rather than SL. Moreover, Aritonovic reportedly gave him a ballot on which the number of this initiative was circled. Markovic, however, refused to do what was asked of him.
He worked for the security company „Scorpion“ based in Urosevac, which is owned by an Albanian. Markovic’s workplace was located within the building of the municipality of Ranilug. The municipality is 60 kilometers from Pristina.
„He called me (cf. the mayor of Ranilug, Vladica Aritonovic) and gave me a ballot, he circled an option and the number on the right side, and said ‘You will do this, vote for Adriana Hodzic, I expect four votes from you’. For me, my parents and my wife to support this option,“ Markovic said in a statement for Radio Free Europe (RFE).
„They called me on February 16th to talk to the mayor. I went and he said ‘where are the votes?’ I said I couldn’t do that, nor did my parents want to vote (cf. for the GI Ujedinjena zajednica),” he added.
On February 21st, seven days after the elections, Markovic was fired from Scorpion. The document that he received on that occasion, into which RFE had an insight, states that his employment was terminated due to a „cut in the number of workers based on the order of the municipality of Ranilug“.
Markovic denied the seriousness of his allegations in a statement for KoSSev last night, insisting that he gave this statement to the journalist using a „joking tone“, while his words were „taken out of context“ and „abused“ and that he „did not bear witness“ to the allegations presented in the article. He further accused the journalist of “sensationalism”. On the other hand, he had only words of praise for Hodzic.
At the same time, the decision of the Supreme Court of Kosovo is pending on the appeal of Adriana Hodzic against the decision of the Electoral Panel for Appeals and Petitions of Kosovo. This panel, acting on the appeal of other Bosniak parties, annulled 4,205 ballots out of a total of 6,422 votes Hodzic received, winning one MP seat.
During the pre-election campaign, as well as after the elections, Bosniak parties, as well as other analysts and public figures, presented numerous accusations against Hodzic and her newly formed initiative of allegedly being a „satellite party“ of SL – which Hodzic denied.
Below we publish the denial of Bojan Markovic in its entirety:
„I, Bojan Markovic, strongly deny the allegations presented in the RFE interview entitled ‘Dismissed because he did not vote for Adriana Hodzic’ because my words were taken out of context and abused for political purposes.
On March 10th, 2021, after a celebration, I accidentally spoke, in a humorous tone, to a person who introduced herself as a journalist – on the street, and on that occasion, I talked about the problem that befell me and my family.
The things mentioned in the interview are not familiar to me, nor have I witnessed such things, and I claim that they were taken out of context.
I talked to the journalist in a joking tone, because I noticed that she was looking for sensationalism.
As an employee of the Scorpion security company, I had no formal or informal meetings with the mayor because that was not in my job description. I will freely express what I think about the work of the mayor in the elections.
I found the ballot that I showed to the journalist on the street and I used it to joke with friends and comrades who are sympathizers of Adriana Hodzic. As a security worker, I was at work when Ms. Hodzic, as a minister, visited the municipality of Ranilug and realized projects in our municipality. Due to that and dissatisfaction with the work of the mayor, I can understand why she gained sympathy and voters in our municipality.
I want to emphasize that I am an ordinary person, a man with a family whose words were brutally abused and whose problem was used for the sake of other people’s interests.
I responsibly claim that I have always used my right to vote at my own will and discretion.
Please publish the denial in its entirety.“
Preuzimanje i objavljivanje tekstova sa portala KoSSev nije dozvoljeno bez navođenja izvora. Hvala na poštovanju etike novinarske profesije.
