Center for Social Stability creates “hit list”: 45 journalists and regime critics targeted

“Popcorn ready? No tickets needed? Settle into your armchairs… 5D is starting.”

This was the mocking tone used on the Center for Social Stability’s Instagram profile to announce the continued crackdown on independent journalists in Serbia.

The list includes a total of 45 names, mostly journalists, whom the organization intends to focus on in the coming days, Nova reported.

Every journalist interviewed by Nova regarding the list agreed on two things: first, that the regime is undoubtedly the one effectively drawing up these hit lists; and second, that they would have been disappointed if their names weren't on it.

Milan Culibrk, editor of the weekly magazine Radar, expressed exactly that.

“To be honest, I would be disappointed if I wasn’t there. I would be worried about what I’m doing with my life if I didn’t make that list,” Culibrk said.

He is certain that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) is behind the Center for Social Stability, and quite openly so, since one of the organization’s founders is the current Minister for European Integration, Nemanja Starovic, along with several state secretaries.

“That is why I think what they’re doing is cowardly. They should have signed it as the Serbian Progressive Party, or as an outpost of the Serbian Government, anything but pretending to be an NGO. It’s no secret that the authorities have long had lists of ‘undesirable people.’ To them, anyone who thinks differently is an enemy of the state and a traitor, yet we can all see who is actually selling off both our national wealth and our national interests,” Culibrk said.

When asked if he believes his safety, and the safety of others on the list, is threatened, he replied:

“Certainly, but honestly, I don’t think about it and I don’t care, as long as I do my job professionally and as God and the law dictate. And that means informing the public objectively and in a timely manner.”