Italian Microsoft engineer witnessed police brutality, threats

It quoted Allesio Laterza (45) who said he was arrested last Thursday near the St Sava Temple by the police JZO (Unit for Protection of Designated Persons and Facilities) with a friend and a colleague. Radar said he was taken to the Serbian Government garage along with dozens of protesters and tortured. He also witnessed JZO commander Marko Kricak threaten to rape one of the girls.

According to Laterza, he was walking towards the St Sava Temple when the police charged the protesters and closed off the area. “We tried to avoid that area and did not realize that the police were parked there. They jumped out of the car and rushed towards us. I shouted that I am not resisting and they handcuffed me and took me to the garage in Nemanjina street,” he said.

“The atmosphere in the building was wild and uncivilized. Policemen were shouting. My friend told me that a girl was threatened with rape in front of everyone. If that had been my sister I don’t know what I would have done. Every rule would have gone out the window,” Laterza said.

The weekly said that Laterza was held without food or water and added that no one told him why he was arrested nor was he allowed to contact the embassy or a lawyer. When he told the police that he had that right, they answered that this is not an American movie.

The ANSA news agency reported Laterza’s release, saying that the Italian Foreign Ministry said that the embassy in Belgrade is handling his legal case. He is a senior software engineer at Microsoft.