The “Spiegel” has its report on the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić and the suspicion that he might have had something to do with the “manhunt” in the Bosnian war in Sarajevo, was put back online in its original version after the magazine obtained a statement from Vučić in which he rejected the allegations. The Hamburg Regional Court had previously declared passages of the article unlawful by means of an interim injunction because such a statement was missing (ref. 324 O 170/2).
“The statement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was subsequently supplemented,” it says in an editorial note at the end of the article. “The passages containing details of the allegations that have since been removed for legal reasons have now been completely restored.”
The “Spiegel” reports, among other things, the accusation that Vučić was one of the “volunteers” who were “entitled to accompany ‘foreign guests'” and that he handed over 20,000 German marks that an “Italian guest” had given to the Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo “donated”.
This refers to a participant in the so-called Sarajevo safaris, which took place during the Bosnian war between 1992 and 1995 and is said to have consisted of foreigners traveling to Sarajevo, hunting people in the city under Serbian escort, shooting civilians – children, adults and the elderly – from ambush and paying for the murders.
Vučić’s spokeswoman, it now says in “Spiegel”, stated that he had never served under the Serbian commander mentioned in this context in the text and was not a member of a unit commanded by him – the commander himself had confirmed this several times during his lifetime. “Spiegel” did not prove the “authenticity, origin and context” of the documents attributed to this commander.
Vučić’s lawyer, who obtained the interim injunction before the Hamburg Regional Court, said at the FAZ’s request that they would examine the “Spiegel” article that has now been posted online and then decide whether there was a “title violation” and whether the article was again illegal or journalistically unobjectionable.
