Serbia's Ex-President Denies Blackmailing Dacic

Serbia's former president, Boris Tadic, has told BIRN that reports that he and his former associates were behind the publication of the video of Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic meeting a drugs gangster were an "insinuation"."If someone accuses me directly of the publication of videos, I will press charges against him immediately," he said.On Tuesday, however, Dacic publicly accused Tadic of being the organizer of a campaign against him.

Dacic told a news conference that Tadic had wanted to use the tapes for the purpose of blackmail and in his fight against his political enemies.

He added that Tadic did not attain his objective of forcing Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic into calling early elections, however."Knowing Vucic and that he does not stand blackmail, we are further from elections than we were. He [Tadic] missed again," Dacic said. He recalled being blackmailed about the videos if he entered a coalition government with the Progressive Party but did not say who had threatened him and when. The journalists' network for investigating crime and corruption, KRIK, released videos on Monday, which they said showed Dacic meeting drug gangster Rodoljub Radulovic while he was the Interior Minister.Radulovic was considered a close associate of Darko Saric, who was jailed on July 13 for 20 years for smuggling cocaine.Media reports claimed Tadic was behind the release of the videos because he wanted to shake the current Progressive-led government, in which Socialist leader Dacic is Foreign Minister, and discredit him in order to replace the Socialists in the government.Before Dacic's press conference was held, Tadic told BIRN that Dacic would likely blame him for the affair."What else Dacic can do but to accuse me? Can he accuse his coalition partners? This...

Continue reading on: