UNS info

01. 04. 2019.

Author: D. Bjelica ???source???: UNS

UNS finds out: Bogoljub Pješčić sent a threatening SMS to Beta editor

Former owner of the internet provider Absolut OK Bogoljub Pješčić confirmed for the Journalists’ Association of Serbia (UNS) that he had sent an SMS to editor in chief of Beta Dragan Janjić and that he had been interrogated by the police because of the respective

“If there are any riots on Saturday, it seems to me that Beta will be burnt down. Nothing horrible like in RTS, democratically expressed dissatisfaction”, was written in a message that on Wednesday came to cell phone of Dragan Janjić. Beta reported threatening SMS to the police, but it did not announce to the public that the identity of the person that had sent the message had been known to the editor and the desk.

Both Pješčić and Janjić confirmed for UNS that they had known each other for long time. Pješčić denies that he threatened Janjić and Beta, while Janjić claims that he had been listening to objections regarding Beta editorial policy for quite some time, but that the reported SMS was not an objection but a threat that he had to share with the staff.

“I know who sent the message. Beta reported it, because it is about a threat to Beta, and the message arrived to my phone. I know the guy for quite a long and I don’t know what happened to him”, Janjić said to UNS and confirmed that Absolut OK, company previously owned by Pješčić, had been the internet provider for Beta until it was sold to SBB.

Pješčić said to UNS that he had known Beta editor for 25 years; that the information system of Beta had been developed by Absolut OK, that he knew well Janjić’s son as well and that he had worked at his company Absolut OK, where he had continued to work also upon the change of owner. Pješčić denies the claims that it is a threat but that the SMS he sent to Janjić happened due to Janjić’s tweet he disagreed with.

“He tweeted that it was, kind of a time to end that charade and story about the intrusion into the RTS; that it was all a mere stupidity and that nothing actually happened. And then I wrote what kind of Dragan’s reaction would be if only one man had come and started to shout in Beta, only one. I wrote him a message: “Dragan, if some stupidity happens in Belgrade and Beta burns down, would that be OK as well”. After that I called him and talked to him for about 15 minutes and I said: “Come on, Dragan, don’t be like that; you cannot be such a fascist to your colleagues. Whether you agree with them or not- it’s a different matter, they are still some kind of your colleagues. But, to support the crowds of any kind, of any political affiliation is distasteful to me.”