{"id":3082,"date":"2025-10-03T08:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pokretmeri.org.rs\/home\/?p=3082"},"modified":"2025-10-03T08:19:25","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T06:19:25","slug":"voices-of-justice-in-front-of-the-ministry-of-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pokretmeri.org.rs\/home\/2025\/10\/03\/voices-of-justice-in-front-of-the-ministry-of-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices of Justice in Front of the Ministry of Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The MERI Movement brought the “Voices of Justice” in front of the Ministry of Health on September 17.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The right to life is not a privilege. It is the foundation without which society crumbles \u2013 and when the state forgets that, families are left alone in the face of silence. Because of that silence, we gathered in front of the Ministry of Health: not to count tragedies, but to bear witness to the truth \u2013 the state has denied the right to life, and this is no longer an individual failure, but a consequence of a system that does not exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In front of the ministry stood a row of ten empty chairs. On each \u2013 initials, city, and years of life. Without names, without capital letters, just black on white. Each chair was a place that should have been occupied by a person, but was taken by the silence of the system. A white flower on the backrest reminded us that these are not numbers, but lives cut short while the state remained silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The gathering was opened by a choir performing the song “Cveta tre\u0161nja u planini” (“The Cherry Tree Blooms in the Mountain”). That quiet, dignified song set the tone for what followed: testimonies from families in the “Voices of Justice” series, performed as a unified performance. These are not fictions or dramatizations, but the living voices of those left without their loved ones \u2013 and who today demand the most basic thing: that a call for help never again goes unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This gathering was not just a protest; it was a record of the state’s absence and a vow that, as long as life has “working hours” and death works overtime, we will speak clearly: life must be above everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening Address <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the atmosphere created by the choir, the host opened the program with a quiet but powerful address. “Today, we are not here to celebrate, but to bear witness. To bear witness to lives that were extinguished because the state failed to fulfill its first and greatest obligation \u2013 to protect the right to life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He reminded everyone that these are not fictions or dramatizations, but the bare truth \u2013 stories of people who called for help and were met with silence. “Families died twice: first with their loved ones, and second when they realized the state would not stand by them.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This clearly conveyed that these are not accidents, but consequences \u2013 consequences of a non-existent system, laws that remained dead letters on paper, and a state that has remained silent for years while citizens lose their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program was hosted by Milo\u0161 \u0110aji\u0107, an activist and communications expert \u2013 founder of the Center for Modern Skills, campaign strategist, trainer, and blogger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speech by the Association President <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On behalf of the “Right to Life \u2013 MERI” movement, President Dejan Zejnula addressed the gathered crowd. His speech was a testimony of pain turned into a fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The MERI Movement was not created by people, but by institutions \u2013 through their inaction, silence, and cover-ups. It arose from rejected calls, false reports, and cold bureaucratic sentences.”Zejnula emphasized that the movement’s goal is clear \u2013 Serbia must get a law on emergency services. And he added: “It is tragic and shameful that we even have to demand it. The right to life should be taken for granted. It should be a human, humane, sacred right \u2013 that when you call for help, it arrives.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He recalled the words of Du\u0161ko Radovi\u0107: “Marriage is regulated by law only when it can’t be otherwise.” \u2013 and stressed that this is exactly why we are demanding a law on emergency services today, because the state itself refused to protect the lives of its citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, he thanked his son, a symbol of the fight and the strength to not forget this crime: “He is the reason I haven’t given up for five years. As long as I have his gaze and his faith \u2013 this fight will continue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The message was unequivocal:
“The right to life is not a privilege. It is the foundation of every other right. And we will not stop defending it until every voice and every life in this country is safe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symbolism: “SYSTEM” Tape<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


After the opening address, family members came to the microphone one by one. After introductions and opening sentences, a black tape with the inscription “SYSTEM” was placed over their mouths \u2013 a sign of the attempt to silence the families’ voices. The tape stood as a shackle: a sign of the legal vacuum, bureaucratic coldness, and all the “procedures” that turned life into silence. While they stood with the tape, the movement’s president, as support and witness, continued their story instead \u2013 with sentences that institutions refused to hear. And then, toward the end of each testimony, the families removed the tape and completed their own testimony with clear, unequivocal messages. In the silence after the last sentence, what the paper persistently hides became visible: the state has denied the right to life \u2013 and tried to deny the right to a voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voices of the Families <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Radica Rudakov spoke about her father Marinko<\/a>, a man who worked his whole life, paid taxes, and believed there was a system \u2013 and then, on that January night, heard that “Emergency services do not respond after 7 PM.”
“My father did not die by chance. He died from a system that does not exist. He died because the absence of rules means the absence of responsibility.” Radica reminded us that in Serbia, not only does a person die, but dignity as well \u2013 because after her father’s death, official papers stated that a ‘detailed examination’ was performed, even though no one ever saw him.
Radica ended her address with a question: And so today I ask Minister Lon\u010dar \u2013 how many more fathers must die in silence before we finally say: ENOUGH?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jovana Tomi\u010di\u0107 spoke about her father Stevan \u2013 Buca.<\/a>
“We called three times, begged three times, screamed three times \u2013 and three times heard the same: ‘Bring him yourself.'”
Her father passed away in front of the family while the state refused to respond. “My dad did not die naturally. He died from neglect, from a legal vacuum where there are no protocols, no responsibility \u2013 so no guilt. Just death and silence.”
Jovana’s message was: This is not an unfortunate accident; this is the consequence of a system that does not exist. And until the system exists, none of us is safe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Radovan Jovanovi\u0107 testified about his brother Sr\u0111an from Leskovac:<\/a>
“At 12:58, the first call \u2013 no one answers. At 12:59 \u2013 busy. Only on the third try, a voice on the line… but not help.” Instead of a team, the family received instructions to measure blood pressure. Sr\u0111an passed away at home while neighbors turned into an ambulance. “My brother wasn’t killed by one person. He was killed by a system that does not exist. A state that refuses to adopt bylaws, and so instead of justice, we have only funerals.”
Radovan’s message was clear: For Sr\u0111an. For all our brothers, sisters, and children. For the right to life, which is not a privilege \u2013 but the state’s obligation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ratko \u017divkovi\u0107 spoke about his wife Zlata<\/a>, but also about the humiliation that followed when he tried to learn the truth. “When I asked for audio recordings, they told me I couldn’t have them. When I raised my voice, they looked at me with smirks. And then they accused me \u2013 not for what I did, but for what I refused to forget.”
Ratko told the institutions: “I’m not a dangerous man. Dangerous is the system that allows a woman to die without help, and declares her husband guilty for asking about her voice.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Demands of the Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After these addresses, concrete demands were presented \u2013 so that this silence gets a response from the state, not another excuse. We demand:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Revision of all “extraordinary external controls” in cases of fatal outcomes due to delays or non-response of emergency services \u2013 because it is absurd to claim “there were no failures” where rules didn’t even exist.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Urgent adoption of bylaws and protocols on the operation of emergency services (within 90 days), aligned with ERC\/ESC recommendations \u2013 so that the number 194 once again means help, not silence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. Ban on commercial engagements of emergency services while teams are lacking for citizens, with public records and sanctions for every violation \u2013 life is not a commodity.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        1. Dismissal of the leadership of the Institute for Emergency Medicine in Belgrade due to a series of abuses and negligent work, as well as receiving a delegation of families by the minister to deliver the demands.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

          With these demands, we conveyed: these are not individual cases \u2013 this is the consequence of a system that does not exist.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Special Moment \u2013 A Child’s Voice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

          After the harrowing testimonies from families, a moment followed that left the audience breathless. The host announced \u0110or\u0111e Zejnula, the son of the movement’s president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          “There are words that hurt more than any speeches. There are questions that no minister, no doctor, and no judge will ever know how to answer. And those questions are asked by a child \u2013 to the one who is no longer there. While adults write complaints and submit demands, one child wrote a letter. A letter to his mom.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \u0110or\u0111e stepped in front of everyone present, not as a politician, not as an expert, but as a child who lost his mother. The letter he read, which he wrote at less than 6 years old, was stronger than any report or verdict \u2013 a testimony that tears the heart and shows the truth: that one child in this country had to learn what a legal vacuum means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n