Bomb threat just Dokic's idea of a joke

Selma Milovanovic

May 11, 2009

THREATS to blow up the Australian ambassador were a joke and bombs found in his home were souvenirs from the war in Croatia, a handcuffed Damir Dokic told a Serbian magistrate.

Dokic, 50, faced court just days after reacting wildly to claims by his daughter Jelena that he had physically abused the tennis player. He is being held in a Serbian jail for up to 30 days after police raided his home and said they found weapons, including two bombs.

Earlier he allegedly told Serbian media he would fire a rocket at the Australian ambassador, Clare Birgin, if she did nothing to stop Australian media reports of his alleged violence towards Jelena.

Dokic has been charged with illegal weapons possession and endangering another person's safety. His lawyer was due to seek bail for Dokic yesterday.

Dokic told Serbian media the alleged threats were not serious. "I only wanted to ask the embassy to investigate who had spread the misinformation. I told reporters that I would fire a wasp [rocket] at her when I was upset and as a joke." Dokic, a Serbian war veteran, said the bombs were a souvenir he had "totally forgotten about".

He had bought 20 bullets at a fair in the town of Ruma as souvenirs. They did not fit hunting rifles he legally owned, also seized in the raid.

Dokic's lawyer, Bosiljka Djukic, said the threats were a "media beat-up" and that she would ask for her client to be transferred to hospital if his blood pressure and sugar levels continued to rise.
Dokic "may have said something to an embassy employee while upset but those were by no means serious threats".

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said Dokic, an Australian citizen, would be offered consular assistance. The offer came days after Dokic said he would sue the Australian Government for $2 million for pain and suffering caused by the expulsion of his family from Australia.

The magistrate, Branislav Rakicevic, told reporters Dokic had been remanded because of the "likelihood he would reoffend".

A pub owner in the village of Vrdnik told a newspaper of Dokic's frequent visits to the pub. He was "liberal with drinks, and tips to the musicians". He often asked a mandolin orchestra to play his favourite folk song, Oh, Jelo, Jelena, but with the bang of a fist, always halted them after the first refrain. Djordje Knezevic, a local, said: "All of us have our faults, but Dokic is an extremely nice and educated man who has done a lot for Vrdnik."

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