Blagojevich Making Headlines In Serbia
The case of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not just making headlines in America. It is also top news in Serbia, the country of Blagojevich's family origin.
Pictures of Blagojevich have been dotting the main pages of Serbian newspapers since the FBI accused him of attempting to sell the Senate seat of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
"The Governor Defying Entire America," announced a headline Friday in the daily newspaper Blic after Blagojevich refused to step down in the face of mounting pressure.
Illinois has the largest Serbian community in the U.S. Serb newspapers say the Blagojevich family originated in Serbia and moved to the United States after World War II.
Reports about Blagojevich appear prominently on local television stations. State TV's prime-time news Wednesday evening had live coverage from Chicago about Blagojevich.
Blic reported this week that the villagers in Velike Krcmare, which it called the home-village of the family in central Serbia, refuse to believe that Blagojevich could be guilty.
"We watched the news and could not sleep all night. He must have been framed, it's all politics," Dragan Blagovic, described as a cousin of the governor, was quoted as saying.
Cousin Dragan appeared again in Friday's Blic, saying his famous relative still owns some land in the village so "he can come to Serbia if he cannot take it any more in America."
"He can have a cow or a pig or two, a chicken. ... He is always welcome."
Some Serbs referred jokingly to their own country's record of widespread corruption following decades of Communism and the rule of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia wants a closer relationship with the 27-nation European Union, but the bloc has said Serbia must first do something to root out corruption.
A Blic headline this week read "American Corruption the Serbian Way."
"Naturally, a Serb comes up with a scheme to make money," laughed 39-year-old book seller Svetlana Ciric, according to Blic. "Only, it doesn't work there like it does here."
Dragan Blagojevich said the governor had never visited the village, but that the family in U.S. sends Easter postcards every year.
In 1999, Blagojevich, the only member of Congress of Serbian extraction, accompanied Rev. Jesse Jackson to Yugoslavia to negotiate the release of three American POWs.
Blagojevich, who turned 52 on Wednesday, is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 10 years, respectively.
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Pictures of Blagojevich have been dotting the main pages of Serbian newspapers since the FBI accused him of attempting to sell the Senate seat of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.
"The Governor Defying Entire America," announced a headline Friday in the daily newspaper Blic after Blagojevich refused to step down in the face of mounting pressure.
Illinois has the largest Serbian community in the U.S. Serb newspapers say the Blagojevich family originated in Serbia and moved to the United States after World War II.
Reports about Blagojevich appear prominently on local television stations. State TV's prime-time news Wednesday evening had live coverage from Chicago about Blagojevich.
Blic reported this week that the villagers in Velike Krcmare, which it called the home-village of the family in central Serbia, refuse to believe that Blagojevich could be guilty.
"We watched the news and could not sleep all night. He must have been framed, it's all politics," Dragan Blagovic, described as a cousin of the governor, was quoted as saying.
Cousin Dragan appeared again in Friday's Blic, saying his famous relative still owns some land in the village so "he can come to Serbia if he cannot take it any more in America."
"He can have a cow or a pig or two, a chicken. ... He is always welcome."
Some Serbs referred jokingly to their own country's record of widespread corruption following decades of Communism and the rule of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia wants a closer relationship with the 27-nation European Union, but the bloc has said Serbia must first do something to root out corruption.
A Blic headline this week read "American Corruption the Serbian Way."
"Naturally, a Serb comes up with a scheme to make money," laughed 39-year-old book seller Svetlana Ciric, according to Blic. "Only, it doesn't work there like it does here."
Dragan Blagojevich said the governor had never visited the village, but that the family in U.S. sends Easter postcards every year.
In 1999, Blagojevich, the only member of Congress of Serbian extraction, accompanied Rev. Jesse Jackson to Yugoslavia to negotiate the release of three American POWs.
Blagojevich, who turned 52 on Wednesday, is charged with conspiracy and solicitation to commit bribery, punishable by up to 20 years in prison and 10 years, respectively.
Source