Thai prosecutors have dropped charges against the crew of a plane carrying North Korean weapons despite United Nations resolutions that bar Pyongyang from selling arms. The Attorney General's office in Thailand said Thursday [ 11 February] it will not prosecute the five-man crew, whose plane stopped in Bangkok with 35 tons of North Korean weapons on board.

Thai authorities say the men - one from Belarus and four from Kazakhstan - will be sent back to their home countries where they will face charges. The Thai Attorney General's office says the decision was made, at least in part, to maintain good relations with the two countries. The lawyer for the aircrew says the men believed they were transporting oil drilling equipment.

Ken Boutin, a lecturer in international relations who studies security issues at Australia's Deakin University, says it is possible the men had no idea they were smuggling North Korean weapons. "It's not unusual in arms transfers of this type for the carriers of the arms to be unaware of what they're carrying. So, in a sense, charging them may have been charging someone who they knew basically to be innocent of any deliberate attempt to violate UN sanctions," he said.

The United Nations banned all North Korean arms exports after Pyongyang conducted nuclear and missile tests.

After being tipped-off by foreign intelligence agencies, Thai authorities searched the plane when it stopped in Bangkok to refuel last December. They found heavy weapons, including explosives and rocket-propelled grenades, and detained the crew.

Boutin says the interception is not likely to end North Korea's attempts to sell weapons in violation of the UN sanctions. "Basically it's much more difficult to stop aircraft than it is to stop vessels on the high seas. And, all the North Koreans need to do is make sure they choose different routes," he said. "If they'd flown via Vietnam or Myanmar, probably they would have gotten away with it. And, for them, that's what they can do." Boutin says Pyongyang tends to sell weapons to authoritarian governments that other countries refuse to sell to because of human rights abuses.

It is not clear where the plane was headed. US officials have said the arms were destined for a country in the Middle East. The US Embassy in Bangkok had no immediate comment on the decision to release the aircrew.

The main problem is how to divert the politics and social trends from streets into system institutions, Neven Cveticanin says.

After an assault on Nova Srbija leader, Velimir Ilic, and a decision of the Minister of Interior, Ivica Dacic, to permit Ilic to carry a weapon, the question is whether politicians should protect themselves and organize "private armies" or else this is the job of the competent authorities, i.e. the police. Especially when it comes to politicians who tend to "lose control" at times, and to physically assault journalists whose questions they do not like, or else tend to utter open threats to other people.

Neven Cveticanin from the Institute of Social Sciences is not understanding towards concealed carry of firearms. According to him, Serbia has a system problem, not only a current issue, because here the streets, and not the system institutions are still the venue of executions. The main problem is how to divert the politics and social trends from streets into system institutions.

"Issuing a weapon license to Velimir Ilic will by no means improve the situation, as it only means that he has been given a permission to defend himself, again in the street. Instead, the state (regardless of who is the present minister) should make known that nobody shall use force in the street, except the state itself – neither citizens, politicians nor celebrities, and especially criminals, but only authorized officers, i.e. officers of the Ministry of Interior, who should then police well and protect everybody", he says.

Not one of Ilic's colleagues "Politika" contacted has anything against him carrying a gun, and when asked if this was in line with the role of a politician, they reply that conformity with the law is all that matters. Suzana Grubjesic, vice-president of G17 plus, says that if the MoI assessed that someone's safety is threatened, than it is normal that they approved his carry of a weapon. "But this does not justify a statement made by Velimir Ilic, that he would have used a gun if he had had it", she said.

Vice-president of the Democratic Party of Serbia, Milos Aligrudic, says that he does not carry a gun and has no intention to do it. "If somebody wants to attack me because of my political opinion and this kind of work, I take it as my fate", he says and adds that if it depended on him he would launch a weapons reduction campaign, because those who possess guns may use them.

A politician of the Serbian Radical Party, Milorad Mircic, says that what matters is to enforce the law in the entirety, no matter if it regards politicians or other people. According to him, politicians should not have an exclusive position, allowing for carry of a weapon regardless of their physical and psychological state.

The president of the United Serbia, Dragan Markovic Palma, thinks that Velimir Ilic has a legal right to carry a weapon and goes on to say that up to now the MoI had a custom of offering security services if someone's life is in danger, and they have some information about that. "I personally have neither a private body guard nor will I ask for a state one; I do not need any protection. I have a gun, but I do not carry it, because I do not need it. I really do not know what you can achieve with a gun", Markovic says.

To what an extent are the politicians themselves responsible for social violence, or else how did certain individuals contributed with their statements and behaviour to creation of a good environment for escalation of violence in Serbia? Many of us certainly remember how the leader of radicals, Vojislav Seselj, used to wave a gun in front of the (today's) Parliament building and how he had his picture taken with a gun inside the parliament, and how the leader of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, Nenad Canak, invited some to be hanged in Terazije, or how he broke the plate of RTS on the building of Vojvodina Television. Many others, in television programmes, at party debates and meetings did not spare their political opponents in qualifying their persons and work, sometimes using quite hot rhetorics.

Mircic thinks these are not examples illustrative enough to be able to draw a general conclusion. He says that it depends on whether somebody was provoked or not. "When it comes to Seselj, his case is always used for marketing purposes, and nobody takes into account if he was attacked or not", Mircic says adding that the social atmosphere does not depend on the opposition parties. "Recent developments depend on the atmosphere that the government creates and effect that it wants to make". Dragan Markovic Palma again thinks that politicians have a great influence when it comes to "inspiring the unsatisfied citizens to violence", and does not justify violent physical and verbal behaviour of politicians.

"In our society there is an attitude that people who think differently are our enemies, and for such an atmosphere both politicians and media are to blame. If I do not approve someone's opinion, it does not mean that I have to attack him", says Suzana Grubjesic.

Agreeing with the fact that the violent atmosphere most certainly exists, Milos Aligrudic says that everybody, from the media to non-governmental organizations must strive with their behaviour to create an atmosphere that excludes violence.

Milan Nikolic, Director of the Alternative Research Centre says that regardless of whether it is a politician or an "ordinary" citizen, a man has a legitimate right to defense. "As citizens we are too different (elderly, disabled, unable to fight, physically weak…) to be able to say: nobody can carry a weapon. We must be real: there are people who must carry a weapon in order not to be abused in the street", Nikolic says, adding that this is why there must be strict rules related to carry and use of weapons.

"It is very important that not only politicians, but also their interlocutors who are not politicians stick to etiquette. You should not act verbally in an aggressive manner, which easily turns into physical aggression – there are a number of steps that must not be taken. Here in Serbia these fine limits are often disregarded, which leads to politicians being victims of violence", he says.

Neven Cveticanin says that the present generation of politicians is not a cause but a consequence of the institutional chaos in which we have lived for 20 years. "Now we must pay for all the time we took the politics out in the streets – since the "Yoghurt revolution onwards. But if we do not resolve this problem now, we may have a complete chaos – imagine if everybody defended himself – each businessman, each politician, each celebrity, each singer – we would have armed groups walking on the streets", Cveticanin says adding that the state should take the occasion to launch a campaign, which would not only avoid giving weapons out to citizens to defend themselves but would collect everything that is not under control of the state authorities.

Psychiatrist Jovan Maric: "How come you think that Velimir Ilic is known as a conflict maker? He is a very warm and emotional person, a father of five children, ready to help anyone…"

Velimir Ilic, the leader of New Serbia (NS) obtained a concealed carry permit and a license for holding weapons in accordance with the Law on Weapons and Ammunition and within a regular procedure as all other Serbian citizens who fulfill the legal requirements, as stated by the MoI of Serbia.

As we were explained by the police, anyone who is of age, has undergone training, is capable of work, has not been charged for any violation of the Law on Public Order and the Law on Weapons and is not being prosecuted for any crime or minor offense may obtain a weapons registration card for a personal safety weapon. Authorization is also required for acquiring ammunition, up to 60 items per year. A special concealed carry permit may be granted only if the applicant proves that there are extremely convincing safety reasons for this. Moreover, it is considered whether the issue of a permit the safety of other people would be jeopardized, i.e. the public peace and order.

A weapon may be transported without a special authorization if it is dismantled and carried away from ammunition. The police say that around 1,500 Serbian citizens have a concealed carry permit.

Zoran Dragisic, Professor at the Faculty of Security, says that those who have a carry permit may use the weapon in self-defense, defined by the law. "A Concealed Carry Permit is not a License to kill. If the person in question has injured or killed somebody, the prosecution office and the court consider the circumstances and facts and decide if this was done in self-defense", he says.

The Criminal Law states that "an act committed in self-defense is not a crime". Self-defense means counteracting required in order that the doer averts a concurrent illegal attack on his own or someone else's good.

What is meant by "good" is life, body, freedom and property. The law also requires that the defense is simultaneous with the attack, but it also weight the values of the attacked and defended good.

Also, the perpetrator who has crossed the limit of necessary defense may be given a more lenient punishment, or he may be acquitted if due to a great agitation or fear caused by the attack, he/she crossed the limit of necessary defense.