New York Times: What are the connections between the gangster Belivuk and the Serbian authorities? – politics

After the arrest of the notorious “gangster” and leader of the fan group “Ultras”, Veljko Belivuk, who is suspected of having ties to the ruling structure, the question that occupies the public in Serbia is: what led to the arrest of Belivuk, After many years of protection from the authorities they provided close ties to the government and security forces, writes the New York Times.

Photo: EPA / JUSTIN LANE

The American newspaper was interested in arresting the alleged leader of the criminal gang because the violent behavior of the fans of the two major Serbian clubs became “a powerful force in the streets but also in the turbulent political life of Serbia”, as it is stated in its text.

A series of monstrous murders related to the Belgrade football stadium, as the New York Times writes, describing the bunker scenes in Humska, justifies the name of partisan fanatics – “gravediggers”, but concerns the connection of these criminal groups with the authorities.

According to the Serbian government, Belivuk is a brutal mobster whose arrest is a sign of determination to subdue the criminal gangs that have fueled terrible violence since the Balkan wars of the 1990s, the assassination of the prime minister in 2003 and thwarted Serbia’s efforts to become a normal European country.

The message that he will take care of this gang, President Aleksandar Vučić, who is a fervent fan of the Red Star, announced on national television, showing terrifying images of the decapitated bodies of the Belivuk victims.

The New York Times says that many are not satisfied with the explanations of the Serbian authorities about the reasons for the arrest of Belivuk and his 16 associates, and quotes Mirko Poledica, president of the professional footballers union “Nezavisnost”, that the State always control the hooligans fanatics as they do what the state tells them to do.

There is a widespread belief that President Vučić is hiding something, and suspicions are fueled by malicious negative campaigns directed by the pro-regime media against all those who questioned the sincerity of Vučić’s intentions to “deal with the mafia” and The orginazed crime.

Vladimir Vuletic, a professor at Belgrade Law School and former vice president of FC Partizan, who publicly accused Serbian authorities of collusion with the arrested fan leader, was attacked daily by tabloids supporting Vucic, recalls the New York Times .

Prime Minister Brnabić, on the other hand, denied that the government had anything to do with this orchestrated campaign.

The tabloid also targeted investigative media Crick, the newspaper writes, which has been pointing out connections between the Belivuk criminal group and government officials for years.

The dangers of cooperating with hooligans, recalls the New York Times, were most apparent during the Slobodan Milosevic government, under whose regime, during the 1990s, hooligans became part of state-sponsored organized paramilitary groups and committed numerous crimes in Bosnia and Kosovo. .

That Milosevic, whose Vucic was Information Minister, the newspaper recalls, is in serious trouble because of his connections to fanatics and criminals, became clear when ardent Red Star fans chanted “Slobodan, kill yourself” in one of the matches.

Among the star fans who traveled to Zagreb for the game was incumbent President Vučić, according to the New York Times, who then added the words of Zdravko Krivokapić, the prime minister of Montenegro, who said during his recent visit to Belgrade and attendance at the Partizan game that the rise and fall of Belivuka “Vučić’s personal revenge on Partizan”.

Suspicions that Belivuk has powerful friends in power, or at least in the security services, have been circulating since 2016, when he was arrested on murder charges but released after some evidence disappeared or was compromised, the newspaper recalled. .

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