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The pro-government media has been speculating for days about the connection of certain people from the police to members of the Veljko Belivuk clan.
In the official media reports on the activities of the Veljko Belivuk criminal clan, along with the inevitable details of the investigation, which by law should be secret, another trend has been noted in recent days.
Photo: STARSPORTVarious newspapers began to indirectly accuse certain police officers of collaborating with members of the criminal organization, and these speculations ranged from discovering that operational data had been found on opposing criminal groups in possession of the clan, to discovering that the police director had avoided attending to a conference. .means of communication so as not to offend detainees.
Noting that the police certainly deserve part of the responsibility because the clan members were not arrested earlier, Danas interlocutors point out that the main objective of these media attacks is to divert attention from the responsibility of political officials.
Bogoljub Milosavljevic, a law professor and former lecturer at the Police Academy, points out that in a democratically organized country, it would make sense to put all responsibility on the police.
– The responsibility of the police for the growth of this criminal organization can hardly be disputed. A group of that size simply did not dare to go unnoticed and the police had to react sooner. However, in a country where the influence of politics on the work of the police is abnormally great, criticism cannot fall exclusively on them, Milosavljevic points out, adding that no criminal organization can grow and operate in the long term, without the support from state agencies.
Recalling some previous cases in which accusations by the media served as the basis for firings at the top of the police, Milosavljevic notes that he would not be surprised to see a similar epilogue this time.
– It remains to be seen if these accusations will be investigated and if those responsible will be punished. Given some previous cases, it would not be unexpected that this media preparation is only a platform for personnel change. Changes in the police are not necessarily a bad thing in themselves, but the key question is by what criteria people change and are named, says Milosavljevic.
Bojan Elek, a researcher at the Belgrade Center for Security Policy, claims that the police director’s term will soon expire, so he doubts there is an intention behind the media articles to remove him from that post.
As he claims, during his tenure, Vladimir Rebić showed that he does not mind leaving the leadership to the politicians, and that in that sense he is not “politically dangerous”.
– I think the basic meaning of these texts is to divert the public’s attention. The goal is to shift the conversation to the connections of police officers with members of this organization, rather than talking about the connections of political officials. Also, the Veljko Belivuk arrest case strikes me as a kind of distraction from the Jovanjic case, which is much more unpleasant for government officials, Elek notes.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić also spoke yesterday about this case and, as a guest on Pink TV, noted that she sincerely cares for the safety of President Aleksandar Vučić.
She called Veljko Belivuk’s group more serious than the Zemun clan and “the tip of the iceberg.”
– When President Aleksandar Vučić announced the fight against the mafia, which he thought was stronger than the state, he meant it – then many laughed, now they are nervous, they use some organizations, media and forums to get out of this – but I believe that it will not be successful and we will purify society and the political scene, said Ana Brnabić. He noted that the opposition was not “particularly pleased with this blow to organized crime”, adding that they continued to connect Vučić and his family with the most terrible criminals the next day.
The secretary of the DVT resigned after a police hearing
Zoric: There was no pressure for him to quit.
Belgrade /// Tomo Zoric, former secretary of the Council of State Prosecutors, confirmed that he resigned for moral reasons. In a brief statement to Danas, Zoric said that he decided to take this step after proving the veracity of his claims to end the entire case. According to him, no one pressured him to resign, pointing out that it was a personal act.
It should be remembered that Zoric, together with the deputy of the Second Basic Prosecutor’s Office of Belgrade, Milica Ljubicic, attended the arrest of Milos Djukanovic, who was summoned for an informative conversation as part of a police action against Veljko Belivuk’s group. Both Zoric and Ljubicic gave statements about this case to the police. As Zoric pointed out in an earlier conversation with Danas, he met with Djukanovic so that he could hand over the electricity bills paid, considering that he uses the apartment rented by Zoric’s mother. In his own words, Zoric documented this claim during discussions at SBPOK.
The Association of Judges and Prosecutors of Serbia (UST) assessed in a statement yesterday that the decision to resign from Tomo Zoric was a moral act worthy of all respect, adding that they believe it was preceded by fierce and inappropriate pressure within the organization of the fiscal.
“UST believes that the State, as well as judicial officials, should have a very high sense of responsibility, including morality, and in that sense we can only praise the courageous and above all moral decision of Tomo Zoric that, protecting the unstable reputation of the judiciary only on the basis of clues, resign. The UST recalls that in the same judicial body, other people in much more important positions, faced with much more serious suspicions that they did not respect the minimum moral standards, did not resign “. ad. VJ
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