Will alleged crime ties damage Serbia's ruling party?
Pressure on President Aleksandar Vucic is growing as years of investigations into alleged links between the state and organized crime coincide with a gang war
Pressure on President Aleksandar Vucic is growing as years of investigations into alleged links between the state and organized crime coincide with a gang war. Experts say the issue is eroding support within his base. When Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milic allegedly tried to broker peace between two rival underworld figures — Sasa Vukovic and Aleksandar Nesovic — at an upmarket restaurant in one of the Serbian capital's wealthiest neighborhoods on May 12, the meeting ended in bloodshed. According to prosecutors' initial account, Vukovic shot Nesovic at least ten times. Nesovic's body was discovered several days later, buried inside a barrel outside Belgrade. Investigators initially alleged that Milic had helped cover up the crime. The case unfolded in mid-May and quickly dominated headlines in Serbia. For many Serbs, the most disturbing question was why the head of the country's largest police department was meeting two prominent figures from the criminal underworld in the first place. For Stevan Dojcinovic, editor-in-chief of the investigative outlet KRIK, however, the case itself is not that remarkable. Serbia's students lead nationwide anti-corruption protests To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "The fact that a police chief is linked to organized crime and allegedly involved in criminal activity is, unfortunately, nothing new in Serbia," Dojcinovic told DW. "We've seen this pattern repeatedly over the years." Shifting alliances Stevan Dojcinovic has spent years investigating the ties between organized crime, state institutions and Serbia's ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). In his view, the relationship goes far beyond isolated cases of corruption. "The Serbian state has become deeply entangled with organized crime," he said. "The ruling party and key figures around President Aleksandar Vucic cooperate with different criminal groups depending on political interests and circumstances." According to Dojcinovic, those shifting alliances have helped fuel Serbia's underworld wars.
More than 100 people have been killed in gang-related assassinations over the past decade, many of them in broad daylight and in public places. That is why, he says, the latest killing was not unusual. "It became a major story because it suited certain factions within the ruling party," said Dojcinovic. "Different factions within the party have cultivated relationships with different criminal groups. Those criminal groups are now at war with one another — and so are the political interests behind them." A decade of evidence Over the past decade, allegations about ties between Serbia's political leadership and organized crime have been reinforced by court proceedings, witness testimony, encrypted Sky and WhatsApp communications, leaked audio recordings and years of investigative reporting. 'People are demanding the rule of law, functioning institutions and respect for basic civil rights,' says investigative journalist Branko Cecen. Pictured here: a man at a protest on Sunday Image: Djordje Kojadinovic/REUTERS According to Branko Cecen, one of Serbia's most prominent investigative journalists, the relationship between the ruling SNS and the criminal underworld dates back to the very beginning of Aleksandar Vucic's rule. "People with well-documented criminal backgrounds, such as Zvonko Veselinovic and Milan Radoicic [businessmen from northern Kosovo], suddenly became major beneficiaries of state contracts and increasingly influential figures," he said. "Over the years, they kept reappearing as key partners of the authorities." One of the clearest examples emerged from the investigation into Veljko Belivuk, the alleged leader of one of Serbia's most notorious organized crime groups, whose members are on trial for a series of murders, kidnappings and drug trafficking offenses. According to KRIK's courtroom reports, Belivuk told prosecutors that he had decided "to tell all" about his group's relationship with President Aleksandar Vucic, then-Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin, Vucic's brother and other officials "who asked us for favors and now pretend they don't know us." Dojcinovic also points to WhatsApp messages recovered from Belivuk's phone after his 2016 arrest, which he says revealed a chain of communication.
The BriefWire