Senjak: the owner of restaurant 27 and what the prosecutor's office alleges against N. L.
N. L. (50), said to be the owner of the venue where Aleksandar N. was last seen, is charged with failure to report a criminal offence and assisting an offender after the commission of a criminal act.
Among the ten suspects who have been remanded in custody for up to thirty days in the case of Aleksandar N.’s disappearance is N. L. (50), said to be the owner of the venue on Senjak where Aleksandar N. was last seen before he disappeared on the night of 12 to 13 May. N. L. is charged with failure to report a criminal offence and with assisting an offender after the commission of a criminal act, according to a statement by Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office cites reasonable suspicion that, after the offence had been committed in his venue, N. L. helped the suspects cover their tracks, offered them transport and failed to inform the police about the event within the statutory deadline, even though he had knowledge of it. N. L.’s defence counsel has not commented publicly on the prosecutor’s allegations, reports say.
The offence of failure to report a criminal offence under Article 332 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Serbia, where the underlying offence carries a sentence of ten years or more, is punishable by six months to five years in prison. The offence of assisting an offender after the commission of a criminal act under Article 333 of the Criminal Code carries six months to five years in prison and, in the presence of aggravating circumstances, up to ten years.
The venue on the corner of Boska Buhe and Uzicka streets in Belgrade’s Savski Venac municipality, where Aleksandar N. was seen, has been the subject of several on-site investigations in recent days. According to the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, forensic teams found traces of blood and spent cartridge cases. The venue is closed to the public, and the owner does not have access to the premises while the pre-criminal phase is ongoing.
According to unofficial sources, several searches of suspects’ flats and business premises have been carried out over the past fortnight. Items found include, sources close to the investigation say, documentation of transactions and several mobile phones now being subjected to digital forensic analysis. All of this will form part of the evidence.
What are the typical outcomes of proceedings under Article 333 of the Criminal Code?
According to the case-law database of the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, sentences for the offence of assisting an offender range from five-month suspended sentences to three years of unconditional imprisonment, depending on the gravity of the underlying offence and the assessment of intent. In cases run as part of organised-crime proceedings, sentences are, as a rule, at the upper end of the statutory range.
If the investigation ends in an indictment, the case will be heard before the Special Department for Organised Crime of the Higher Court in Belgrade, meaning a panel of three professional judges. Proceedings in that department, as a rule, last longer than standard criminal proceedings, a consequence of the volume of evidence in cases with multiple suspects.
Would you like regular reviews of judicial practice in similar cases? Write to the editorial team.
