KRIK: Kokeza Used Skaj to Order Attack on Vidic

Investigative outlet KRIK has published new messages from the encrypted Skaj application. The exchange dates to 2020. In it, former Football Association of Serbia president and prominent SNS figure Slavisa Kokeza, according to the published content, demands that former footballer Nemanja Vidic be intimidated and physically attacked. The trigger, it is claimed, was a struggle for control of the federation.

Kokeza led the Serbian FA at the time. Vidic was then mentioned as a possible candidate who could replace him. The exchange presented by KRIK suggests that this very fear was the catalyst.

The Skaj messages and the alleged motive

According to the content the outlet published, Kokeza used a code name. In the messages he asks that a clear threat be delivered to Vidic. One phrase cited warns that Vidic would “go to the graveyard” if he spoke out publicly again. These are expressions read in the exchange as an open threat to his life.

The published material also shows that Kokeza, according to the messages, was in contact with people from criminal circles. KRIK says part of the communication ran through intermediaries. The aim, it is claimed, was to dissuade Vidic from any further fight for a position in the federation.

The exchange also reveals tensions inside the ruling party itself. The messages mention a conflict with Andrej Vucic, the president’s brother. Those internal frictions, according to the published content, were bound up with the question of who would control the football body.

The legal frame calls for caution. No party’s guilt has been established by a final court ruling. Kokeza has not been charged in Serbia over the acts mentioned in the exchange. He has been abroad for some time.

Will prosecutors respond?

Skaj exchanges have been the basis for numerous investigations in Serbia and the region in recent years. Decrypted communication from the platform has been used as evidence in organized crime cases. The question is whether the competent prosecutor’s office will open proceedings over these messages too.

For now, no indictment has been filed against Kokeza on this basis. There is also no official statement from prosecutors on whether the content of the exchange is being examined. Until such an act exists, the published messages remain a journalistic finding rather than facts established in court.

There is also the question of protection for the person who, according to the exchange, was the target. Vidic has not commented publicly on the allegations. As long as prosecutors do not confirm whether they are reviewing the material, the public is left with what the outlet has published.

Should the publication of an exchange like this automatically trigger a prosecutorial review on its own, or is a formal criminal complaint required first?