Detention sought after Nikola Tesla Airport attack
Belgrade prosecutors charge a Turkish national with assaulting a police officer at Nikola Tesla Airport and ask the court to keep him in custody over flight risk.
A Turkish national identified as T. C., 27, has been charged with assaulting a police officer at Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade. The charge and the request for custody were announced by the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade.
The incident was reported on July 30 inside the terminal, in the Surcin municipality. Prosecutors say it began as a physical fight between the suspect and another passenger.
How the incident unfolded
Officers stepped in while the two passengers were still fighting. The suspect refused to follow their orders, according to the prosecution statement.
He then, the statement says, “reached with his hand for the firearm of the police officer”, took hold of it and tried to pull it out of the holster. Officers restrained him and put him in handcuffs.
The prosecution statement does not say the weapon left the holster, and it does not report any injuries.
The charge and the police custody order
T. C. is charged with assaulting an official person in the performance of duty under Article 323 of the Criminal Code. That provision covers both an actual attack and a serious threat of one, regardless of how it ends.
The custody order was issued by officers of the Border Police Directorate of the Interior Ministry, MUP, acting on the prosecutor’s instruction. The airport is a border crossing point, so the case stayed with the border police rather than the Belgrade city police department.
Questioned by the prosecutor, the suspect chose to remain silent and made no statement on the allegations.
Why are prosecutors asking for detention?
Their reasoning rests on a single point. The suspect has no registered residence or address of stay anywhere in Serbia, which prosecutors read as a risk that he would flee before trial.
The motion went to the court with territorial jurisdiction. Surcin falls under the Third Basic Court in Belgrade.
What the case turns on
The timeline is short and fits into a few days: the fight in the terminal on July 30, police custody on the prosecutor’s order, then the motion for pre-trial detention. At no point in that sequence was the suspect at liberty.
That makes the custody ruling more consequential than it looks. It settles nothing about guilt. It settles whether a man with no address in Serbia stays reachable for a case that is only beginning, because a summons needs somewhere to be sent.
Until a final verdict, the presumption of innocence applies. T. C. stands accused, not convicted, and guilt is not established at this stage.
