Court Rejects Stefanovic, Rebic as Hrkalovic Trial Witnesses
Serbia's Special Court refused to hear Nebojsa Stefanovic, Vladimir Rebic and Natasa Krivokapic as witnesses in the trial of Dijana Hrkalovic, with closing arguments now scheduled for October 29.
Belgrade’s Special Court closed the evidentiary phase on September 3 in the retrial of former Interior Ministry State Secretary Dijana Hrkalovic and Dejan Milenkovic, former head of the Service for Special Investigative Methods. The panel, presided over by judge Sladjana Markovic, rejected all remaining defense evidence motions and scheduled closing arguments for October 29. A second first-instance verdict is expected to follow.
The hearing at 29 Ustanicka Street was brief. Judge Markovic informed those present of the panel’s decision not to hear additional witnesses proposed by the defense, among them former Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, former police director Vladimir Rebic and former senior Belgrade public prosecutor Natasa Krivokapic. The court also denied Hrkalovic’s request to obtain records of her border crossings from August 2018 as evidence.
Prosecutor Milenko Mandic will speak first during closing arguments, followed by defense lawyers for both defendants. Hrkalovic faces two counts of influence peddling, while Milenkovic is charged with abuse of office. Both have denied the charges throughout the proceedings.
What the indictment alleges
The indictment from the Prosecution for Organized Crime lists three separate allegations against Hrkalovic. The first is that she ordered Milenkovic to delay submitting a 2018 forensic report on Veljko Belivuk’s phone, in a case tied to a murder investigation. The second is that she ordered the deletion of part of a recorded conversation involving lawyer Dragoslav Misa Ognjanovic, in which he discussed her alleged ties to organized crime circles. Ognjanovic was killed in July 2018, a murder that remains unsolved.
The third allegation concerns Darko Elez, a man with a criminal record. According to the indictment, Hrkalovic ordered Milorad Susnjic, then head of the Novi Sad police, to falsely place Elez under surveillance and wiretapping measures in order to keep other police units from investigating him.
Why the retrial is happening
This is the second round of proceedings. In the first, the Higher Court in Belgrade sentenced Hrkalovic to 16 months in prison while acquitting Milenkovic. The Appellate Court overturned that verdict and ordered a retrial. The same ruling raised Susnjic’s sentence, originally one year, to four years.
Prosecutors had sought a maximum sentence of five years for Hrkalovic and one year for Milenkovic. A verdict in the retrial is expected once closing arguments conclude after October 29.
Who the defendants are
Dijana Hrkalovic served as State Secretary at the Interior Ministry (MUP) until her arrest in October 2021. She spent a total of eight months in custody during the proceedings. Dejan Milenkovic headed the Service for Special Investigative Methods, the unit that carries out covert surveillance measures ordered by courts, at the time the indictment covers.
The case against Hrkalovic, Milenkovic and Susnjic has been running for two years and eight months. Over that time the court has heard many witnesses, examined written evidence and reviewed multiple video recordings from covert surveillance measures.
Since Hrkalovic’s arrest, the case has been among the most closely watched involving the conduct of the Interior Ministry, as the indictment links the work of a specialized police unit to previously known criminal cases: the murder of Vlastimir Milosevic and the killing of lawyer Ognjanovic. The decision not to hear Stefanovic, Rebic and Krivokapic in court means the second-instance verdict will be reached without their testimony, based solely on the evidence presented so far in the trial.
