Prosecutors in Senjak: 30 days' detention for ten suspects, new body found near Indjija

Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office said on May 21 that the competent pre-trial judge at the Higher Court in Belgrade had ordered up to 30 days’ pre-trial detention for ten suspects on charges of aggravated murder and aiding the perpetrator in the disappearance of Aleksandar Nesovic, last seen on May 12 at Restaurant 27 in Senjak. The suspects include the former head of the Belgrade City Police Administration, Veselin Milic, two members of his official security detail, and Sasa Vukovic, known as Boske, whom prosecutors charge as the direct perpetrator of the shooting.

A body believed to be Nesovic’s was found in a barrel at a location about 50 kilometres north of Belgrade, near Indjija, on May 20. The prosecutor’s statement says the autopsy is complete, but DNA results are still pending. President Aleksandar Vucic, speaking on RTS on May 21, said he was “99 percent certain” the body is Nesovic’s. The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office has not publicly confirmed the identity, saying it is the subject of forensic verification.

What charges have been filed?

According to information from the prosecutor’s statements, the criminal charges are divided into three groups. Sasa Vukovic Boske and his wife Danka are charged with aggravated murder, since, according to investigators, the wife brought a pistol into the restaurant and he fired two nine-millimetre rounds from it. Two shell casings and blood traces were found at the restaurant. The second group, which includes Milic, faces charges of aiding a perpetrator after the act and of failure to report a criminal offence and its perpetrator. The third group, two security officers and one civilian, faces concealment charges, because, according to the investigation, they helped move the body out of the restaurant and transport it to an unknown location.

Lawyer Bogdan Milosavljevic, not involved in the case, told the weekly Vreme on May 18 that just over 24 hours passed between the act on May 12 and the report of disappearance around 11 p.m. on May 13, which in his assessment “points to the possibility that during that pause some evidence was manipulated at the scene.” The prosecutor’s office the same day issued a statement rejecting “claims that police or prosecutors reacted late,” noting they received the first report from the missing man’s wife late on May 13.

What is the next step in the procedure?

Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the pre-trial judge at the Higher Court in Belgrade would have to decide by June 19 on a possible extension of detention for another thirty days. The prosecutor’s office is in the same period obliged to file an indictment or drop some of the charges, since the period of pre-indictment detention is limited by law.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic, in an interview with Prva TV on May 24, said Milic had been suspended by formal decision and that the Interior Ministry was “fully cooperating” with the prosecution. Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic has not commented. The Prosecutorial Council of Serbia notes that in past practice, when Interior Ministry officers have been arrested, indictments have been filed an average of 78 days after the arrest, which in this case would push past the summer.

The parliamentary opposition on May 20 requested written reports from Minister Dacic and Director Vasiljevic for the next session of the Defence and Internal Affairs Committee. Tepic of the Party of Freedom and Justice stressed that the report would have to address how Milic’s security officers were engaged in unofficial capacities.

Belgrade’s Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, headed by Senior Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic, had not by the close of this text announced whether a special team has been formed for the case. By past practice, cases with Interior Ministry officers as suspects are assigned to the department for criminal offences against official duty. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, the prosecutor’s office has six months from the detention of the first suspect to file an indictment, after which the period can only be extended by a decision of the Supreme Court of Cassation.

Will the prosecution expand the circle of suspects by June 19?