Senjak: SNS activist Dejan Stojic arrested over alleged escape help
Dejan Stojic from Stara Pazova was arrested as the inquiry into the killing near Restaurant 27 in Senjak widened, with €10,000 in cash and passports of two suspects found on him.
- Dejan Stojic, an SNS activist from Stara Pazova, was arrested on 15 May as the Senjak inquiry widened.
- Investigators found €10,000 in cash and the passports of Sasa Vukovic and Mario S. in his possession.
- The number of arrests in the case has now risen to eleven, including serving police officers.
- Prosecutors are checking whether a wider logistics network helped prepare the suspects' escape.
Dejan Stojic, an activist of the Serbian Progressive Party from Stara Pazova, was arrested on 15 May as the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade widened its inquiry into events at Restaurant 27 in Senjak. Sources close to the investigation say he is charged with aiding the perpetrators after a crime had been committed.
According to the police report, investigators found foreign currency totalling €10,000 and the travel documents of Sasa Vukovic and Mario S., two suspects in the killing, in his possession. This brings the number of people in the inquiry to eleven.
Logistics network as a new line
Prosecutors are checking whether an organised logistics network was prepared to move the suspects out of the country. The cash and passports found, sources close to the case say, point to coordination that lasted longer than a day after the event itself.
Stojic had previously presented himself publicly as an activist of the local SNS branch in Stara Pazova. As of publication, the Serbian Progressive Party has not made an official statement on his arrest.
What prosecution practice says
Part of the 12 May reconstruction has entered the public domain. According to prosecutors that is when the fatal encounter at Restaurant 27 took place. The victim’s identity was confirmed by DNA analysis at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, and the body was found in a barrel buried in Indjija, around 50 kilometres from Belgrade.
The criminal offence of aiding a perpetrator after a crime, under Article 333 of the Criminal Code, carries a prison sentence of six months to five years, and up to eight years in its aggravated form, where the principal offence carries a heavier penalty.
The presumption of innocence applies until a final court ruling.
Political backdrop and earlier statements
Seven opposition parties have already called for the removal of Bratislav Gasic and of Ivica Dacic from the Interior Ministry. The government has dismissed these calls as a pre-election manoeuvre, while pro-European opposition figures call them a consequence of institutional erosion.
Brnabic earlier this week told the Assembly that the Senjak debate cannot substitute for the debate on electoral laws, rejecting a request for an emergency session of the Defence Committee.
What comes next in the case
The next step is Stojic’s questioning before the duty prosecutor at the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade, followed by a ruling on whether detention is requested. The decision on detention is taken by the pre-trial judge of the Higher Court in Belgrade.
The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the inquiry is running on two tracks, criminal and organisational. The second track examines who in the system knew about the events at Restaurant 27 and how much time passed before the relevant services were informed.
Will the next round of interviews widen the circle of suspects further into the political leadership?
