Veselin Milic Case Sent to First Basic Court

The case against Veselin Milic, former head of the Belgrade City Police Directorate, has landed before the First Basic Court in Belgrade, confirmed by both that court and the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. Milic is charged with failing to report a crime and its perpetrator, as well as forging an official document, in connection with the murder of Aleksandar Nesovic, known as Baja, committed on May 12, 2026, at the restaurant “27” in the Senjak neighborhood.

The indictment against Milic was filed by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade on July 10. Shortly afterward, the Higher Court in Belgrade declared itself not competent and forwarded the case file to the First Basic Court for further proceedings, while the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office agreed to represent the indictment. The case was assigned to single judge Sladjana Radojicic, and a date for the main hearing has not yet been set.

What the court says

The First Basic Court described the current stage of proceedings this way:

“The criminal proceedings in question are currently at the stage where the single judge is examining the indictment, and at the stage of obtaining the necessary documentation proposed as evidence, after which all conditions will be met for scheduling the main hearing, about which the public will be informed in a timely manner.”

The court added that judge Radojicic will preside over Milic’s trial.

Milic was held in custody from May 15 to July 6, when a panel of the Higher Court ordered his release to defend himself from liberty. A hint that the case would move to a lower prosecutor’s office emerged the very next day after his release, when the portal Nova reported that the file had been forwarded to the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office, a claim the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office denied at the time. Two months later, that assumption turned out to be correct.

What Milic is charged with

According to the indictment, the owner of the restaurant “27,” co-defendant Nenad L., called Milic after 11 p.m. on May 12 via WhatsApp to report, as a police officer he personally knew and trusted, that Nesovic had been killed in the restaurant. Milic, according to the prosecution, reported this to no one.

The second offense he is charged with relates to May 13, when, according to the indictment, he entered false information into an official record of the Belgrade City Police Directorate. He wrote that he had run into co-defendant Sasa V. at the restaurant that evening by chance, even though he had personally invited him to come, and that Nesovic had approached his table on that occasion, demonstratively shook his head, turned around and left. According to the prosecution, Nesovic in fact had a brief verbal exchange with Milic and Sasa V.

The record, investigators suspect, also omitted that Milic was a family friend of Sasa V., that he knew of the conflict between Sasa V. and Nesovic that had made Sasa V. fear for his safety, and that he had invited Nesovic to the restaurant through an intermediary in an attempt to reconcile them. Also missing was the fact that, after Milic left, the restaurant owner called him again that same evening to tell him Nesovic had been killed, a detail that, according to the indictment, could have affected the timeliness of the police response.

A case marked by a cover-up

The Senjak case has been defined by the cover-up of a murder at a well-known restaurant, the disappearance of the body, and the involvement of police officers, one of whom was the top official of the Belgrade police. A week-long search ended with the discovery of the body in a barrel, buried near Lake Jarkovac, not far from Indjija. Sasa Vukovic, known as Boske, has been named as the direct perpetrator of the murder and has been in custody since May 14.

The investigation has been marked by contradictions from the start. The Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office stated in its releases that Milic learned of the murder directly from the restaurant owner, even though, according to the weekly Radar, which had access to his statements, he said no such thing in either his first or second testimony. Milic was initially charged with two offenses, failing to report a crime and assisting a perpetrator after the fact, but after the restaurant owner’s first statement, only the failure-to-report charge remained. When part of the criminal complaint filed against Milic by Criminal Police Directorate chief Marko Kricak was also dismissed, it became clear the case was headed to a lower prosecutor’s office. Milic, for his part, filed a criminal complaint against Kricak and his colleague, claiming they had presented the evidence gathered against him in a selective, incomplete and untrue manner.

The First Basic Court says the public will be informed once the main hearing is scheduled. Until then, the question remains when, four months after the murder on Senjak, Milic himself will appear in the courtroom.