Senjak trial: Veselin Milic case opens November 9

The trial of Veselin Milic, the former head of the Belgrade Police Department, is scheduled to begin on November 9 at the First Basic Court in Belgrade. The date was confirmed to N1 on September 25 inside the court itself. Milic is charged in connection with the murder of Aleksandar Nesovic, known as Baja, who was killed on the night of May 12 at the “27” restaurant in Senjak.

The indictment against him covers two criminal charges: failure to report a crime and its perpetrator, and forging an official document. It was filed by the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, after which the Higher Court in Belgrade declared itself not competent to hear the case and forwarded the file to the First Basic Court. The Belgrade First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office has since taken over the prosecution.

Prosecutors had initially also charged Milic with aiding an offender after the fact, but later dropped that charge, saying there was no evidence to support it. With the case now reduced to failure to report a crime, it was transferred to the lower prosecutor’s office.

Why the case was split

The proceedings against Milic were separated from the case against six other people charged in connection with Nesovic’s murder, who, unlike him, will stand trial before the Higher Court in Belgrade. Sasa Vukovic, known as Boske, is charged with the murder itself, while the remaining five, including Mario S., Nenad L., Petar U., Vuk S. and Dejan S., are charged under the same indictment with aiding an offender after the fact.

According to the indictment, Nenad L., the owner of the “27” restaurant, called Milic by phone after 11 p.m. on May 12 and, knowing him personally as a police officer, told him that Nesovic had been killed on the premises. Milic, the indictment states, never reported this to anyone.

The following day, May 13, at the office of the chief of the Belgrade Police Department, Milic allegedly entered false information into an official memo and left out several important details. According to the charges, he wrote that he had run into defendant Sasa Vukovic by chance at the “27” restaurant on May 12, even though, prosecutors say, he had personally called Vukovic and asked him to come.

Case timeline

Nesovic’s body was found on May 21 near Indjija, nine days after the murder. Milic was arrested on May 15, and on June 9 the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office dropped the part of the criminal complaint concerning suspicion that he had helped the perpetrators after the crime. The Higher Court in Belgrade lifted his detention on July 6, ruling that there were no longer grounds to hold him, and he has been defending himself while free ever since. The indictment against him was filed on July 10.

No information had previously been made public about earlier proceedings before domestic courts against the former police official, making the November 9 hearing the first confirmed date in this part of the case. The proceedings against the remaining six defendants before the Higher Court in Belgrade so far have no announced start date.