Sapic Testifies in BIRN Lawsuit Over Bezanijska Kosa House

Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Sapic testified on October 8, 2026, at the Palace of Justice, at the first hearing in his lawsuit against the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network Serbia (BIRN) over a text about the legalization of his house on Bezanijska Kosa. Before the Higher Court in Belgrade he said he does not know how many square meters the building has, and the judge reprimanded him over an answer he gave to the defendants’ lawyer. The trial resumes on January 27, 2027.

Sapic seeks six million dinars in compensation for non-material damage, citing harm to his honor and reputation. He filed the suit more than three and a half years ago. The defendants are BIRN Serbia, journalist Radmilo Markovic, who wrote the text, and editor in chief Milorad Ivanovic. The disputed article was published in October 2022 under the headline “Aleksandar Sapic’s Illegal Construction Unlawfully Legalized After He Became Mayor”. It states that the municipality of New Belgrade, a little over a month after Sapic became mayor, legalized a building with 340 square meters of usable floor space, even though, as BIRN writes, the building in that form did not appear on a 2015 satellite image from the Republic Geodetic Authority.

What did Sapic say about the purchase and legalization?

The mayor claimed at the hearing that he did not file the legalization request. He said he bought the property in 2021 or 2022, “maybe even 2020”, and that the previous owners started the procedure in 2014. According to Cenzolovka, he confirmed to the judge’s question that he bought a building with illegal square meters.

“It didn’t bother me that I bought wild square meters, it didn’t bother me that it was not legalized,” Sapic said.

He repeated the point when he spoke about the work done on the house: “I didn’t add anything, I only carried out repairs, I replaced the windows and doors.” He also explained that the municipality does not legalize buildings but issues a decision, and that the case first passes through about ten city and national institutions.

He described the floor area in several ways. He said that on paper the legalized building is larger by about 150 square meters, but that he built nothing onto it. He added that the house has the same number of square meters before the purchase and after the legalization. Of the structure of the building he said:

“I don’t know how many square meters the building has, they are two buildings lying on top of each other, which I connected with a facade.”

According to BIRN, part of the building was bought in 2014 or 2015 by his father. The judge rejected a question from the defendants’ lawyer asking that, since the plaintiff does not know the floor area, he describe the structure of the property.

What happened between Sapic and the defendants’ lawyer?

The defendants’ lawyer, Tijana Filipovic, asked him several times about the floor area before and after the purchase. Sapic answered her: “I didn’t measure the square meters. I see the lady has some fetish for numbers, but we all have some fetishes.” The court warned him to behave properly and not to insult the lawyer. Cenzolovka reports that the presiding judge is Vesna Bogosavljevic, while BIRN does not name the judge.

Sapic is represented by lawyer Dragan Nikolic, who said the lawsuit makes clear why BIRN specifically was sued: because of the headline and the information in the text.

The mayor also explained why he did not sue other media outlets. They, he says, were republishing BIRN’s text. Asked whether he knew that the legalization had been reported before BIRN by the show “Marko Zvaka”, later aired on TV Insajder, he replied that he had not watched it. Cenzolovka also reports his remark: “Your reference to Zvaka is an even greater disgrace. I know that Marko Zvaka, he made 15 shows about me, and I can’t sue someone whose name is Zvaka.”

Describing how he felt after the publication, he said:

“It is true that it didn’t say I did it, but the municipality, but we are not that blind. This text had a very bad effect on me, just as it would have on you.”

What comes next in the Sapic and BIRN dispute?

The hearing is scheduled to continue on January 27, 2027. Ivanovic, Markovic and BIRN director Dragana Zarkovic Obradovic are due to testify then.

This is one of two cases. Sapic is also suing BIRN over a January 2023 text about a villa in Trst, again demanding six million dinars, which brings his total claim to 12 million. BIRN calls both suits SLAPPs, strategic lawsuits meant to intimidate and exhaust journalists. At a hearing in the villa case, Zarkovic Obradovic said:

“The amount of six million dinars far exceeds standard practice for a lawsuit, and I consider this an attempt to pressure the work of our newsroom, a so-called SLAPP lawsuit.”