Prosecutors open inquiry over Marjanovic BIRN interview

The Organized Crime Prosecution (TOK) has confirmed to the daily Danas that it has opened a preliminary inquiry over the interview that Momcilo Marjanovic, a former SNS activist from Novi Sad, gave to BIRN. A request to gather information and evidence was sent to the Organized Crime Control Service on October 15, 2026.

The response Danas published names no suspect and does not specify a criminal offense. TOK cites criminal complaints that have been filed and publicly available information as its basis, without saying whose complaints it means.

What did TOK tell Danas?

The paper emailed the prosecution to ask whether it was aware of the published interview and whether it would take measures within its remit. The answer came in writing:

“Regarding criminal complaints and publicly available information, the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has taken measures and actions within its jurisdiction to obtain information on whether there are grounds for suspicion that criminal offenses have been committed for which it is competent to pursue prosecution, by sending a request for the necessary information and evidence to the Organized Crime Control Service on October 15, 2026.”

Danas reported earlier that, despite repeated reminders, no reply to its question had arrived.

What did Marjanovic tell BIRN?

According to N1 and Danas, the interview was published on October 13. In it, Marjanovic claims that from the start of the student protests he was in charge of organizing people who intimidated and physically attacked citizens on behalf of the SNS. He says he received cash for services and daily allowances from Nenad Barac, director of the Novi Sad heating company, more than 400,000 euros over two years. Danas also reports that Marjanovic estimated he had “personally carried out” between 350,000 and 400,000 euros from the company’s administration building since the canopy collapse.

“I took money directly from him and paid the guys I led, both in Cacaland and on the marches and at rallies,” Marjanovic said.

He also released messages exchanged with Barac. For March 15 last year, he claims he saw more than 100 people armed with pistols in Cacaland, while he and his men carried batons, rods, pepper spray and pyrotechnics, with permission to use them and with the knowledge and coordination of the police. All of this is his allegation.

What does Barac say?

Barac denies the claims. He told Danas he does not want to comment on “lies told by someone who betrayed his comrades,” and the paper carried another statement from the conversation:

“He told a heap of lies and slandered me in the media.”

According to Danas, Barac did not dispute that the messages exist. “If there is any responsibility on my part, let the prosecution examine everything. I am always available,” he said.

Reactions and earlier steps

The Constitution Defenders association filed a criminal complaint against Vucevic and Barac on October 14, as we have already reported. TOK’s response refers to filed criminal complaints but does not say whose.

Goran Ilic, a prosecutor at the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, told Danas that after such an interview TOK should have taken evidentiary steps immediately:

“In a situation of heated atmosphere on the eve of elections, the person who made extensive claims about criminal offenses linked to electoral rights should be summoned for questioning without delay.”

Ilic also believes the public should be informed in detail. “In my judgment, it would be necessary to inform the public in detail about what has been done, but not through terse announcements, as has been the practice so far,” he said.

Sasa Dragojlo, the BIRN journalist who conducted the interview, told Danas that the authorities, in his view, react as they do to most major investigative stories. “They wait for it to pass,” he said. The same Danas article states that no government official has responded to Marjanovic’s allegations.