Prosecutors Seek Files on 49 Vucic Pardons

Serbia’s Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (TOK) is examining the pardons of 49 people granted in late September by then-president Aleksandar Vucic. On Friday, October 30, the office asked the Justice Ministry for the complete documentation on those decisions, along with information on who initiated the proceedings.

The letter went to the ministry’s Department for Normative Affairs and Pardon Proceedings. The prosecutors say they are making the request to verify publicly available information and statements Vucic made about pardoning 49 people. They want the data “without delay and with particular urgency,” but the statement gives no deadline in days.

What is TOK asking the Justice Ministry for?

The first question is procedure. The prosecutors want to know whether pardon or amnesty proceedings were opened without a request from the convicted persons, that is, ex officio, in line with the Law on Pardons. If they were, TOK asks the ministry to specify who is affected and whether any of them are defendants in cases handled solely by the prosecutors’ office:

“If they were (initiated), which specific persons and which specific (criminal) proceedings do the pardons relate to, and is this about pardoning defendants in active proceedings before the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and the Higher Court in Belgrade, Special Department for Organized Crime,” TOK said in its statement.

The second part of the request is the paper trail. The ministry is to hand over all available documentation, the full correspondence with the then-president’s cabinet on preparing the decisions, the justice minister’s acts opening proceedings ex officio, and the minister’s reasoned opinions. The prosecutors added in the statement that they also “requested the submission of all documentation and reasoned opinions of the competent courts and public prosecutor’s offices on the justification of the pardons.”

If the ministry does not have the requested documents, it is expected to explain why not and how the proceedings were nonetheless opened and carried out. TOK also asked for the pardon decisions themselves:

“The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has requested that the Ministry of Justice submit the pardon decisions to this office, if it has them,” the statement says.

What is known so far about those pardoned?

Vucic decided to pardon or grant amnesty to 49 people shortly before his resignation, but he did not disclose their names, and none have been published so far. Radio Free Europe reports that this has raised suspicions that the pardoned include state officials facing criminal proceedings.

According to N1, the Justice Ministry said earlier that Vucic selected the 49 people himself and that the ministry did not take part in the process. The same outlet reports that the ministry had neither the official decisions nor a list of everyone pardoned.

Vucic resigned in order to run as a Serbian Progressive Party candidate for prime minister. Elections were held on October 25, and preliminary results show the Student List won.