Orlic and Vujic named in TOK cases over Ninic complaints
The first case covers eight BIA officials, the second the justice minister and about 60 people from the prison system. Police were told to interview those named.
BIA director Vladimir Orlic and caretaker Justice Minister Nenad Vujic now appear in two separate cases opened by the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (TOK), based on criminal complaints from lawyer Ivan Ninic. TOK said that in both cases it asked the police to gather information and check the allegations in the complaints.
We have previously written about Orlic in connection with the requested surveillance of Radar journalists, after which NUNS demanded his dismissal. This is a different kind of story: these are formal prosecution cases that cite specific articles of the Criminal Code, and in the second one Vujic is named for the first time alongside about 60 people from the prison system.
What does the first case say?
The complaint concerns a suspected abuse of office under Article 359, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, combined with violation of voting rights under Article 155, paragraph 1, and coercion under Article 135. Ninic’s complaint covers eight people:
- BIA director Vladimir Orlic
- Aleksandar Petric, head of the BIA regional center in Kragujevac
- his deputy Milorad Marinkovic
- assistant head Raca Munjic
- Milos Ivanovic, head of the Territorial Center in Kragujevac
- his deputy Darko Curcic
- Zoran Certic, head of the Territorial Center in Smederevo
- Aleksandar Simic, head of the Paracin branch of the Territorial Center in Jagodina
According to the complaint, the acts were committed in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Smederevo and Paracin, through an overreach of official powers, in order to collect so-called capillary votes for the Serbian Progressive Party. Ninic states in the complaint that those named acted as an organized criminal group. That is his claim, not an established fact. From the sources we reviewed, it is not clear that Orlic or the others have responded to the complaint.
What did TOK ask of the police?
On November 4, the prosecutor’s office asked the Organized Crime Service (SBPOK) of the Interior Ministry to gather the necessary information to check the allegations and to interview the people named. Masina reports that in the BIA case an interview with Orlic was explicitly requested. The same request went out the same day in the second case, with a call to collect information from other people who may know about the events described in the complaint.
According to Vreme, TOK said its handling rests on the General Binding Instruction of the Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office of October 20, which governs how public prosecutors work in pre-investigation and criminal proceedings for offenses against electoral rights. The other sources do not mention that instruction.
Who is covered by the second complaint?
The second complaint was filed against Justice Minister Nenad Vujic, Jandric, director of the Directorate for the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, the justice minister’s special adviser Milica Radonjic, and about 60 more people. They include wardens of several correctional facilities and district prisons in Serbia and officials of those institutions. The complaint also covers unidentified persons, described as high-ranking officials, representatives and activists of the Serbian Progressive Party.
The offenses named in the complaint are:
- conspiracy to commit criminal offenses
- abuse of office
- trading in influence
- giving and accepting bribes in connection with voting
- unauthorized collection of personal data
- negligent performance of duty
- racial and other discrimination
Ninic claims to have evidence that prison directors secured votes for the SNS. According to N1, he attached documentation of communication between party leaders and prison wardens, and of orders for extra effort in collecting votes. In the sources we reviewed, there is no response from Vujic to these allegations.
What did Ninic post on X?
On the social network X, the complainant gave as the reason for the complaint against the BIA director the “imposing of a work obligation on BIA employees to collect capillary votes for the SNS on Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) forms, as a work duty.” At the same time, he called on members of the service to come forward to the prosecutor’s office:
“I call on all honorable BIA members who are not part of the organized criminal group (if there are any in that firm) and who have information and evidence about the system of collecting capillary votes in BIA, in its regional centers, to submit all data to TOK, as a supplement to the criminal complaint I filed today”
He described the prisons in a separate post, in which he claims that taking part in rallies was an obligation:
“Every big SNS rally meant a work obligation for wardens and employees in all prisons in Serbia to draw up lists of participants, put on the T-shirts, be photographed as a group and so prove their loyalty to the party of Justice Minister Nenad Vujic and Aleksandar Vucic”
Earlier, while announcing the complaints, Ninic summed up the whole system in one sentence: “The system of capillary votes - signed tables, coordinators, Viber correspondence, clear tasks, reports, official vehicles, pictures of loyalty.”
What is known about the dates?
The sources disagree on the exact day the complaints were filed. Masina reports that Ninic filed the complaint on November 2, while N1 writes that he filed the complaint against BIA “today” and had announced the one against the minister earlier, with no date in the available copy. What is certain is that TOK sent its requests to the police on November 4. At this stage, the police are gathering information in a pre-investigation procedure on the basis of allegations in the complaints, and no guilt has been established for any of those named.
