How Vuçiç’s system is being dismantled: Arrests, resignations and attempts to destroy evidence of crimes

News has been coming so quickly since former Serbian authoritarian leader Aleksandar Vuçiç’s election defeat on October 25 that an anonymous website called “The Collapse of the System” has been created, where artificial intelligence updates information in real time.

From high school students accusing their principal of shredding records to the closure of a bank that local media link to Vuçiç’s Serbian Progressive Party, the public has been gripped by the rapid developments of the first week after the election.

Many in Serbia see the somewhat chaotic reports as a sign that the system of power Vuçiç carefully built is rapidly collapsing after the student movement’s stunning victory in the early parliamentary election.

The winners from the Student List have not yet formally taken control of the government administration, security agencies or military. But the fundamental shift in the balance of power is setting events in motion before the transfer of power actually takes place.

Vuçiç says he is not afraid and accuses the election winners of “terror”

Despite his election defeat, a defiant Vuçiç, now described as the opposition leader, has continued to appear daily on media outlets loyal to him, accusing the student-led movement of “revolutionary terror” and promising to fight back.

On Sunday evening, Vuçiç told Pink television: “Of course, this is difficult for my family and for those who love me, but I am ready for anything and will withstand anything.”

Denying ties to crime, Vuçiç said he was not afraid of a possible arrest because no evidence would be found against him.

“I don’t sign anything … and nothing will be found,” he said. “They have nothing.”

Several prominent figures have been arrested

Among the officials arrested so far are Vuçiç’s criminal police chief, Marko Kriçak, and another senior police official. Both are suspected of abuse of office in connection with the investigation of a murder that has drawn widespread public attention.

Kriçak had become notorious over allegations that he personally threatened to rape a female student during anti-government protests, but his arrest is unrelated to those allegations.

On Monday, authorities also arrested Davor Macura, owner of the private Alta Bank, which has had its license revoked. According to prosecutors, Macura is suspected of trying to remove millions of dollars from the bank’s vault and faces abuse-of-office charges.

Prosecutors are told to do their jobs or resign

As they wait to form a new government, the election winners have called on prosecutors and judges to start doing their jobs or leave their posts.

Dozens of investigations into suspected corruption at the highest levels of power remained unfinished under the previous government. Among them is the investigation into the November 1, 2024, tragedy at the railway station, which sparked two years of student protests against corruption.

The Serbian public is now waiting to see what emerges from a review of several long-delayed investigations, after the student movement promised that no officials would remain untouchable.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade complained of an “atmosphere of persecution and lynching” after the election, as well as “open political pressure from certain social and political actors.”

According to the statement, the alleged pressure is intended to force prosecutors to resign. The prosecutor’s office said the European Union mission in Belgrade and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) had been informed of the situation.

New complaints are piling up

Prosecutors’ offices have faced an influx of new complaints about a range of incidents, from suspected election manipulation to threats and violence against protesters, journalists and activists.

Organized crime prosecutors have also begun proceedings to determine whether some of these people were illegally wiretapped.

On Monday, lawyer Ivan Niniç reported a “criminal conspiracy” that he said involved a Justice Ministry official and more than 36 prison employees across Serbia. He claimed they had pressured or bribed prisoners to vote for Vuçiç in last week’s election.

Niniç presented screenshots of online conversations that he said showed officials exchanging information about the number of votes they had managed to secure. Vuçiç’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won by an overwhelming margin in Serbia’s prisons.

In Mali Zvornik, near the border with Bosnia, police arrested six people accused of providing Bosnian citizens with falsified residency documents to enable them to vote for Vuçiç’s party.

The changes began in the media

Some of Serbia’s major media outlets, which had been at the forefront of Vuçiç’s propaganda machine, were the first to change their stance.

Outlets that had previously been staunch supporters of Vuçiç quickly adopted a more neutral position, while some television stations took entire segments of their programming off the air. Meanwhile, according to reports, some media owners have left the country.

Public broadcaster RTS changed its leadership and apologized to viewers for unprofessional reporting.

Nevertheless, some of Vuçiç’s main media supporters, such as Informer and Pink, remain loyal, inviting the former leader onto their programs every day.

Vuçiç’s party faces pressure in cities and municipalities across the country

The election was for Serbia’s 250-seat parliament and did not include local governments across the country. Calls for early local elections are now growing.

Vuçiç’s Serbian Progressive Party lost in the capital, Belgrade, and in most other cities, after previously controlling the country down to its smallest village, with the exception of one municipal district in the southern city of Niš.

Across Serbia, employees of theaters, museums, cultural associations, schools and hospitals are demanding that SNS-appointed leaders resign immediately.

In Belgrade, the principal of the Fifth Gymnasium, Ognjen Mrvaljeviç, denied destroying important school records, as reported by N1 television.

In comments carried by local media, he said he was simply getting rid of unnecessary documents.

“Vuçiç’s party has passed its expiration date,” analyst Slobodan Stupar said.

“Everything will fall like dominoes.” / Adapted from Associated Press/Lapsi