Investigation sought into suspicions over the removal and destruction of documents in Serbia

Black garbage bags filled with shredded documents, locked offices in public institutions and activities that, according to employees, take place at night have raised suspicions about the disappearance of official evidence in Serbia.

The allegations concern the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, while the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance have also been mentioned. The suspicions are also linked to the deletion of electronic data.

The information and photographs were made public after the Student List defeated the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which had governed for 14 years, in the October 25 elections.

The latest case concerns suspicions that important documents are being destroyed at Serbia’s Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO).

Dragan Domazet, the chief representative of the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions (ASNS) for employees of the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, told Radio Free Europe (RFE) that the photographs of bags containing destroyed documents are authentic.

“Something extraordinary and unusual is happening at night,” Domazet said, revealing that employees had managed to save some of the damaged documents.

Radio Free Europe saw an email that Domazet had sent to the Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions, along with the photographs, to inform the public.

The Pension Fund had not responded to these allegations by the time this article was published.

On October 29, Serbia’s Supreme Public Prosecutor, Zagorka Dolovac, asked all chief public prosecutors and acting chief public prosecutors to urgently contact the police in order to take measures to prevent the destruction of official and other documents.

According to her instructions, the published information concerns the destruction of documents in state institutions, banks, the Security Intelligence Agency, the Military Intelligence Agency and other institutions connected with the economic, financial and legal security of the Republic of Serbia.

Suspicions also concern Serbian institutions in Kosovo

A group of students from the University of North Mitrovica, which supports the students in the blockade, said it had received information about the destruction of documents at the North Mitrovica Clinical Hospital Center and in the Provisional Municipal Authorities.

The University of North Mitrovica and the Clinical Hospital Center operate within the Serbian system.

Kosovo authorities shut down the Provisional Municipal Authorities over the past two years, arguing that they were parallel and illegal structures.

The students’ statement said there were suspicions of actions aimed at destroying and removing documentation, as well as damaging documents and possible fraud related to the payment of doctors’ salaries.

Zlatan Elek, the director of the Clinical Hospital Center in North Mitrovica, denied these claims in a response to Radio Free Europe. He described the allegations as untrue and unfounded.

“At KBC Kosovska Mitrovica, no one is destroying, removing or concealing official documentation, because there is no reason for such an action. It is unacceptable for such serious allegations to be made public without concrete evidence, damaging the reputation of the institution and its employees,” Elek said.

According to him, such attacks could jeopardize the functioning of one of the most important institutions for members of the Serbian community.

Elek also heads the Serb List, the main party representing Serbs in Kosovo, which was established with the support of the Serbian Progressive Party and former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.

What Serbian law provides

Serbia’s Criminal Code considers the destruction, concealment or falsification of an official document a criminal offense. This violation carries a sentence of between three months and five years in prison.

Domazet is calling for a response from the competent state authorities to the suspicions surrounding the destruction of documents.

Before Dolovac’s order, the Student List, formed through student protests against corruption, called on public institution employees to inform the public and report cases involving the destruction of documentation.

“We ask you to prevent any possible abuse by representatives of the outgoing government during the transition period,” student Filip Uboviq said at a press conference in Pionirski Park in central Belgrade.

Radio Free Europe requested a comment from the Serbian Progressive Party on allegations that people close to it were destroying official documents in state institutions. It had not received a response by the time the article was published.

Reports concerning ministries and a bank

Opposition politician Gjorgje Miketiq said on October 28, in his report on Order X, that documents were also being destroyed at night at the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Finance.

Neither ministry had commented on the allegations.

Serbia’s Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure was responsible for the reconstruction of the Novi Sad Railway Station, where a canopy collapsed on November 1, 2024. Sixteen people died as a result of the tragedy, an event that sparked mass student protests and calls for accountability.

The protests quickly expanded, focusing on the fight against corruption and reducing pressure on institutions.

Nemanja Karoviq, a representative of the Student List, said during an appearance on Serbian public broadcaster RTS that an attempt had been made to withdraw around one billion dinars from the Postal Savings Bank. According to him, this could have put the bank’s liquidity and the timely payment of salaries and pensions at risk.

The Postal Savings Bank rejected these claims on October 29.

The institution stated that it was financially stable, liquid and systemically important, and that it operated in accordance with the regulations in force.

“Linking an event that did not occur to an alleged threat to the bank’s liquidity, the regular payment of salaries and pensions, and even the stability of the financial system as a whole, constitutes an unfounded questioning of the security of an institution that has enjoyed the trust of Serbian citizens for more than a century,” the bank said in a statement.

During the election campaign, the Serbian Progressive Party had claimed that Serbian citizens would not receive their regular income if the Student List won.

Call for an investigation by the prosecution and police

Lawyer Ahmed Delimegjac told Radio Free Europe that the competent prosecutors in Serbia should act on the allegations concerning the disappearance of documentation, since destroying it constitutes a criminal offense.

“If it is proven that someone is destroying official documentation, then it is clear that a criminal offense is being committed. The prosecution and police, which are obliged to respond immediately when they receive information about a criminal offense, must intervene,” Delimegjac said.

He expects prosecutors’ offices in Serbia to act to prevent the destruction of official documents, especially since this was requested by Supreme Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac. Delimegjac recalled that two days earlier Dolovac had sent instructions to all public prosecutors’ offices so that every case they were working on could be reviewed.

According to Delimegjac, these steps by the chief prosecutor came after the change of government and an attempt to become “more accommodating” toward the new authorities.

“It is right that these measures be taken, but I fear that these people are seeking to preserve their positions rather than be replaced. A race is now under way to see who will be the first to demonstrate loyalty to the new authorities,” he said.

The risk to electronic documents

Domazet, the ASNS representative for employees of the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, said that serious suspicions also extended to electronically stored data.

“If someone has not created a backup, there is a major risk that a significant portion of the evidence for various proceedings could be lost,” he stressed.

He believes that the destruction of evidence has been “planned and organized systematically.”

Rodoljub Shabiq, a lawyer and former Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection in Serbia, believes that in 2026 it is difficult to make official documents stored electronically disappear.

“That is my assessment. But over the past 10 to 15 years, we have been an extremely non-transparent country, with a non-transparent government. Only they know how they stored and organized the documents. This makes it difficult to identify the relevant cases,” he said.

Shabiq added that the fall of an authoritarian regime is always accompanied by the risk that documents proving human rights violations, crimes, criminal acts or large-scale financial manipulation will be deleted and destroyed. However, he reiterated that nowadays it is much more difficult to erase traces.