Serbian Interior Ministry Says It Has No Data on Whether Police Officers Guard Veselinović and Radoičić

Serbia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) has told N1 that it has no documents containing information related to the broadcaster’s investigation into whether police officers have been assigned to provide security for controversial businessmen Zvonko Veselinović and Milan Radoičić.

Given the clear public interest, N1 submitted a request to the Interior Ministry for access to information of public importance. Among other things, the broadcaster asked whether police officers had been assigned to protect Veselinović and Radoičić and, if so, requested a copy of the document authorizing the assignment and the legal basis for providing them with security.

In response to the request, N1 was informed that “the Ministry of Internal Affairs does not have a document containing the requested information.” To date, the institution has neither publicly denied the reports nor provided an official explanation.

In late June, N1 obtained information indicating that Damnjan Vukićević, a member of the Belgrade Gendarmerie unit, was working in northern Kosovo as Milan Radoičić’s private security guard and occasionally also providing security for members of his family. Radoičić is on Interpol’s red list of wanted persons over suspicions that he organized and participated in the armed attack in Banjska.

According to other information obtained by N1, Nikola Milutinović, also a member of the Belgrade Gendarmerie detachment, works as a security guard at properties owned by Zvonko Veselinović in Golija. Veselinović is under US and UK sanctions.

In early July, N1 also reported that Veselinović’s security team included Neđeljko Gole, an active member of the SAJ and head of its sniper unit.

The issue of officers being assigned to protect tycoons or criminals had previously also been raised by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. Following the arrest of Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić, who was accused of failing to report a murder that occurred on May 12 at a restaurant in Senjak, Vučić warned that any police officer or soldier carrying out such duties would be dismissed from service.

“The law is clear. Whether someone likes it or not, we can part ways amicably. You work for these or those people, but you can no longer serve in state institutions,” Aleksandar Vučić said on May 20 of this year, according to N1.

More than a month later, when asked about N1’s findings concerning gendarmes providing protection to Veslinović and Radoičić, Vučić replied that “they do not provide security.” His response could also be understood to mean that, at the very least, they were no longer providing such security.