Vladimir Đukanović, the lawyer of the accused Minister Selaković, claims that the protection of the General Staff as a cultural property was declared "null and void" a long time ago, and therefore the process being conducted against his client is a "legal absurdity". The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments says that such a decision does not exist
Vladimir Djukanovic, one of the lawyers of the Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković who is on trial in the case General Staff, after the first hearing held on February 4, declared that the proceedings against his client were a "legal absurdity", arguing that the General Staff did not have the status of a cultural property, as the 2005 decision on it was declared null and void.
What decision is that?
"I asked for the legal situation to be clearly established. I will remind you - it is a decision from 2005 which supposedly declared the General Staff building a cultural asset, but that decision was later declared null and void. This means that the building never had the status of a cultural asset, and therefore could not even be protected in terms of alleged damage to cultural heritage," said Đukanović in front of the Special Court.
He did not specify when the decision from 2005, as he claims, was declared null and void, or in what way.
The Republic Institute does not have such a decision
The Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, the only institution that can propose obtaining and revoking the status of a cultural property for an object, has not done so, nor has the decision referred to by lawyer Đukanović reached them.
Nenad Leibensperger, conservator of the Institute of the Republic, says that he does not know what decision lawyer Đukanović is referring to, and assumes that he confused something, that he probably meant the Belgrade Fair, which was first declared a cultural asset in its entirety, which was later withdrawn.
"If the decision from 2005, which declared the General Staff a cultural asset, had been declared null and void, the General Staff would not be in the Central Register of Immovable Cultural Assets," he told "Vreme".
He adds that "the only two moments when the status of the General Staff was revoked were in November 2024, when the Government's decision was made about it, but on the basis of a falsified document, which is why criminal proceedings are now being conducted in the TOK, and in 2025, when the lex specialis was made based on that illegal decision of the Government of Serbia".
Photo: Tanjug/Ana PaunkovićDefendant Nikola Selaković
Kovačević: Let Đukanović prove it
Let us remind you that the decision of the Government and the lex specialis were made on the basis of a document which is the subject of the proceedings before the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
In addition, Minister Selaković participated in the action for which he was blamed before the decision of the Government and the lex specialist.
Architect Bojan Kovačević, the most authoritative expert on the General Staff, tells "Vreme" that while he was the director of the City Museum, "there were two proposals from the Ministry of Economy to strip the General Staff of its status, because they probably received a similar proposal to the one received from Trump's son-in-law the other day, so we had consultations with experts from both institutes for the protection of cultural monuments. The conclusion was that nothing had changed at the General Staff that would have deprived it of its status, so based on therefore, the proposals of the Ministry of Economy were rejected".
Kovačević also says that he does not know "what lawyer Đukanović is talking about", but that he expects that according to the rules of his profession, he will disclose it.
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