img
White City, 7°C
Time Logo
  • Sign up
  • Subscription
0
  • Newest
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Society
  • The World
  • 2026 Elections
  • Culture
  • Mozaik
  • Comment
  • Printed edition
  • Archive
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
  • Newest
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Society
  • The World
  • 2026 Elections
  • Culture
  • Mozaik
  • Comment
  • Printed edition
  • Archive
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast

Latest Edition

Add to cart

Overview of the week

Ordinary and premium citizens: The cheapest Serbian word - responsibility

October 21, 2022, 07:29 p.m Philip Schwarm
Photo: Dragan Kujundžić/Tanjug
Toying with resignation: President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić
Copied

No matter how much Vučić buys time in one way or another, it will be too expensive for Serbia - his price has skyrocketed after Russia's attack on Ukraine. The ones bought in the cases of Jovanjica, Belivuk's gang and so many corruption affairs are not cheaper either. Both bills will be paid by generations

Does anyone alive know what is happening in the Services, civil and military? Part of Inspector Slobodan Milenkovic's testimony from March 2020 before the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, published by BIRN, opens up two possibilities. Both bad.

The real one - no matter how devastating it sounds - is more favorable. And that is that the heads of the Service did not know about the businesses of their subordinates with Predrag Koluvija related to the plantation inside in Jovanjica, worth according to Milenkovic's estimate 30 to 40 million euros per year. Citizens, in short, are dealing with the monumental stupidity and incompetence of people in the most responsible positions. If nothing else, they should have been removed and held accountable for this a long time ago.

The second possibility is incomparably more realistic: Jovanjica is a "state job" from start to finish. More precisely – business groups of powerful people in power. Otherwise, there would not have been an epic obstruction of Jovanjica II, an indictment against the immediate protectors of Koluvija from the Services and the police; the President of Serbia would not assist and prompt Vladimir Đukanović in defense of its owner; Inspector Milenkovic wouldn't be protected by his colleagues from those Services...

And further, in the same direction. As soon as Dijana Hrkalović says on television that Milenkovic "does drugs", the Prosecutor's Office immediately calls him for questioning. The same thing happened to Baka Prase after Željko Mitrović's accusation that he was a cocaine dealer during a shootout. However, the Prosecutor's Office does not see, hear or read anything that the independent and professional media have been publishing for years about Jovanjica or Veljko Belivuk's gang. Why were the gendarme Nenad Vučković Vučko and the government secretary Novak Nedić, for example, not heard in the framework of this second process? Or, in both cases, numerous others from the government structures?

This means that the citizens of Serbia have equal status before the law, only that some are more equal than others. That is, as noted by Voja Žanetić, it seems that the state is organized like mobile telephony, so there are "ordinary and premium users".

Maybe that's normal in a country where only one person knows the composition of the future government. Vučić is currently boasting that he is ready to resign as a "tactical move" in order to save Serbia by buying it "six to nine months" due to the pressures due to Kosovo. What will be different after that period, Mr. President? Only that someone will have to accept the current conditions or even worse.

The reason for waving his resignation is to avoid personal responsibility: he is mobilizing the party to play tricks on the people for the sake of begging the president to change his mind and "endure unbearably", the party is afraid of political instability in Serbia.

There is one big problem. No matter how much Vučić buys time in one way or another, it will be too expensive for Serbia - his price skyrocketed after Russia's attack on Ukraine. The time bought because of the "citizen's premium" in the cases of Jovanjica, Belivuk's gang and so many other corruption scandals is not cheaper. Both bills will be paid by generations.

 

Read daily news, analysis, commentary and interviews at www.vreme.com

Tags:

the case of John the Baptist Inspector Milenković jovanjica 2 Aleeksandar Vučić resignation John's services Marijuana Plantation of Serbia state project of Jovanjica Novak Nedić Jovanjica Predrag's Koluvija second class citizens Jovanjica Slobodan Milenkovic
Copied

In between

What is happening in the country and the world, what is in the newspapers and how to pass the time?
Every Wednesday at noon In between arrives by email. It's a pretty solid newsletter, so sign up!

More from the News section
prison, prison

News

04.November 2026 A.M.

The UKP raided Zabela due to suspicion of accepting and giving bribes in connection with the vote

Members of the UKP search Zabela on suspicion of abuse of official position and giving and receiving bribes in connection with the vote. During the action, cigarettes were found, which are suspected to have been used to bribe prisoners to vote for SNS

Aleksandar N. Nešković - Student list

New issue of Vremena

04.November 2026 not a word

Nešković (SL) for "Vreme": The end of the acting director in health

Professor Aleksandar N. Nešković for "Vreme" announces competitions for directors of health institutions, salary increases and less administration so that doctors have more time for patients

News

04.November 2026 A.M.

SAJ commander Igor Žmirić was arrested

The commander of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit Igor Žmirić was arrested this Wednesday, November 4, together with 8 other people

Higher public prosecution

News

04.November 2026 CI

The higher public prosecutor's office proposed detention for the director of the RHMZ and two other suspects

RHMZ director Jugoslav Nikolić, suspected of money laundering and failure to declare assets, defended himself by remaining silent during the hearing. The Prosecutor's Office proposes detention for him and two other suspects

Fifth hearing in the case

News

04.November 2026 CI

The hearing in the "General Staff" case was postponed because acting director Goran Vasić did not appear

The hearing in the "General Staff" case was postponed because Goran Vasić, one of the defendants, did not appear before the Special Court due to illness

Comment

Comment

Vučić's pardons: It is time to abolish the sultan's powers

Vučić pardoned the batterers and Dijana Hrkalović. The election winners should abolish the sultan's power that allows one man to run afoul of the entire judicial system

Nemanja Rujevic
Alta Bank in Belgrade

Comment

The ALTA Empire and the Apprehension of Matsura: An Operation in the Open Heart of a Corrupt Regime

Davor Matura's ALTA empire is the transplanted heart of the corrupt regime of Aleksandar Vučić, who was defeated in the October 25 elections. From ALTA Bank, roads lead directly to the top of the progressive government.

Andrei Ivanji
Student List celebrates victory

Comment

Serbia after the elections: Instructions for the impatient

Things are unfolding at an astonishing speed, as astonishing as the speed with which Vucic conceded a convincing defeat. Impatience is understandable, but misplaced

Ivan Milenkovic
See all
Time 1869
Last edition

Election summary

How history was written subscribe
Analyze

What awaits the winner?

Interview: Spasoje Vulević, former commander of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit

The police must go through a serious reform and lustration

Interview: Aleksandar Baucal, professor at the University of Belgrade, member of parliament

If they have dignity, they will resign

Lines from the polling station

My heart flies like a falcon.

See all

Archive

The archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.

See all
Time 1869 28.10 2026.
Time 1868 21.10 2026.
Time 1867 14.10 2026.
Time 1866 07.10 2026.
Time 1865 30.09 2026.
Time 1864 23.09 2026.
Time 1863 16.09 2026.
Time 1862 09.09 2026.
Time 1861 02.09 2026.
Time 1860 26.08 2026.
Time 1859 19.08 2026.
Time 1858 12.08 2026.
Time Logo
  • Editorial office
  • Subscription
  • Marketing
  • Terms of use
  • Newsletter
  • Projects
Follow us:

© 2026 Time, Belgrade. Developed by cubes

Mastercard Teacher visa Dina American Express Understanding WSPAY Visa-Secure Mastercard Secure