Photo: Milovam MilenkovićAlthough he admitted that he falsified the proposal on the termination of the protection of the General Staff, Goran Vasić remains at large. The court only prohibited him from contacting the witnesses, while the public is wondering - who is the real orderer of the attempt to demolish this cultural monument?
The court did not order detention. To Goran Vasić acting director Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, even though the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime proposed it, and even though he admitted that he was guilty, that he had falsified the Proposal for making a decision on the termination of the status of cultural property General Staff.
The court decided that Vasić should be released, and the only thing he was denied was to approach the witnesses who should be heard in the proceedings.
Is the court's decision logical?
There is every possibility that Goran Vasić wrote that Proposal on someone else's order, so it could be said that this decision of the court is logical because he was only carrying out someone else's will. He is just a tool, and the General Staff wanted someone else to tear it down and sell it to Trump's son-in-law's company. Vasić is guilty because he agreed to do it, which he himself admitted. The court did not punish him for that.
Maybe the court is waiting for someone to initiate proceedings against the principal.
That such a person exists is indicated by the sequence of events.
Exactly one year ago, it was reported that Goran Vesić, then the Minister of Construction, signed the "Agreement on the revitalization of the complex of the former Federal Secretariat for National Defense (SSNO) with the company "Affinity Global Development" owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of the American president.
Vesić announced that the Government of Serbia did not sell this land, but, as stated in the contract, "leased the land for 99 years".
Three days later, the New York Times announced that the investment was worth 500 million dollars and that, according to the proposed contract, the state of Serbia should receive 22 percent of the profit.
Then, already on June 3, Dr. Dubravka Đukanović, the previous director of the RZZSK, a distinguished scientist, architect-conservator and full professor of the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, resigned, because she did not accept the ultimatum of the Minister of Finance Sinisa Malog, who proposed to her either to remove the protection of cultural heritage on the General Staff building or to withdraw from this position.
Appointment of Vasić
On June 27, the Government of Serbia quickly appointed Goran Vasić as acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Until then, he was the director of the Kruševac National Museum and had not passed the professional conservator's exam, which is required by law for the RZZSK.
A few days after that, Goran Vasić submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Culture to withdraw the protection status of the General Staff.
That document was written by Vasić on behalf of the RZZSK, although he did not consult with anyone from the collective about it, nor did he inform anyone that he would do so on behalf of the RZZSK. He handed in a document that was written as a short school assignment rather than a several-page study.
Apparently, no one in the Ministry was suspicious of any of that. According to the procedure, the Ministry submitted that Proposal to the Government for consideration and adoption, and the Government adopted it on November 14, 2014, depriving the General Staff of its status as a cultural asset. No one in the Government was suspicious of anything either.
This decision triggered protests from the public, experts, letters from numerous foreign institutions - there has never been more response regarding a cultural monument than there has been regarding the General Staff. The latest reaction came at the beginning of May from the European Parliament, which expressed serious concern about the cancellation of the protection status of cultural monuments, as is the case with the General Staff complex.
Disobedient employees
However, the Government of Serbia still asked the RZZSK to delete the General Staff from the Register of Cultural Properties of Serbia. They refused it.
And then, last month, the employees of RZZSK accidentally discovered Vasić's Proposal, from the hands of Criminal Police officers who visited this institution. After that, they asked the Ministry of Culture and the Government of Serbia to remove Vasić due to gross violations of professional ethics and procedures related to the cultural heritage status of the General Staff and Ministry of Defense facilities in Belgrade.
The Ministry of Culture did not answer them.
But that's why the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime took Goran Vasić into custody on May 13 on suspicion of falsifying the Proposal for the adoption of a decision on the termination of the status of cultural property of the General Staff.
What Goran Vasić stated during the hearing, and whether his testimony is a signpost to the principal, will be known at some point.
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