CINS: Time-barred proceedings against Nikola Petrović

The Center for Investigative Journalism (CINS) has announced that the misdemeanor proceedings against him have expired Nikola Petrović since the car is under the influence narcotics caused a traffic accident during which two people were slightly injured.

The proceedings were conducted due to an accident in March 2023, when Nikola Petrović hit a car in Dedinje McLaren with two women in it, who were slightly injured on that occasion.

On July 10 of last year, the Misdemeanor Court in Belgrade issued a first-instance verdict by which it fined Petrović 10.000 dinars and two penalty points, but after an appeal, the Misdemeanor Appellate Court overturned it and sent it back for a new decision. Since in the meantime no final verdict has been passed, and two years have passed since the accident, the absolute statute of limitations has set in. CINS.

First, a criminal complaint was filed against Nikola Petrović for possibly endangering public traffic. However, a year later, the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade decided not to pursue criminal proceedings because, as stated in the announcement, they determined that the women were not seriously injured, and that the damage to the vehicle driven by one of them did not exceed 200.000 dinars. Instead, they filed a misdemeanor complaint against Petrović.

Expertise procedure

Nikola Petrović was tested for psychoactive substances and alcohol after the accident. Tests on the spot found that he was positive for cocaine and his blood alcohol level was measured at 0,41 per thousand.
Later, a urine sample was taken from him at the Military Medical Academy and testing revealed the presence of cocaine metabolites that are produced when the body breaks down the substance, in this case cocaine.

Blood analysis showed that the percentage of alcohol was between 0,46 and 0,48 per thousand.

As stated in the announcement by the First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office, Petrović in his defense did not dispute that he participated in the accident, but expressed doubts about the operation of the braking system on his vehicle, as well as the test for psychoactive substances.

In the same statement, they also stated that the opinion of the expert psychiatrist was that at the time of the accident, the concentration of alcohol in the blood most likely ranged from 0,1 to 0,2 per thousand, which is within the permissible limits, because the alcohol was in the resorption phase, that is, it had not yet fully entered the blood.

The expert's opinion was that it cannot be determined with certainty whether Petrović was driving under the influence of intoxicating drugs, given that the presence of cocaine metabolites in urine does not determine the time when cocaine was consumed. They added that cocaine only works when it is in the blood.

Forensic medicine specialist and retired associate professor of the Faculty of Medicine, Ivanka Baralić Obradović, previously told Radar that an error was made because the test for psychoactive substances was not performed on a blood sample.

"With the finding of cocaine in his blood, it would be known exactly when and how much of the drug he took."
This case was also in the public spotlight after the police officer from Valjevo, Katarina Petrović, forwarded the photo of the police report on the accident to opposition MP Marinika Tepić, who published it on Twitter.

As Petrović explained later, it was specific to her that the report did not state that the measure of mandatory police detention was applied to Nikola Petrović, which is the practice in such situations.

She was arrested in July 2023 and is being prosecuted on suspicion of leaking classified information in connection with the investigation. She was acquitted by the first-instance verdict, which was later confirmed by the Court of Appeal in Belgrade, writes CINS.