JZO: How was the unit of commander Marko Kričko formed and what did it turn into?

Until the Serbian Progressive Party came to power, not much was known about the members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs responsible for securing certain persons and facilities in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Neither during the time of Slobodan Milošević, nor later, during the rule of DOS and Vojislav Koštunica, they were not overly exposed. People did their work unnoticed and unobtrusive.

Milosevic was guarded by members of the Sixth Administration of the Department of State Security, and journalists never had any problems with them. The same was true after the DOS came to power with the security of Zoran Đinđić and Koštunica.

When the Security Directorate was officially formed in 2003, it was joined by vetted people, former members of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ) who, as the people say, "expired their shelf life", but still in full condition and combat readiness, hardened professionals.

When the DS-SPS coalition came to power, the socialists took over the police, and Ivica Dačić became the minister. He appoints Zoran Tomašević, a former member of SAJ, as the head of that administration, a man who provided security for various state officials.

Photo: Jovo Mamula MC Odbrana.

Boris Tadić, however, as the president of the country, took members of the special military unit "Cobra" as his security, who protect him even today. Then the rating of professionals from the Security Administration began to fall, so at the personal request of "Cobra" officials, they began guarding various ministers, state secretaries, holders of judicial positions, all with the "mining" of Tadić.

There were also funny situations, when a scooter driver hits a protected person who is exiting the left rear door of the car, which is unacceptable, or when a member of "Cobra" walks the poodle of the daughter of a protected official and carries it in his arms across the pedestrian crossing.

Nebojša Stefanović's changes

The SNS came to power in 2012. In the summer of 2014, Tomašević was dismissed and Milan Glišović, also a seasoned member of the SAJ, was appointed head of the Security Administration. Everything works as before, until in 2016, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Dr. Nebojša Stefanović, took matters into his own hands.

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The administration is growing into a special unit for the security of certain persons and objects (JZO), and this means a different organization (in translation, higher salaries and the possibility of accepting people from outside). Stefanović, based on his earlier friendship with a certain Slavko Gak, the city secretary for social affairs or something like that, appoints his brother Milan as the commander of the JZO. Milan, of course, did not come from nowhere, he was a member of SAJ. They say average, but getting to that unit was still not easy.

The fact that he was recommended by Stefanović's chief of staff, Ivan Ristić, certainly contributed to Gak's appointment as commander. Ristić is Stefanović's longtime friend, some say even a schoolmate, he was the last "class" of the training of the Special Operations Unit, a formation of the State Security, after which he was transferred to SAJ, because he had no blemish in his career.

As a member of SAJ, he guarded the American ambassador, and then, after the progressives came to power, he became Stefanović's head of security while he was president of the Assembly. And that's where his career took off. He became the head of the cabinet of the Minister of the Interior and from that position had influence on many decisions, which ultimately cost him his career. He fell together with Stefanović.

Gaku can't be blamed for any "murky" actions, but his colleagues blame him for not preventing some things, which led to the "partisanship" of JZO.

Arrival of Bata Gašić and Marko Kričko

Then Bratislav Gašić came from the position of BIA director to the position of Minister of Internal Affairs and brought his people. Marko Kričko, a former car sales representative at "Porsche Auto" and the son of the former head of the Belgrade police's narcotics department, is appointed as the commander of the JZO. This is Marko Kričko's only connection with the security services since the qualifications.

Photo: Printscreen Youtube/MUP

After that, the JZO grew from some 300 members to 1.300, because "important personalities" like various starlets need to be protected.

In that unit, they begin to employ people with strange biographies and dubious pasts, brought along party lines. This could best be seen in the Serbian Parliament, where old, experienced police personnel from that unit "rolled their eyes" at their new colleagues. They said that "they didn't bring education from home", that they were "arrogant and crude". It has never been seen before that, for example, a press conference of opposition MPs is secured by twenty such characters, ten of them each standing in or in front of the hall where committee meetings are held.

JZO and progressive thugs

Members of the JZO come into the public spotlight with the strengthening of protests by citizens and students, where they have been openly engaged in the last two years. Their problem is that other colleagues, police officers who are doing their job, report them to explain that they have nothing to do with those thugs.

The author of this text was attacked a few years ago, while he was filming the SNS beatings, and everything went well for them without any consequences, without a judicial epilogue, although the case was properly reported to the prosecutor's office. A well-intentioned friend from the MUP then advised me to "fight" it all, because among those SNS thugs were also members of the JZO.

The last documented case of mistreatment and torture of a student, which fortunately was recorded, forced the Prosecutor's Office to speak out and say that it "formed a case". The MUP did not announce it, nor did the Department of Internal Control. Unfortunately for them, the public, thanks to the honorable people from the police, found out their names, as well as the identity of those who kidnapped the student and put him in a car without license plates.

Use of PHE for arrest and harassment

The operational organizer of those "actions" is the assistant commander of the JZO, Colonel Igor Žmirić, formerly a member of the Anti-Terrorist Unit, which has since been disbanded. According to his colleagues, Žmirić agreed to the humiliation of having a major brought in from the side as his colonel commander - Marko Kricak, who in the meantime had advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel. They also claim that the policewoman T. D, who physically abused the student, is Žmirić's "pullenka".

The deputy commander of the JZO, Marko Zafirović, was also seen and filmed arresting protest participants, although that is not his job. Apparently, the top of the MUP was scared, so it sends all available forces to the streets. Various officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs could be seen during the protest - from inspectors for the investigation of war crimes, through those from various lines of the UKP, to, for example, the head of the Belgrade police department for the fight against prostitution.

The author of this article, however, has to praise Zafirović, because he was the only one who identified himself as a policeman, showing not only a badge, but also an official identification with his name, when they prevented the media from filming the intervention of the Gendarmerie on June 28 in Bulevar Kralja Aleksandar. The others pushed and hit. Among them are some retired police officers, hired under a work contract.

JZO, as can be seen, has been acting for years outside the scope of its competence, and referring to some internal regulations according to which, if necessary, they can provide assistance to other organizational units of the MUP or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And that's a wide range that opens the door wide for abuse.