"Vreme" publishes the verdict of the High Court in Nis against General Milosav Simović, which states what information he gave and to whom, for which he was sentenced to six months of house arrest. The lawyer of the convicted former general states that he did not divulge any secrets, but that after his retirement he took part of the archive with confidential files home because, due to the speed of his retirement, he did not have time to sort through the archive at work.
Is he a retired general? of the Serbian Army Did Milosav Simović really reveal a state secret, or was such a verdict given to him because he retired hastily, so he wanted to finish part of the work at home? The court claims one thing, the lawyer another.
Retired general Milosav Simovic was sentenced to six months of house arrest because from June 23 to June 30, 2025, he was in the Land Command of the Serbian Army in Niš, while performing duties within the scope of the Serbian Army, was a user and had access to secret data classified as "state secret" and successively made the data entrusted to him available to unknown persons without authorization, according to the verdict delivered to "Vremen" from the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Negotin.
Simović's lawyer, Mirko Krstović, says that the general did not reveal the secret, but that it was transferred to him that, after his retirement, he transferred part of the archive with confidential files to his house. He did it, the lawyer claims, because in the speed with which he retired there was no time to sort through the archives at work.
In accordance with the Data Secrecy Law, the data were classified as "strictly confidential" and "state secret", the judgment stated.
According to reports, Simović handed over an official mobile phone containing secret information of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense to people who are not allowed to access such data. According to the verdict, he asked six unauthorized persons to buy a portable hard drive with his money and, among other things, to record all written communications (SMS, Viber and WhatsApp) from his official phone, including the Viber communication of the Duty Operational Team of the Defense System, and to transfer all the data to the official laptop, to duplicate the data by copying and printing and take it to his apartment, the verdict further states.
It is about data related to the planning and equipping of the Serbian Armed Forces, data related to the administrative line and control of the Land Security Zone, data on the placement of war material reserves, on the armed forces of foreign countries, on the amount of ammunition and ordnance according to the types of the Serbian Armed Forces, on the organization of the Army at war, data on the placement of storage complexes for the accommodation of war material reserves and locations where the means of the war material reserves of the Serbian Army are echeloned, systematization of formation units, personal formations, the organizational structure of the organizational unit with an independent formation in war.
In the document that "Vreme" received, certain parts are blacked out, so it is not possible to see exactly what data it is, nor to whom the accused handed it over.
By the decree signed by Aleksandar Vučić on June 13, 2025, Simović's professional military service ended, by force of law, with the right to a pension. He retired in November.
Retired general Milosav Simovic he was prosecuted and sentenced to six months of house arrest for revealing state secrets, it was confirmed earlier for "Vreme" at the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Negotin.
Proceedings against Simović were initiated based on a criminal report by the Serbian Army, after the Appellate Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš authorized the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Negotin to take over the case that was previously in the pre-investigation phase in Niš.
According to the prosecution, during the investigation, the suspect suggested concluding an agreement on the recognition of a proposed criminal offense. The agreement was signed by the parties to the proceedings and the defense attorneys, and the High Court in Niš fully accepted it and rendered a verdict declaring Simović guilty of the prolonged criminal act of disclosing secret information.
Simović's lawyer Mirko Krstović said that the general did not reveal the secret, but it was transferred to him that, after his retirement, he transferred part of the archive with confidential files to his house. And that, the lawyer says, he did because there was no time to sort through the archives at work in an emergency.
"Looking at the moment in which all this happened, due to General Simović's explicit attitude that he does not want to compromise the army and the state in any way, consciously putting them before his family and himself, we decided to accept the offered Agreement," Krstović told Južne vesti.
Six months in prison is the lightest punishment for revealing a state secret. Simović, former commander of the Army, was dismissed in June last year. He officially retired on November 3, his 59th birthday.
Information about the detention ordered for retired general Simović first published director of the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery in Niš, dr Dragan Milić, who is also the president of the Movement for the Decentralization of Serbia.
According to the Prosecution, he will serve his sentence of six months in the premises where he lives, without electronic monitoring, after the verdict becomes final.
If he voluntarily leaves the apartment once for more than six hours or twice for up to six hours, the court will order that he serve the rest of the sentence in prison, the answer states.
In addition, he was ordered to confiscate his case, as well as a ban on performing tasks involving the handling of secret data for a period of two years from the date of finality of the verdict. He is also obliged to reimburse the costs of the proceedings to the prosecutor's offices in Niš and Negotin and the High Court in Niš.
According to the law, unauthorized disclosure of data marked "internal" or "confidential" is punishable by imprisonment from three months to three years, while disclosure of data marked as "strictly confidential" is punishable by a sentence of six months to five years. In cases of disclosure of information marked as a "state secret", the threatened sentence is from one to ten years in prison.
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