Since the beginning of the pre-investigation procedure in the cases "Canopy" and "General Staff"and when evidence was collected of the suspicion that certain ministers "abused their position to the detriment of all citizens", media targeting began, and "then the obstruction of the actions of the prosecution".
Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office (TOK) announced on Tuesday, November 25 that the prosecutors were "exposed to continuous pressure" from the president, as well as other representatives of the authorities and certain media in Serbia. writes Deutsche Welle.
It is the second such announcement in less than a month. The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime also stated on November 4 that the President of Serbia "made shameless claims with which he belittles and criminalizes TOK public prosecutors" and emphasized that this "directly obstructs justice."
The prosecution reacted then, because he is the president Aleksandar Vučić on a television station with a national frequency, speaking about the General Staff case, he said that the majority of prosecutors in Serbia are a "corrupt gang" and that TOK prosecutors are "criminals".
When the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime ordered the arrest of 13 persons on August 1, including former ministers Tomislav Momirović and Goran Vesić, suspected of corruption within the Hungarian-Serbian railway modernization project, some tabloid media wrote that it was a "prosecutorial coup" that TOK is trying to implement with the chief prosecutor for organized crime Mladen Nenadić at the head.
On November 25, Vučić also referred to the prosecutor's office: "Since we have an organized criminal group that manages certain prosecutor's offices, I urge them to blame the one who is the real culprit for this as well. I guess I introduced sanctions and everything else," Vučić said at a press conference dedicated to the Oil Industry of Serbia, which was sanctioned by the US.
"TOK can no longer act"
Radovan Lazić from the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia (UTS) told DW that the fact that the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime is reacting to the president's statements for the second time "means that a situation has arisen where the TOK can no longer act and exercise its legal and constitutional powers."
"The statements of the president who claims that the General Staff case does not exist, directly negates what TOK is doing," says Lazić. He draws attention to the fact that Vučić's statements are accompanied by "operational actions" and reminds that "the directors of three state institutions - the police, the Directorate for the Prevention of Money Laundering and the Tax Administration - have withdrawn members of their services from the Task Force for the work on the Overhead case".
"The strike group was destroyed and the investigation of the TOK is being obstructed, which cannot even conduct a preliminary investigation, and often not even an investigative one, without the cooperation of those institutions," explains Radovan Lazić.
Without the protection of the authorities
The prosecutor in the Appellate Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Lidija Komlen Nikolić, reminds that in the statement of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, it is stated that there have been attempts by government representatives to influence the actions of TOK in cases such as Jovanjica, Šarić, Ćuruvija and Dijana Hrkalović.
"TOK is forced to announce itself because for a long period of time they did not receive the protection of the High Council of the Prosecution and the Commissioner for Independence. I would say that they did not even receive the explicit public protection of the Supreme Public Prosecutor (Zagorke Dolovac)", assesses Komlen Nikolić, who is also the president of UTS.
Savo Đurđić, a retired judge of the Appellate Court in Novi Sad, believes that it is good that the TOK is now speaking openly about the pressures it is suffering, but also assesses that the prosecution should be more transparent, especially when it comes to the Nadstrešnica and General Staff cases.
"TOK should have informed us earlier how far each investigation has come, where they have problems in their work, whether the resources of the investigators from the Strike Group were returned to them, whether they considered and accepted the proposal of the Commission of Inquiry for the investigation of responsibility for the fall of the canopy to expand the investigation to other persons," emphasizes Đurđić.
Consequences of the conflict at the top of the prosecutor's office
Recently, there has been talk about the conflict between the chief prosecutor of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office (VJT) in Belgrade Nenad Stefanović and Zagorke Dolovac, who, due to the suspicion of corrupt practices, decided that the case files related to the fall of the canopy should be submitted to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime.
Could this conflict have consequences for the conduct of proceedings before the TOK regarding the General Staff and the fall of the canopy?
"I think that conflict has direct consequences on the case of the falling canopy. I don't have enough information for the other case to make such a statement. The conflict has led to the fact that even within the Public Prosecutor's Organization, public prosecutors are expected to make up their own minds," says Komlen Nikolić and emphasizes that she refuses to do so.
"I have professional criticism for both sides. I will try not to break this conflict through the Association of Prosecutors of Serbia, although signs are already appearing that the UTS has decided and supports Nenad Stefanović. I want to point out that this is not true," says Komlen Nikolić.
He adds that the Dolovac-Stefanović conflict "spilled over" not only to the case of Nadstrešnica, but also to the elections for the High Prosecutorial Council, scheduled for December.
"Except at the elementary level, where colleague Predrag Milovanović ran as a candidate of the Association, no one wanted to do that anymore," explains the president of UTS.
Abolition of TOK?
The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime reminds in a statement that he is the chairman of the Committee for Justice Ugljesa Mrdic announced changes to the law "which would lead to the abolition of TOK" and that this was supported by the Minister of Justice Nenad Vujić. Mrdić proposed that TOK be under the authority of VJT in Belgrade.
"Knowing that the president has publicly said that the only prosecutor he trusts is Nenad Stefanović, this is a demonstration of his intention to resolve the issue of TOK leaders by law. If you do not trust Nenadić, and you cannot replace him, then solve it by changing the law so that the prosecutor's office no longer exists and it becomes part of another prosecutor's office whose head is Stefanović, in whom you have confidence," explains Radovan Lazić.
Savo Đurđić sees the reasons for this initiative in the fact that Vučić is "afraid of cases under the jurisdiction of the TOK, as well as the fact that he and his closest collaborators will be accused."
The need to take "concrete action"
Could the president of the state be held accountable for interfering with the work of the judiciary?
Komlen Nikolić says that from the announcement of the TOK, it follows that the president's statements "could acquire the legal characteristics of the criminal offense of obstruction of justice."
"The president is protected by immunity, just like a member of parliament. The law on the President of the Republic stipulates that the Parliament decides on the immunity of the president by a majority of votes," says Komlen Nikolić.
He adds that TOK is not competent to prosecute the president for that crime.
"Theoretically, the TOK could submit a criminal complaint against the president to the competent public prosecutor's office, which could request the lifting of immunity. Theoretically, the competent prosecutor's office can react to the announcements of the TOK and initiate procedures. However, we are no longer in the field of theory, but of the real need to take concrete actions," concludes Lidija Komlen Nikolić for DW.
