Photo: BIRN SerbiaInspector Dušan Mitić of the Belgrade Police Narcotics Control Department testified before the Special Court about the "abnormal" pressure to release "Jovanjica". The head of the BIA at the time, and the current minister of the interior, Bratislav Gašić, was in direct contact with the people who ran the largest marijuana plantation in Europe.
As a witness before the Special Court for Organized Crime, the head of the operation IV department of the Belgrade police in charge of countering narcotics Inspector Dušan Mitić said: "From the beginning of the work on the Jovanjic case, we were under pressure from the highest state structures." writes BIRN Serbia.
The head of the BIA at the time, and the current minister of the interior, Bratislav Gašić, who is being asked to be replaced by the participants of the "Serbia against violence" protest, ordered them to complete the investigations in the case of the largest illegal marijuana plantation "Jovanjica", and the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, ordered "not to " because he "does his job perfectly".
Mitić testified that the pressure on the Narcotics Suppression Department to stop all activities related to "Jovajica" was exerted by one of the heads of the BIA, Mirko Škero, as well as by the acting prosecutor in the "Jovajica" case, Saša Drecun.
Mitic's boss, the head of the IV department, has already spoken about the pressure from the Military Intelligence Agency (VOA) and the BIA to cover up the case during the investigation before the deputy prosecutor. Slobodan Milenkovic, but those allegations were not included in the indictment in the "Jovanjica 1" case, so they were not available to the public until BIRN published the entire transcript of Milenkovic's testimony, which it managed to obtain.
Drug production under the auspices of the state
At the beginning of the testimony on June 15, the president of the court panel, judge Zoran Ganić, asked Mitić if he stood by the earlier statement given in 2020 during the investigation, and he confirmed that he generally stood by the statement that their department discovered drug production under the auspices of the state, but added that he now has new knowledge of a "higher degree".
He said that the pressures started as soon as the police entered "Jovanjica", and the owner of the plantation, Predrag Koluvija, tried to dissuade them from continuing the extortion by boasting of his contacts with the highest state officials and people from the political and economic life of Serbia.
Mitic said that Koluvija confirmed his connections with members of the security sector by showing him correspondence with high-ranking members of the BIA, including the one with Gasic.
He says that he asked Koluvia if he could look at the correspondence with Gasic, to which he gave him his phone.
"Their correspondence since one day shows their closeness and intimacy, Koluvija comments with him on people from the opposition," said the inspector and added that it is clear from the correspondence that Gasic knew that Koluvija was a donor to the BIA agency and that he was "astounded that is a narcotics dealer who is a donor to the BIA".
"It is clear from the messages that Gašić knows what is happening in Jovanjica, and this can be seen from the conversation with (the first man of the Belgrade BIA center Mirko) Škera," Mitić concluded.
Gasic covers up "Jovanjica"
That the orders to cover up Jovanjica came from Gašić was also confirmed by BIA member Aleksandar Tošić, who at the time of the police raid on "Jovanjica" came to the estate with a request that the police do not release information about the case to the public, writes BIRN Serbia.
Tošić is one of the defendants in the "Jovanjica 2" case, in which members of the police, the Security and Intelligence Agency and the Military Intelligence Agency are accused of providing protection to the first defendant, Koluvija.
"Since there were a lot of members of the police and security services when we entered 'Jovanjica', we listed everyone who was present. When Tošić arrived, we told him that we would enroll him, if he entered 'Jovanjica'. He wanted to go in and see who was doing everything," Mitić said, wondering how Tošić even found out about the police action on "Jovanjica", since only his colleagues from his department and the prosecutor had the information.
"Tošić wanted to convey messages to me, he was uncomfortable and his hands were shaking." And the messages were as follows: that the BIA is aware of what is happening at 'Jovanjica' and is asking us not to go public with information about the action," Mitić testified, as reported by BIRN.
Mitić asked Tošić if he had come officially, which he confirmed by saying that he was coming on the order of his boss Mirko Šker.
Then, Mitić further testified, he called Milenkovic in order to check whether Tošić really came on Šker's order. Milenkovic called Šker on the spot and he confirmed to him that he had sent Tošić and repeated his request not to disclose information about the action to the public. According to Mitić, Škero told Milenkovic that he was transmitting these messages on the orders of his boss, that "they were acting on the instructions of Bratislava Gašić."
You can read the entire text at BIRN Serbia portal
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