A police officer in the crosshairs of the state

Guarantee that the lives of my family members and my life are safe, so let's expose the crime of state officials together, is the attitude of police chief Slobodan Milenkovic, who exposed "Jovanjica".

This message was conveyed to the judicial authorities by his legal representative, Zdenko Tomanović. The public does not know whether Milenkovic said the same words to the prosecutor during the informational interview, since the entire procedure of gathering information is marked as "strictly confidential".

Chief Milenkovic entered the Palace of Justice with inspectors from his department, and his lawyer Tomanović says that they are both his colleagues and guards. They walk armed even when they come to state institutions because they are protecting their boss from the state.

Milenkovic was invited by the Prosecutor's Office for an interview in the capacity of a citizen, while in the regime media he has already been accused and even convicted. And precisely because of those publications in the tabloids, the Prosecution ordered to call Milenkovic to make a statement, and among other things, whether he used the "Sky" application on his phone, the code name "Bokan"...

During the interview at the Prosecutor's Office, the inspector answered those questions that he was able to answer, his lawyer said. He explained that the conversation about Milenkovic's associates and his operational work is not allowed without prior consent, that is, consultation with the inspector's superiors and the responsible minister.

"Even then, under certain conditions, it may be possible to have a conversation," Tomanović pointed out. Tomanović also says that the Prosecutor's Office should now say "no" to the part of the state power centers that targeted this police officer.

PRODUCTION OF SILENCE AROUND JOVANJICA

Photo: Sava Radovanović / Tanjug

The path that Milenkovic will take to the Prosecutor's Office has been prepared for a long time, two and a half years to be exact. It's as if on November 13, 2019, when everything started, some fate arranged everything to start as it should, but some forces are trying to finish it as if the discovery of Jovanjica never happened.

The inspectors of the Department for the fight against drugs of the Belgrade police were an hour and a half late for their official trip. They could not leave without a signed travel order, and the wait for the then chief of the city's criminal police to put his initials was prolonged. When the inspectors finally left, their peaceful drive on the highway was interrupted by a black Audi with Serbian Orthodox badges, equipped with police blinkers, and the passengers of that vehicle showed them the middle finger. Two cars carrying inspectors managed to stop traffic offenders. And then, on that part of the highway, police chief Slobodan Milenković and the owner of the "Jovanjica" estate, Predrag Koluvija, stood eye to eye, facing each other. Koluvija was with his driver Miloš Teofilović, previously known in the circles of heroin dealers.

While the police blinkers were flashing red and blue light, the Serbian coat of arms with four glasses on the trunk of the Audi caught the inspectors' eyes. A man with a beard approached them with a smile and, as stated in the indictment, introduced himself as working in the cabinet of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia. And on the police ID card, above the coat of arms, there really was his photo, also with a beard. Koluvija did not know that out of almost 40 members of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, only a few have permission to wear beards. And the "beards" have to regularly justify with medical findings that confirm skin diseases, why they can't shave for a photo shoot.

That was enough to raise suspicion among the four inspectors. Let's not talk about the fact that the judge Milenkovic himself later told the prosecutor that Koluvija was known to him from before as a seller of narcotic drugs, and that he doubted the authenticity of the identification right away. The chief of operations of the Belgrade Department for the fight against drugs had the same doubt. Namely, Dušan Mitić told the prosecutor that for a year he had operational knowledge that Koluvija was producing drugs on the territory of Stara Pazova.

A police action followed. During the raid on the "Jovanjica" estate, as stated in the indictment, 1 tons of marijuana, ten underground, state-of-the-art laboratories for the production of skunk, a dryer were discovered, and cannabis plantations flourished in the greenhouses. Unheard of until then, it was, according to investigators, the discovery of the largest skunk factory in Europe. Instead of bombastic headlines in the newspapers, instead of a press conference and an award for police officers, silence followed. The silence was so loud it echoed ominously. When parts of the application for secret communication of the organized criminal group, which, as the Prosecution accuses, Koluvija led, were published, it became clearer who was producing that silence. Namely, while Koluvija was in the hands of the police, his colleagues from the police and the BIA last met on the group, within the Razgovor application, "Safety Council". It can be seen from the exchanged messages that the journalists were also worried about them.

"The media is now the most important, so that (the news about the arrest) does not go away. The military services and the BIA can stop the media," wrote Radovan Bojović, a later arrested police officer from the Department for Suppression of Economic Crime.

A TARGET FOR DRUG DEALERS

photo: tanjug / strahinja aćimović

Indeed, the news about Koluvija's arrest did not leak for almost two weeks, until the opposition politician Miroslav Aleksić, then a member of parliament, asked the police why they were hiding it. By the way, Aleksić also said that he had knowledge that during the arrest of Koluvi, he called the brother of the President of Serbia, Andrej Vučić. And the avalanche started. Journalists started asking questions, the opposition presented its findings and provoked the government. The MUP, under pressure, admits - the action took place. Far from the eyes of the public, in the corridors of the city police building, a real thriller unfolded. BIA agents roamed the famous station for days on November 29 and talked to police officers. They were not interested, for example, in how and on whose orders their colleagues with Koluvija produced drugs, but asked: "Who informed the opposition about "Jovanjica"? Which one of you is talking to the press? God forbid, does Chief Slobodan Milenkovic work for the American DEA? What does that Mitic know about Koluvija? How did the cops discover the skunk factory?” In translation, the BIA was more interested in why the police were doing their jobs in the first place.

There were rumors around town that instead of a silver or gold order, Mayor Milenkovic could "receive" a lead because of Jovanjica. Working in drugs is the most risky job. Let's remind you, one of the most famous policemen in the world, Serpico, who raised his voice against criminals in his ranks, escaped alive by pure luck, just as he was working in "Drugs". A drug dealer shot at him and hit him in the face. He survived and told the public everything about police corruption.

Shortly after Milenkovic discovered Jovanjica, he almost suffered a similar fate. On the eve of 2020, the handover of a large amount of drugs was supposed to take place in Vračar in the evening. As the media speculated, the job was contracted with a dangerous drug dealer by a police informant. However, the criminals somehow found out about it. And not only did someone provide them with confidential official information about the associate, but they also received a tip that in addition to the informant, Chief Milenkovic could also be undercover. The opposite side opened fire as soon as the dealer appeared in their sight, whom they had received a tip that he was more loyal to the police than to criminals. Kursula Street was riddled with bullets, at least six were shot at the police informant. There was a general commotion and a chase. The ambulance, with the wounded man, was still rushing towards the Emergency Center when, by chance or not, the pro-regime media exclusively reported: "A policeman was wounded in the shootout."

On the same evening, the Ministry of Internal Affairs denied the news. However, there was a doubt and a question floating in the air - what would have happened if police officer Milenkovic had really been at the handover? Who tipped the journalists off, luckily, it will turn out to be fake news? An investigation by the Internal Control Sector followed, the inspectors were questioned several times. They passed all checks, without disciplinary punishment. However, that was not enough for the tabloids, they continued to label them as "bad policemen", "those who discovered Jovanjica in a suspicious way".

MEETING IN "THE DARKNESS"

Finally, in 2020, a mechanism was launched whose gears are made up of political, security and judicial structures, lubricated by pro-regime media. Chief Milenkovic and chief of operations Mitić, in January of that year, were polygraph tested, and the main topic was Jovanjica. They were also asked if they had told the opposition that Koluvija had called Andreja - the polygraph showed that they had not. After a few months, also because of Jovanjica, police officers Milenkovic and Mitić were tested again and "passed" the polygraph again. Both times, their lie detector test was supervised by the brother of Vučić's chief of staff, police major Dejan Kojić.

When the journalists found out that the policemen were being taken for a polygraph because of Jovanjica, the MUP responded to that news by sending a video statement by Milenkovic to the media, in which he says that Koluvija did not call Andrej Vučić during the arrest and that the police did not find evidence that the Vučić family connected with "Jovanjica". More simply, "Jovanjica" was not a family business, but was it a state business? Namely, as Koluvia's "ring of protection" in July 2020, members of the BIA and MUP were arrested, while the VOA officer was being searched for all this time without success.

The involvement of the state security top in "Jovanjic" is also shown by a recent discovery by a BIRN journalist. Namely, at the beginning of the week, BIRN announced that in the summer of 2019, Koluvija organized a meeting between Brigadier General Zoran Stojković, director of the Military Intelligence Agency VOA, and the "chief of staff of the Prime Minister of Macedonia, Drago", as stated in the document from the investigation of the "Jovanjica 2" case in which the journalists had an insight. It is, in fact, about the then General Secretary of the Macedonian Government, Drago Raskovski, and according to the document, the meeting was organized in the tavern "Mrak" in Nis and, apart from Raskovski and Stojković, Predrag Koluvija was also present. In the document that BIRN had access to, it is also stated that the contacts between Koluvija and the head of the VOA were intense. VOA is silent about that meeting in "Mrak" - they neither deny nor confirm. There is no reaction from the Prosecutor's Office, the pro-regime media are not reporting the news, and there is enough work for someone to think of polygraphing the director of the VOA.

E, WHEN DIJANA HRKALOVIĆ SAYS

The fact that police officers Milenkovic and Mitić passed the polygraph twice was not enough. First of all, the tabloid covers labeled the police officer Dušan Mitić as a wanted man, that he was guilty of "Jovanjica" and the opposition attack on the honor of the Vučić family. The story circulated in the city that it was only necessary for Chief Milenkovic to "let Inspector Mitić down the drain", as traditionally, as police chiefs already do, and the Serbian civilian and military security forces would calm down. Since he did not sacrifice him, Mitić was joined at the media bonfire by Milenkovic, and here and there they would also name the prosecutor for organized crime Saša Drecun, who filed two indictments for the "Jovanjic" case.

The ruling that found oppositionist Aleksić guilty of insulting the honor of Andrej Vucic because he said that Koluvija called him did not help. Attacks on police officers came in waves. One of the strongest was when Koluvia was released from standard detention in October 2021. At the time, the president of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, came to Koluvia's defense.

"That man spent two years in custody, there is no similar case where a man was in custody for such a crime for two years, and at the same time there is a hunt for why he is not still in custody. Very strange, you will agree, because he didn't kill anyone, he didn't have 10 tons of cocaine or something like that, but, as I understand it, a ton of marijuana," said Vučić.

The owner of Jovanjica, wearing a nanogica, gave an interview to the Objektiv portal, to his own lawyer and SNS official Vladimir Đukanović. By the way, Đukanović is a progressive member of parliament, the president of the Parliamentary Committee for the Judiciary, which directly influences the selection of prosecutors and judges, he has his own show on the pro-regime tabloid Objektiv, and along the way he became a defender of former state secretary Dijana Hrkalović.

The last political-judicial and media attack on Milenkovic was carried out by Hrkalović in an interview, and that too with Objektiv. The tabloids no longer mention Inspector Mitić or Prosecutor Drecun, but they target Slobodan Milenkovic day after day. Defendant Hrkalović said that Milenkovic is, in fact, a drug dealer and that he illegally arrested Koluvija. Well, when Dijana Hrkalović said that, the Higher Prosecutor's Office believed her so much that they decided to investigate in detail. And this is the same prosecutor's office that did not lift a finger when, eight months ago, Zdenko Tomanović, the legal representative of Milenkovic and Mitić, publicly said that the police had been given information indicating that the Serbian security services were preparing first criminalization, and then liquidation, which would resemble mafia, those policemen.

The Prosecutor's Office did not respond to numerous media announcements and statements by the opposition that until recently the head of the BIA, Mirko Škero, who often met and had lunch with Koluvia, was actually the link connecting the accused in the "Jovanjica" case and politicians. Could the Prosecutor's Office, through its conscientious work, actually open the door to the initiation of a third indictment and the arrest of certain heads of the security services? And is the Prosecutor's Office closing the door to all police officers who would dare to arrest some "state" drug dealer in the future, precisely by inviting Milenkovic to an informational interview while the lynching of him by the regime media is in full swing.