If there are no new trades, citizen Nikola Selakovic, otherwise the Minister of Culture, next Wednesday (February 4) will appear before the court, for the main hearing on the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office for organized crime regarding the affair around General Staff.
What does that case, the first direct trial of the regime, bring? That is the title of the new issue of "Vremena", which is on newsstands from this Thursday (January 29).
Selaković was accused of falsifying documents and the directors of the Republic and City Institute for the Protection of Monuments. All so that the protection of the General Staff would be terminated, and the building demolished and the apartments, hotel and casino built there. For now, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has given up on that project.
If Minister Selaković is to be believed, he will use the trial to "expose the blockaders", as he accuses TOK of being an "autoimmune disease", of participating in a "coup d'état" and working on the orders of the "power center".
The president of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, is also covering his mouth, saying in advance that he will amnesty the minister and wishes that he, Vučić, would personally sit on the dock and read the book to them.
And that is not unreasonable either, when it is known that the previous director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (RZZSK), Dubravka Đukanović, recently confirmed to "Vreme" that in the presence of Vučić in the Presidency, she was asked to remove the protection from the General Staff.
The regime knows what awaits it.
Belgrade lawyer Jovan Rajić told "Vreme" that Selaković is accused of very specific actions, but that he does not plead about it - instead, he uses the tactic that attack is the best defense. Vučić, on the other hand, demonstrates force and stands behind his minister, whom he lets "spew poison".
"The more important the screws in the SNS and the more they know, the more intense their defense is. First of all, because the more they know and the more they can harm the regime. This is how every mafia works, the more important the screw, the greater the damage to the entire organization if it speaks," says Rajić.
Bojan Pajtić, a professor at the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad, says that the trial of Selaković opens the door to the regime - how long will they be tried if they fall from power?
"The regime that thinks there is no end to it - in fact, through the initiation of this procedure, has glimpsed its definitive and inglorious end. No one is afraid of them anymore," says Pajtić for "Vreme".
The final showdown with the conservators
In the new issue, we also present an interview with Nemanja Smiciklas, recently an assistant professor at the Faculty of Applied Arts, who was a conservator and restorer at RZZSK for 30 years.
"All, absolutely all the experts of that institution took a clear position and stood in defense of the cultural heritage in the Republic of Serbia. Because of such non-cooperation they must be punished and we are all sure that the state through the Ministry of Culture is preparing retribution, regardless of the fact that it could be disastrous for the cultural heritage, but also for the state itself," says Smichiklas.
RZZSK, he adds, is a rare institution that conscientiously performs its work and did not agree to blackmail and threats. "By abolishing the protection service, the government would open the way for itself to destroy and demolish more cultural assets and to cede or sell those sites investorsma", warns our interlocutor.
Read the entire article in the new "Vremen", which will hit newsstands on Thursday (January 29). Or subscribe now to printed or digitally edition
