Yes, you read that right - the president of the FSS wanted to hire hooligans and criminals to, as I say, "spieserize" the former captain of Serbia and "Manchester United" Nemanja Vidić, because he criticized him in an open letter because Serbia did not qualify for the European Championship. The plan was also to "slap" some former football players, such as Danko Lazović and Nemanja Matić, because they publicly supported Vidić.
photo: marko djoković / tanjugHE WANTED TO "PAYSERIZE" A FAMOUS FOOTBALLER: Slaviša Kokeza
The Serbian public found out about all this more than five years late, through the Crik journalists, who published segments of sky correspondence between Kokeza and his fan-criminal subcontractors. Correspondence in which he presents very interesting details about his relationship with the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić and his brother Andrej, as well as the then prominent official of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party Nebojša Stefanović, who was subsequently accused of eavesdropping on the president, after which his career went downhill.
Although the correspondence from the "unlocked" Sky communication through international aid has been in the possession of domestic security structures for a long time, it is not known whether anything was done about it, whether Kokeza was questioned about those circumstances, or whether an expert did an analysis of Vidić's security.
The Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime stated that it does not have that correspondence, but that it will ask the police to provide them with details of possible plans to attack the former football player of "Crvena Zvezda", "Spartak" from Moscow, "Manchester United" and "Inter" from Milan.
"Europol submits these communications exclusively and only to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, and not to the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime. The Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime can become familiar with these materials only if they are delivered to it by the MUP of Serbia," stated the answer of that prosecution.
Lawyer Ivan Ninić filed a private criminal complaint against Kokeza and the persons mentioned in those correspondences, but the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, in the already recognizable legal manner when something is not answered by him or he is afraid to do his job, once again evaded responsibility by saying that those messages were not delivered to them, which is why they will forward everything to the Public Prosecutor's Office for organized crime for further action. The same one that will react "only if" the MUP delivers the material to him.
So - only if! Considering who all appears in that correspondence and in what context, the probability that the MUP will submit its findings to the prosecution is 50 percent that it will and 100 percent that it will not.
CONTENTS OF SKY CORRESPONDENCE
This should by no means prevent the public from dealing with the subject. This time, journalists from the research portal KRIK informed the public about the dark criminal-hooligan-parapolitical-Udba corridors that Serbian football has been moving through for decades, and how the whole story has long since had nothing to do with who is better on the field.
Because only in such circumstances is it possible for the first man of the Football Association of Serbia to "defend" his position by persuading hooligans and criminals to physically threaten a potential opponent, whose only "sin" is that he dared to criticize him for an obvious sporting failure.
This is perhaps the right moment to explain how this affair came to the public. The much-mentioned sky correspondence, which was also routinely used by members of opposing Montenegrin clans (skaljars and kavčani) in planning their misdeeds, is something like an application for communication between people who have something to hide from the police and which you will not be able to find in the play store on your Android.
It is an application that, at the beginning of the decade, was considered software that security services could not hack, so it was a favorite auxiliary communication tool of people on the other side of the law. In other words, neither the device nor the Sky application could have been obtained by someone who was not "from that story", so the very fact that Kokeza used Sky to communicate with anyone is quite indicative.
The problem arose when, by all accounts, the French security services managed to decipher the Sky application and when, little by little, startling information and convincing evidence about the intertwining of the local political, criminal and fan elite began to be presented to the public. Provided that we generally agree that it is about three separate groups.
That's how we learned that Kokeza spoke with a large number of prominent fans of "Crvena zvezda", with whom he discussed options on how to "dissuade" Vidić from the idea of attacking him in public, and especially how to get his plans to run for the new president of the FSS out of his mind. For this purpose, he allegedly used sophisticated terms such as "crowding" and slapping.
photo: tanja valič / tanjugNemanja Vidic
KRIK states that Kokeza, who presented himself as (the famous Swiss tennis player) Federer on Sky Communications, was very angry with Vidić and that he planned not only to intimidate him but also to physically harm him, even relying on parts of the Italian mafia, considering that Vidić was staying in Milan at the time.
In addition to learning that the Italians (allegedly members of the Calabrian mafia) managed to attach an electronic device to Vidić's car and thus track him, from that correspondence it can also be seen that there is a different dynamic of relations between Kokeza and the Vučić brothers, i.e. that their mutual relations are nowhere near as monolithic and idyllic as they seemed from the outside at the time.
photo: Rade Prelić / TanjugTHE ONLY ONES WHO WILL SEE SUPPORT: Danko Lazović...
Namely, in those correspondences, Kokeza suspects that Andrej Vučić is actually behind Vidić's performance, who allegedly wants to take revenge on him because he did not want to be "his errand boy". Allegedly, Andrej Vučić cannot stand him because he does not fulfill his wishes and then creates affairs related to him in order to annoy the President of Serbia and force him to ask Kokeza to resign from the position of FSS president. What does not hold water in that story is the subsequent social involvement of Nemanja Vidić, from which it can be safely concluded that he was not in combination with the Vučić brothers. Also - if Kokeza ever really believed that one of the brothers was behind Vidić, would he have dared to engage such an international coalition of hooligans and criminals against him? Unlikely.
photo: dimitrije goll / tanjug...and Nemanja Matic
Be that as it may, it follows from the correspondence that Kokeza, apart from Vidić, was ready to threaten footballers who supported Vidić, such as Danko Lazović and Nemanja Matić. For this purpose, he communicated with people who made it look like he was involved with such criminal stars as Slobodan Milutinović Snajper from Novi Sad, Veljko Belivuk and people associated with Darko Šarić's group.
Kokeza requested that Vidić be informed that "he will go to the cemetery" if he continues to advertise in the media against him, but he seems to have been aware that he had to take into account the media aspect of the whole story, so that no one would associate him with it.
"It must not happen at the same time (beating the footballers). There will be a fuss in the media. It must be done one by one," Kokeza allegedly told his companions after Vidic's car was compromised abroad by attaching a tracking device.
After extensive preparations for the attack on Vidić, which lasted almost the whole of November 2020, Kokeza suddenly gave up on that plan.
Very soon after that, he was attacked by the pro-government media, who accused him of anything and everything. From the embezzlement of more than 600 million euros at customs, to the wiretapping of the president, and even to the point where it was even mentioned that he did not want to answer the question of whether he participated in the conspiracy to endanger the president's life during the polygraph test.
The media wrote that Kokeza had left Serbia, they allegedly saw him in the United States of America, where he transformed into a successful businessman, but the latest rumors among the Belgrade journalistic bazaar located him in Banja Luka, where he is allegedly working on the formation of Draško Stanivuković's party.
To what extent Kokeza could carry out such activities without the knowledge of the Serbian political elite and the security apparatus, the reader can guess for himself. Nevertheless, it can be a serious indication that Kokeza revised his position in the meantime and allowed his comrades to point out to him where he was wrong.
KOKEZA ABOUT VUCIĆ AND THE FANS
What the public assumed, and what Kokeza confirmed first-hand in his correspondence on Sky, is the existence of the Serbian president's great fascination with the "Red Stars" fan group and the influence they exert on each other.
On the one hand, only Ray Charles could miss the influence that Vučić had on the renaissance of the entire sports community from Ljutica Bogdan 1a in the last 14 years, when he transformed a financially stumbling and three-quarters dead giant into a mandatory lifelong champion of everything - from football to bocce.
On the other hand, it seems that this did not bring him a dominant status in that team, but Vučić - if Kokeza is to be believed - is only subject to pressures that could eventually come from the fans of "Crvena zvezda".
photo: Amir Hamzagić / Tanjug"ONLY THE TRIBUNE IS AFRAID": S. Kokeza about A. Vučić on the Sky app
Kokeza claims that Vučić is "only afraid of the forum" and offers this as a key argument to his interlocutors to implement his plan, that is, not to worry about Vučić's possible reaction.
"(Vučić) will not go against your position in his madness because he is afraid of the forum for himself and for politics. He is only afraid of that," said Kokeza, from whose words it can be concluded that the President of Serbia met with some star players and even showed them alleged evidence that the then Minister Stefanović eavesdropped on him and his communication with those fans.
......
Vučić allegedly presented this evidence at a meeting with a certain fan, Stevan Sojić, which was also attended by another fan, whose name is Peđa. According to Kokeza's claim, the president showed them the conversations that were eavesdropped by the police. This, a little later, was indirectly confirmed by Vučić himself at the Gendarmerie Day celebration.
photo: sava radovanović / tanjugTHE AFFAIR WITH THE WEARING OF VUČIĆ, AS IF HE WAS CARRIED AWAY: D. Hrkalović and V. Đukanović
WHAT DID VUCIĆ ACTUALLY SAY??
The President of Serbia, in essence, confirmed that he has known Sojic for more than 30 years, that he met with those fans and that he showed them the alleged evidence of wiretapping, but he wrapped it in the wafer of his youthful interest in cheerleading and football tactics, and made a point by presenting it as another confirmation of his vulnerability, because he was, of course, eavesdropped by state authorities.
He reminded the public again of the fact that he personally knows by name all the relevant leaders of the fans of "Crvena zvezda" from the end of the eighties, but he went a step further and revealed to us that he also knows more famous gravediggers, such as Zoran Živanović Čegi and Dragan Ćurčić Ćumet from Padinska Skela. Which is all very important for the public in general, just like for this affair in particular.
He did not explain why such a politically important figure as the President of Serbia allows himself contact with such people at all, but mysteriously stated that "neither Vidić nor Kokeza are important to him".
"Who was doing what there, I really couldn't tell you. If my brother was really a big fan of Nemanja Vidić, I wouldn't say. Rather, it probably occurred to Slavisa (Kokeza), since around those various circles he thought that maybe Andrej wasn't a great friend of his or something, so that's why he pushed him everywhere. I don't even know what to tell you... Neither Nemanja Vidić is particularly important to me, nor Slavisa Kokeza, nor anyone else. If he has a criminal offense, the authorities the authorities should prosecute according to their official duties, but thank you for praising the members of my family", said Vučić to the journalists.
This is interpreted in two ways by the public, as a message to the judicial authorities that it is not an important case and that they should not deal with it, or as a message that the case does not concern them and that they are free to prosecute everyone involved in it. What everyone agrees on is that it is definitely a message to the judiciary, after which they only have to implement what was intended.
LOUD SILENCE OF FOOTBALL SERBIA AND UEFA
And what is left for Vidić and others who could very easily have been victims of this entire conspiracy?
In a video message, Vidić said that nothing else could be expected when a man who is a "street person" is appointed as the president of the association or the first man of the "Crvena zvezda" football club.
"When you appoint a street person to lead the Football Association and a street person to lead the "Crvena zvezda" Football Club, you have brought the street into football and there is no longer a constructive conversation. Any criticism is considered a personal attack and a threat to the loot that they have usurped. The people I mention, who lead or have led these institutions, are the consequence, not the cause of the problem. The one who appointed them to these positions has the greatest responsibility," said Vidić.
He particularly expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that no one from the institutions warned him that there were threats and that he was threatened, which speaks badly for the police, the judiciary, and the prosecution.
Every school is paid for, people say, and Vidić could conclude from this affair that the so-called football Serbia will certainly not be his ally if he ever intends to become the first man of Serbian football.
Until the conclusion of this article, Vidić received support from few football players (mainly those who were on the hit list with him), as well as from Raka Đurović, a former football referee and president of the Football Association of Belgrade.
The statement of the European Football Union (UEFA) was particularly shameful, which stated for KRIK, referring to its Statute and Disciplinary Regulations, that it will not deal with the case because Kokeza is no longer active in football, which is an argument worthy of the Serbian judiciary when it does not want to interfere in something for fear of political retribution.
On the other hand, the foreign public did not remain silent, so the British "Sun", the French "L'Équipe", "One football" and other portals wrote about the affair. Former teammates, such as Patrice Evra and Dmitri Berbatov, also supported Vidic.
But it is the world public. The Serbian sports public mostly remained silent, even though they had a simple choice.
On the one hand, she had a man who played for Serbia, "Zvezda", "Spartak", "Inter" and "Manchester United", who as the captain of the English club won the Premier League, the Champions League and God knows what else, and who had no blemishes in his football career and private life.
On the other hand, there was a combination of mafia, politics and hooligans. And the Serbian football public chose the latter, at least through their silence.
Here and there, mostly ex-staff, who do not have the slightest chance of becoming entrenched in some football structures, half-voiced their support for Vidić. The others were silent. Some out of fear and some because they have no problem with it. And that's all you need to know about Serbian football in the 21st century.
