Opposition Party: Serbia Third in Europe in Crime Growth

Konstantin Samofalov (BetaPhoto/Milos Miskov)

The president of the Committee for Security of the Freedom and Justice Party, Konstantin Samofalov, said on Jan. 10 that the statement of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic about the crime rate in Serbia being on a drastic decline was “equally serous as the claim about the opposition having no evidence of the grave election rigging by the Serbian Progressive Party.”

Samofalov told BETA that Serbia was third in Europe in “crime growth,” right behind Russia and Ukraine, “which is the indication of a drastic rise in all forms of crime in the past 12 years with the Progressives in power.”

“I would like to remind Minister Gasic about the report of the Global Initiative for the fight against trans-national organized crime, according to which Serbia is third in Europe in crime growth, right behind Russia and Ukraine. I would also like to remind him that, according to the report, Serbia is a ‘transit hub for heroin and cocaine, which includes several organized crime groups, and that evidence exists of criminal groups from Serbia cooperating with criminal groups in neighboring countries’,” Samofalov stated.

He added that the report particularly reiterated the link between high state officials in Serbia and organized crime, as well as enormous corruption, with special emphasis on money laundering through construction works and betting parlors.