Police Officers Investigating Novi Sad Railway Station Accident Reassigned

Police Director Dragan Vasiljevic (BETAPHOTO/Serbian Interior Ministry)

In a written notification issued on Sept. 4, Police Chief Dragan Vasiljevic informed the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime that he is withdrawing his consent for the engagement of 17 police officers in the task force investigating the Nov. 1, 2024 Novi Sad railway station accident. According to the memo, the change is a result of an alleged restructuring of job positions, the Radar weekly has reported.

According to Radar, Vasiljevic’s move has seriously undermined the task force – which was investigating cash flows in the railway station’s reconstruction – and has left the future of the entire case “uncertain.” Just four months after the renovations of the station were officially completed, a concrete overhang collapsed, killing 16 people and prompting months of still ongoing protests.

“It’s indicative that the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has four more task forces which also include police officers, yet none of them have been affected by the police chief’s restructuring,” the weekly pointed out.

The Radar website further reported that Sept. 4 was also the day the Serbian Cabinet removed from duty Nada Novosel, the Tax Directorate chief and lead inspector of the Revenue Police who had chosen the 17 revenue police officers assigned to the now-subverted task force.