Five Parliamentary Groups File Constitutional Appeal Over Lex Specialis that Permits Demolition of General Staff Buildings

(BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

Five opposition parliamentary groups in the Parliament of Serbia have filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court, expecting it to declare unconstitutional lex specialis that paved the way to the demolishing the General Staff buildings, Serbia’s lawmakers announced during a Nov. 24  press conference held at the Parliament building.

The appeal was submitted by the MPs of the Green Left Front, Don’t Let Belgrade Drown the Free Citizens’ Movement, the Party of Democratic Action of Sandzak, the Freedom and Justice Party, the People’s Movement of Serbia, and Serbia Center - Srce.

Biljana Djordjevic of the Green Left Front said that 48 opposition MPs wanted the Constitutional Court to urgently issue a ruling suspending the implementation of individual acts undertaken on the basis of the disputed law until the Court reaches a final decision as to whether the piece of legislation was in accordance with the Constitution of Serbia.

Djordjevic stressed that this was not an initiative but a formal proposal submitted by authorized sponsors, which made it a duty for the Court to examine whether the law was in line with the Constitution.

Marinika Tepic of the Freedom and Justice Party said that just as the lex specialis was unconstitutional, so was the contract for the “Trump Towers” project, signed on behalf of the Serbian government by Goran Vesic. She claimed the document contained ten criminal offenses.

Her question for Chief Prosecutor for Organized Crime Mladen Nenadic was why he had not issued arrest warrants for at least seven government members, mostly ministers, “over a corrupt deal” related to the removal of the protected status the General Staff building had enjoyed as cultural heritage.”