Prosecutor Claims Police Initially Refused Order to Bring Minister in for Questioning

Bojana Savovic (BetaPhoto/Media Center Belgrade)

With regards to alleged misconduct involving plans to level the Army of Serbia General Staff Building heritage site, an attempt to bring Serbian Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic in for questioning was made this summer, prosecutor Bojana Savovic told N1 on Dec. 3, but, at the time, police refused to execute the bench warrant issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime.

Savovic went on to say that her office will determine whether to seek the removal of Selakovic’ immunity only after his hearing, but stressed that his behavior toward the Prosecutor’s Office has been unacceptable, particularly considering he is also a professor of the Belgrade University School of Law and Serbia’s former minister of justice.

Selakovic ignored the summons he had received for a hearing on Nov. 28, where he was set to be questioned as a suspect in the alleged abuse of office leading to the Government’s decision to remove the national heritage site designation for the General Staff Building’s, which was severely damaged in 1999 NATO bombing of then FR Yugoslavia.

In response, and particularly since the minister did not explain his absence, the Prosecutor’s Office issued a bench warrant for Selakovic to the police. Selakovic then appeared of his own volition at the Office at the very end of operating hours on Dec. 2, in the company of media.

Since he was not questioned then, as the office was closing and he did not have an appointment, he reappeared on Dec. 3, insisting he was there to answer “any and all questions,” only to finally accept an official summons for a hearing at 5 p.m. on Dec. 4.