Nikola Selakovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)
In its indictment in the General Staff buildings case, the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime is asking that Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic be handed down a three-year prison sentence, reads the indictment which the Danas daily had access to.
Besides Selakovic, the indictment includes acting secretary at the Ministry of Culture Slavica Jelaca, acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Goran Vasic, and acting director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade Aleksandar Ivanovic.
In the indictment, the Prosecutor's Office sought a prison sentence of two and a half years for Jelaca, three years for Vasic, and a year and a half for Ivanovic.
The indictment states that in the period from the second half of May to the end of November 2024, by overstepping their authority, the defendants caused damage to the cultural heritage of the Republic of Serbia, even though they were bound by multiple laws and bylaws to protect it.
Selakovic is said to have signed official documents with false content and used them as if they were true, while Jelaca, Vasic and Ivanovic put together a number of illegal and forged documents, based on which the Government of Serbia took a decision to strip the General Staff complex in downtown Belgrade of its cultural asset status, so as to be sold to U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
They allegedly did so on orders from Selakovic who was - just like they were - aware that by doing so they were violating the law.
The main hearing, as officials earlier told BETA, is scheduled for Feb. 4.
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