Serbian Minister of Culture arrives to stand trial in General Staff building case, Feb. 4 2026 (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)
The accusations in the case of planned removal of the ruins of the General Staff buildings in Belgrade contain no criminal offense and the proceeding is politically staged, Nikola Selakovic, the minister of culture who is one of the four defendants in that case, said on Feb. 6.
"Neither I nor my associates provided anyone any kind of gain, and even less did we cause the state or anyone damage. Neither is there damage nor is there benefit, the prosecutor's office has not conducted any expert examination," Selakovic told Informer TV.
In his words, the protest that was organized outside the Special Court building on Feb. 4, the day of the start of his trial, is "an attempt to put pressure on the trial chamber."
Selakovic, acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Monuments Goran Vasic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Culture Slavica Jelaca, and Aleksandar Ivanovic of the Belgrade Institute for the Protection of Monuments stand accused of abuse of office with regard to the annulment of cultural asset status of the bombed-out General Staff complex. All four pleaded not guilty at the first hearing.
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