The leader of Serbia’s opposition Democratic Party (DS), Srđan Milivojević, launched a fierce political assault against President Aleksandar Vučić on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. Speaking directly outside the Presidential Presidency building in Belgrade, Milivojević accused the ruling regime of transforming Serbia into an “open mafia state” and demanded immediate accountability regarding a highly sensitive underworld execution involving senior law enforcement officials.
The controversy surrounds the May 12, 2026, murder of Aleksandar Nešović at the upscale “27” restaurant in the affluent Belgrade neighborhood of Senjak. The case has sent shockwaves through the country’s political landscape due to the subsequent arrest of 11 individuals, including three active police officers and the former Chief of the Belgrade Police Department, Veselin Milić.
The Demands: Transfer to the Organized Crime Prosecutor
Flanked by reporters, Milivojević asserted that the ongoing investigation cannot remain under the jurisdiction of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office (VJT) in Belgrade, characterizing its chief prosecutor as a “proven regime loyalist.” Instead, the Democratic Party is demanding that the Prosecution for Organized Crime (TOK) immediately seize control of the case file to prevent a state-managed cover-up.
[The Senjak Case Jurisdictional Dispute]
├── Current Track: Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor (VJT) -> Alleged Regime Control ❌
└── Demanded Track: Prosecution for Organized Crime (TOK) -> Independent Federal Oversight ✅
Milivojević bypassed standard judicial ministers, stating that since President Vučić acts as the de facto “chief of police, main prosecutor, and forensic scientist” in Serbia, he alone must publicly answer a series of highly specific operational questions:
- The Police-Underworld Meeting: What was the exact nature of the high-level meeting between prominent figures of the criminal underworld and the leadership of the Serbian police force at the “27” restaurant just moments before the shooting?
- The Political Motive: Was the dispute tied to unresolved financial accounts between warring criminal factions originating from the Ćaćilend region, or was it a state-coordinated deployment of organized crime figures ahead of the mass civic protests held at Belgrade’s Slavija Square on May 23?
- Delayed Raids: Why did specialized units wait an unprecedented 20 days after the execution to conduct a forensic search of former Police Chief Veselin Milić’s private apartment, and has his service weapon undergone ballistic testing?
- Foreign Intelligence Involvement: If local police utilized intercepted metadata provided by a Western partner intelligence agency to recover Nešović’s body, which agency was it, and why was the deceased target a person of interest for foreign intelligence?
Procedural Anomalies and Cover-Up Allegations
The Democratic Party highlighted deep inconsistencies in how the crime scene and evidence tracking have been managed. Milivojević noted that at the time of the shooting, the restaurant was fully occupied by witnesses, and a heated argument was clearly audible from adjacent tables.
Furthermore, the opposition is demanding to know why the individual who led police to the victim’s hidden body was not filmed during the recovery operation—contrasting it with the strict, transparent video protocols famously utilized during the discovery of former Serbian President Ivan Stambolić’s remains in 2003. Milivojević also pressed the government to confirm the authenticity of crime scene photographs taken immediately after the shooting, which are reportedly circulating widely within private digital networks.
The Prosecution’s Counter: Stop Sabotaging the Investigation
As political pressure intensified outside the Presidency, the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office (VJT) issued an emergency press release on Tuesday, imploring political actors and media outlets to cease publishing leaked investigative data.
The VJT warned that the continuous publication of classified case files and insider leaks “dangerously jeopardizes the active investigation, as well as the personal security of both the defendants and the state witnesses.”
The prosecutor’s office confirmed that the complex investigation is actively targeting 11 core suspects under charges of Aggravated Murder and related conspiracy offenses. While adhering to strict domestic privacy laws by identifying the primary high-ranking suspect only by his initials, “V.M.”, the prosecution confirmed that intensive evidence collection—including digital forensics and financial tracking—is underway to fully illuminate the structural corruption behind the Senjak execution.
