More than six months have passed without a response from Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA) to a formal request by the Higher Court in Belgrade regarding classified documents in the high-profile “Jovanjica 2” narco-state trial.
The agency’s persistent silence has effectively bottlenecked the judicial process, preventing one of its indicted operatives, Aleksandar Tošić, from presenting his defense. The stalemate exposes a glaring loophole in the Serbian Criminal Procedure Code: while state bodies are legally obligated to assist the court, the law provides absolutely no sanctions if a state security agency simply chooses to ignore a judge.
The Secret Documents Holding Up the Trial
The legal impasse centers on Aleksandar Tošić, a BIA agent indicted in the “Jovanjica 2” case—the sister trial investigating the security state apparatus that allegedly protected Europe’s largest illicit marijuana farm. Tošić is accused of providing direct security for the Jovanjica estate, coordinating with corrupt police officers, and extracting sensitive information from restricted government databases to protect the drug ring.
During a hearing in December 2025, Tošić threw a wrench into the proceedings by declaring that he did not act as a private individual, but strictly in his official capacity as a BIA operative, and that he routinely informed the agency of his actions.
[The Jovanjica 2 Stalemate Timeline]
• Dec 2025: Tošić refuses to testify until BIA declassifies his operational files.
• Late 2025: Higher Court judge Zoran Ganić sends formal requests and urgencies to BIA.
• April 2026: Judge Ganić publicly cancels Tošić's testimony due to BIA stone-walling.
• May 19, 2026: Tošić bypassed again during a priority hearing; no response from BIA.
• June 9, 2026: Next hearing scheduled amid complete transparency blackout from the agency.
Tošić’s attorney, Aleksandar Popović, stated that his client is fully prepared to testify but cannot legally do so without violating state secrecy laws until BIA formally declassifies his operational logs.
In a statement to the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) following a closed-door review on May 29, 2026, the Higher Court confirmed the gridlock:
“The Higher Court in Belgrade, namely the presiding judicial panel, has received no response from BIA regarding the letter and the urgency concerning the documentation cited by the accused Aleksandar Tošić, nor has the court been informed whether the declassification of the document has been approved.”
Legally Bound to Help, Free to Ignore: The Court’s Impotence
When questioned by journalists as to why BIA can ignore a judicial panel with total impunity, the Higher Court pointed to a striking institutional vulnerability in Serbia’s legal framework.
Under Article 19 of the Serbian Criminal Procedure Code (ZKP), all state organs are strictly mandated to provide necessary assistance to prosecutors and courts in gathering evidence. However, the legislation features an extraordinary oversight:
“There is no legal provision that prescribes consequences if such a request is not acted upon,” the Higher Court admitted to BIRN. “In other words, the law does not prescribe mechanisms that the court would have at its disposal in a situation where a request of the court is ignored.”
Despite the agency’s stone-walling, the judicial panel insisted that the lack of a BIA response will not fully halt the trial, and that the court will proceed with examining other pieces of evidence.
Five Years of Silence from the Deep State
The BIA’s obstruction ensures that more than five years after the “Jovanjica 2” indictment became legally binding—and nearly two years after it was merged with the main “Jovanjica 1” trial against farm owner Predrag Koluvija—the public has still not heard a single defense statement from the accused military and police operatives.
The silence spans across multiple intelligence and law enforcement agencies:
- Aleksandar Tošić (BIA): Refusing to speak until BIA clears his classified operational files.
- Milan Kendija (Police): Stated he will only present his defense after all other co-accused have spoken.
- Other Police & BIA Operatives: Exercising their legal right to remain silent until the final phases of the trial.
- Saša Vujisić (Military Intelligence – VOA): Has been a fugitive from justice for over six years.
This coordinated wall of silence has successfully buried explosive institutional links. Crucially, Tošić’s testimony is highly anticipated due to an earlier deposition by Slobodan Milenković, the former Belgrade police narcotics chief who originally raided Jovanjica in November 2019.
Milenković testified that when his team arrived at the drug farm, Tošić was already on-site waiting for them. Tošić allegedly delivered a direct message from Mirko Škero, the powerful chief of BIA’s Belgrade Center, claiming that the intelligence agency had a “professional cooperation” with drug lord Predrag Koluvija and explicitly begging the police to keep the raid quiet. Despite this, Škero was never indicted by the prosecution.
BIA has refused to respond to media inquiries regarding whether it has even opened the court’s file. As the court reconvenes tomorrow, June 9, the Jovanjica trial stands as a stark monument to the power of Serbia’s unreformable security services, completely capable of paralyzing the country’s highest judicial bodies.
