In a dramatic twist that has shaken the highest echelons of Serbia’s security sector, the Higher Public Prosecution (VJT) in Belgrade has officially dropped major criminal charges against Veselin Milić, the former chief of the Belgrade Police Administration.
Initially accused of directly witnessing and helping cover up the brutal murder of Aleksandar Nešović (known as “Baja”) at the “27” restaurant in the upscale Senjak neighborhood, prosecutors now concede they lack the evidence to back their initial claims.
The sharp U-turn has triggered a storm of public skepticism, with legal experts and former insiders openly questioning whether the high-profile investigation is a genuine pursuit of justice or an orchestrated “charade” masking a deeper war between rival clans within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).
The Timeline: From a High-Profile Arrest to Missing Evidence
The case reads like a political thriller, involving a high-ranking cop, a victim linked to notorious criminal circles, a body hidden in a barrel, and a series of glaring procedural anomalies.
- May 12, 2026: Aleksandar Nešović Baja is shot and killed inside “Restoran 27” on Senjak. The primary suspect, Saša Vuković (known as “Boske”), allegedly flees the scene. Bloodstains are scrubbed from the floor, and the victim’s phone is dumped in a nearby dumpster.
- May 15, 2026: Veselin Milić is arrested along with ten other individuals. The VJT aggressively asserts that Milić was sitting at the table with the killer and the victim, having lured Nešović there under the guise of “reconciliation” while telling him to leave his security detail behind.
- May 21, 2026: Following intense searches, Nešović’s body is discovered crammed inside a buried plastic barrel in the municipality of Inđija.
- May 29, 2026: In a move that baffled legal watchdogs, police wait a staggering 14 days after Milić’s arrest to finally conduct a search of his private apartment and official office premises.
- June 3, 2026: Criminal complaints against three police officers from Milić’s personal security detail are completely dropped due to a total lack of evidence linking them to the crime scene.
- June 9, 2026: The VJT formally dismisses the criminal complaint against Milić for Assisting an Offender After the Commission of a Crime, completely contradicting its initial public narrative.
The Prosecution’s Dramatic Reversal
The swift collapse of the primary narrative highlights a stark contradiction between the state’s initial accusations and the concrete digital forensics that eventually emerged.
| Investigative Stage | The VJT’s Initial Accusation | The Current Forensic Reality |
| Mid-May 2026 | Milić was present at the table during the execution, actively orchestrated a trap for Nešović, and helped clean the crime scene. | Based strictly on initial police filings submitted by the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP). |
| June 9, 2026 | Milić was not and could not have been in the restaurant at the time of the shooting. The paths of the suspect and victim strictly diverged. | Confirmed via “Coffee Dream” CCTV footage, detailed mobile cell tower analysis, and phone forensics. |
According to geo-location data, Milić and the victim narrowly missed each other. While Nešović was walking toward the restaurant, Milić was already en route to his residence, entering his building 35 minutes prior to the shooting and remaining there until the following morning.
A “Fingered” Process or an Inside Set-up?
While the heavy charge of covering up a murder has been discarded, Milić is not entirely in the clear. He still faces charges for Failure to Report a Crime and the Perpetrator. Evidence reveals that the restaurant owner phoned Milić on the night of the murder to tell him what happened, a piece of information the former police chief failed to immediately forward to oncoming investigators.
However, independent legal minds are deeply cynical about whether Milić will ever face real consequences. Retired prosecutor Jasmina Paunović publicly expressed severe doubts:
“How could you even charge someone with assisting after the fact if you didn’t have a single piece of evidence? And if you did have it, where did it go? It feels like the prosecution merely simulated this entire process—that it’s a grand charade rather than a real attempt to reach a judicial epilogue.”
Paunović noted that the remaining charge is highly likely to be resolved through the principle of opportunity, a legal mechanism allowing high-profile defendants to avoid a trial or prison time entirely by making a structured donation to a humanitarian cause.
Furthermore, during his second interrogation, Milić fiercely claimed he was framed by colleagues within the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP), a theory shared by retired police inspector Predrag Simonović, who noted that the case heavily mirrors a cutthroat proxy war between entrenched internal factions trying to politically liquidate one another.
With Milić’s 30-day detention set to expire in the coming days, the public is left wondering if the state is truly cleaning up police corruption, or simply protecting a powerful career cop who “knows too much” to be left inside a courtroom.
