The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime in Serbia has filed an indictment against Serbia’s Minister of Culture, Nikola Selaković, over irregularities related to the removal of cultural heritage status from the buildings of the “General Staff” complex in central Belgrade.
The prosecution announced on December 15 that indictments were also filed against the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Slavica Jelača; the acting director of the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasić; and the acting director of the Belgrade City Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Aleksandar Ivanović.
All are suspected of committing the criminal offenses of abuse of official position and falsification of official documents.
At the site of the General Staff complex heavily damaged during NATO airstrikes in 1999—the construction of a luxury complex is planned by the investment company “Affinity Partners,” owned by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
The Serbian prosecution also stated that it “continues to undertake actions to determine whether the actions of other individuals also contain elements of criminal offenses.”
Since May, the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime has been conducting an investigation into suspicions of falsified documentation, on the basis of which the Government of Serbia removed the General Staff building’s cultural heritage status.
According to earlier announcements by the prosecution, Goran Vasić, director of the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, admitted to falsifying documentation.
Based on this documentation, the Ministry of Culture headed by Nikola Selaković of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was presented with an initiative to adopt a decision terminating the cultural heritage status of the General Staff complex.
Selaković was questioned on December 4 and, after giving his statement, did not comment on the procedure itself, but instead accused and insulted the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime.
Without presenting evidence, he claimed that prosecutors were acting on orders from unnamed “centers of power,” which he said aim to overthrow the government in Serbia and President Aleksandar Vučić.
On December 11, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić warned that if indictments were filed in the General Staff case, he would pardon all those who had “allegedly participated in abuses.”
“I will not allow the prosecution of those who are guilty of nothing. I am guilty. I am the one who wanted the modernization of Serbia. I am the one who wanted to bring a major investor,” Vučić stated.
Through a special law adopted by the Serbian parliament on November 7—removing the General Staff’s cultural heritage status—the authorities opened the way for construction at the site.
The project is opposed by anti-government protesters, the opposition, and part of the professional community, who advocate for the restoration and conservation of the 20th-century building.
