Serbian lawyer Ivan Ninić has filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime (TOK) against the director of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA), Vladimir Orlić, and seven other agency officials, over suspicions of abuse of office and involvement in an organised system for securing votes for the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by President Aleksandar Vučić.
Ninić announced in a post on X that the complaint concerns allegations that BIA employees were placed under a work-related obligation to collect so-called “capillary votes” for the SNS, using the party’s own forms.
The criminal complaint names eight individuals: BIA Director Vladimir Orlić; head of the agency’s Regional Centre in Kragujevac, Aleksandar Petrić; his deputy, Milorad Marinković; assistant head Raca Munjić; head of the Territorial Centre in Kragujevac, Miloš Ivanović; his deputy, Darko Ćurčić; head of the Territorial Centre in Smederevo, Zoran Čertić; and head of the branch office in Paraćin, Aleksandar Simić.
According to the allegations set out in the complaint, the individuals involved are suspected of abusing their official positions and authority in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Smederevo and Paraćin, exceeding their legal powers and acting as an organised criminal group with the aim of securing votes for the SNS.
Ninić has also called on BIA employees who have information or evidence about the alleged system to submit it to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime as supplementary material to his complaint.
“I call on all honest members of the BIA — those who are not part of an organised criminal group and who possess information or evidence concerning the system of collecting ‘capillary votes’ within the BIA and its regional centres — to submit all such information to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime,” Ninić said.
He had previously announced that he would file a criminal complaint against a minister, a director and other individuals, alleging that the system for securing votes for the SNS operated through signed spreadsheets, coordinators, Viber communications, specific assignments and work reports.
In addition to the allegations involving the BIA, Ninić has also raised suspicions of pressure being exerted on prison employees across Serbia and their mobilisation to attend large SNS rallies.
According to him, prison directors and employees, who fall under the authority of the Ministry of Justice, were required to prepare attendance lists, wear designated T-shirts and take group photographs as proof of their participation and loyalty to the ruling party.
Ninić has published photographs which, according to him, show these employees attending SNS rallies. He has also said he submitted documentation concerning communications between party officials and prison directors, including instructions to mobilise additional personnel as part of efforts to secure votes.
Meanwhile, Fehim Sali, who has been accused of espionage in Kosovo, was also allegedly involved in efforts to secure votes for Vučić’s SNS.
According to the prosecution, Sali did not merely carry out intelligence-gathering activities for Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA); he was also engaged in Kosovo for electoral purposes.
An audio recording captures Sali offering information to senior BIA official Želimir Matović about the registration of members of the Gorani community in Kosovo on the electoral roll, as well as his efforts to get them to vote for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and his party in the 2024 elections.
