The political fallout from the assassination at Belgrade’s Restaurant “27” has intensified as the vice president of the opposition party Srbija Centar (SRCE), Slobodan Cvejić, launched a fierce critique against the ruling regime.
Speaking to the weekly magazine Vreme, Cvejić stated that the scandal surrounding the arrest and subsequent dropped charges against former Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić has shattered any remaining public trust in law enforcement and the judiciary, fueling a chilling societal realization that “no one in Serbia is safe.”
1. The Clientelist War: High Politics Meets the Mafia
Cvejić characterized the shocking events of the May 12 assassination as a direct manifestation of a runaway mafia state, where the lines between executive political power and organized crime have been completely erased.
The Opposition's Assessment of the Milić Scandal
[ Clientelist Network: High Politics & Organized Crime ]
│
┌───────────────────────┴───────────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ Systemic Blackmail Loops ] [ Institutional Paralysis ]
• Who framed whom? • Controlled prosecutorial dismissals
• Evidence hidden away "in desk drawers" • Ongoing, subsequent damage control
• Competing clans within the ruling regime • Public trust completely eroded
“The murder case at Restaurant ’27’ on Senjak looks like a textbook game of blackmail within the clientelist relationships of high politics and organized crime,” Cvejić stated. “It has reached a point where it is no longer clear who framed whom, who is trying to wiggle out of an actual crime they committed, or who is hoarding evidence against their rivals in a desk drawer.”
The SRCE vice president emphasized that whether the entire incident was a meticulously calculated setup from the start or an aggressive, subsequent attempt at subsequent damage control, it leaves the Serbian public trapped between “evil and something even worse.”
2. Media Manipulation Amid Regime Clan Feuds
A major component of this institutional collapse, according to Cvejić, is the behavior of Serbia’s dominant pro-government mainstream media. The opposition leader noted that tabloid manipulation has reached a state of chaotic confusion due to the intense infighting fracturing the ruling party.
- Media Confusion: Cvejić pointed out that the regime-controlled press is struggling to spin the narrative because “even they don’t know which of the clashing clans within the ruling regime they are supposed to be supporting.”
- The Illusion of Security: By constantly altering the facts of the investigation, the state media has failed to mask the deep-seated panic within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP).
3. The Shielding of Veselin Milić
The outcry from the political opposition comes in response to highly controversial moves by the Higher Public Prosecution (VJT) in Belgrade.
| Timeline Event | Investigative Reality | Political Assessment |
| May 12, 2026 | Aleksandar Nešović Baja is executed inside a Senjak restaurant in a hit allegedly carried out by Saša Vuković. | Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić is arrested alongside 10 individuals at the scene. |
| June 2026 Ruling | The VJT officially dismisses the primary criminal complaint against Veselin Milić. | The prosecution claimed a “lack of evidence” to prove Milić actively helped the killer destroy crime scene data. |
| Current Status | Charges are reduced to a minor infraction, and Milić remains heavily insulated by state actors. | Cvejić defines this as absolute proof of a rigged judicial process designed to shield top-tier regime accomplices. |
Cvejić concluded that by continuously engineering the legal escape of high-ranking security officials caught in the presence of mob executions, the state is actively broadcasting to its citizens that the law exists solely to protect the regime’s criminal syndicates.
