Serbian Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković, against whom an indictment proposal was filed on Monday in the so-called “Generalštab” affair, has claimed that the case is not directed at him personally, but represents an attack on President Aleksandar Vučić.
Speaking on the pro-government TV Informer, Selaković said he “welcomes the trial”, arguing that the prosecution is part of a broader attempt to weaken Vučić’s grip on power.
“They are targeting me, but aiming at the president,” Selaković stated, insisting that the real objective is to remove “the greatest threat”, which he identified as President Aleksandar Vučić.
Selaković rejected allegations that he avoided questioning in the case, claiming that from the very beginning of the “Generalštab” affair, the public was deliberately misled. He also said that neither he nor his legal team had officially received the indictment proposal at the time of his media appearance.
In an escalation of rhetoric characteristic of Serbia’s ruling establishment, Selaković went further by openly attacking the judiciary, describing the move as the “end of an organized criminal group” allegedly operating within the Organized Crime Prosecutor’s Office, led by chief prosecutor Mladen Nenadić.
“This will mark their end,” Selaković claimed, accusing prosecutors of attempting to change the government through violence, without elections, and on orders coming from abroad—a narrative frequently used by the Vučić administration to discredit independent institutions and critics.
Selaković is widely regarded as one of Vučić’s closest political allies, having previously served as Secretary General of the President of Serbia. His statements reflect a long-standing pattern within the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of portraying legal scrutiny as a foreign-backed conspiracy against the state.
Earlier on Monday, the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime confirmed that it had filed an indictment proposal against Selaković and two other individuals. The case concerns controversial documentation used to strip the bombed General Staff building in Belgrade of its cultural heritage status, a move that would have enabled the construction of a luxury hotel by the family of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Critics argue that the affair raises serious questions about political influence, misuse of public authority, and the erosion of institutional independence in Serbia. Instead of addressing these concerns, senior government officials continue to frame corruption investigations as attacks on the president, reinforcing fears about state capture and the subordination of the judiciary to executive power.
