A Serbian prosecutor has alleged that senior officials within the prosecution service pressured him to reduce the legal classification of charges against Marko Pavlović, who is accused of attempting to murder student Sonja Ponjavić by running her over with a car during a student blockade.
Dragan Danilović, a prosecutor at the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade who led the investigation, told Nova.rs that former Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s decision to pardon Pavlović should not produce legal effects because, in his view, it was not issued in accordance with the legally prescribed procedure.
Danilović also alleged that there are grounds to suspect that the pardon itself resulted from a criminal offense committed by Vučić.
He said he had proposed that the trial panel at the Higher Court in Belgrade forward the case files to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime so that it could examine whether the former president had committed abuse of office.
According to Danilović, Vučić had previously used public statements to encourage drivers to break through student blockades with their vehicles, which had become a central form of protest against the authorities.
Danilović described Pavlović’s pardon as part of what he considers a broader pattern in the political response to violence against students.
“First, violence is relativized and justified through public messages, then its perpetrators receive political protection, and finally they are pardoned,” he said.
Prosecutor alleges pressure to reduce charges
Danilović stressed that his concerns were not based solely on Vučić’s public statements. He claimed that officials within the prosecution service had directly pressured him to downgrade the charges against Pavlović and thereby benefit the defendant.
He said similar pressure had been exerted in other cases involving violence against participants in student blockades.
As an example, Danilović cited the case of Veroljub Sarić, an older Belgrade resident who was seriously injured when Miodrag Selaković allegedly drove into him while breaking through a student blockade outside the Faculty of Law.
According to Nova.rs, Higher Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanović and his deputy Miodrag Marković removed the case from Danilović while he was on vacation.
The original charge of attempted murder was subsequently downgraded to endangering public safety, and the case was transferred to the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Selaković was also included on the list of people pardoned by Vučić.
Danilović said that his refusal to act against the law and his professional convictions resulted in insults, harassment and his transfer to another department. He also alleged that he was subjected to a hostile media campaign by the pro-government outlet Informer.
Danilović offers to testify
The prosecutor said he was prepared to testify before the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime about the alleged pressure, identify those involved and present any evidence in his possession.
He also challenged the argument that a presidential pardon automatically makes the underlying proceedings lawful.
“An act of pardon cannot, simply by existing, legalize a possible abuse in the procedure through which it was issued,” Danilović said.
He argued that if a pardon is found to have been issued in violation of the Constitution or the law, or as a result of a criminal offense, its legality and legal consequences must be examined.
“Time and the expiration of legal deadlines cannot turn an unlawful act into a lawful one,” he said.
He concluded by recalling a well-known legal principle attributed to 19th-century jurist Valtazar Bogišić: “What is crooked from birth cannot be straightened by time.”
The allegations made by Danilović have not been established by a court. His statements add to scrutiny of the 49 pardons granted by Vučić on September 27, including several individuals who had faced criminal proceedings connected to violence against students and other protesters.
