In an explosive interview detailing the depths of Serbia’s institutional breakdown, Ognjen Radonjić, a prominent professor at the University of Belgrade and member of the parliamentary Commission of Inquiry, has warned that President Aleksandar Vučić’s teased resignation is a tactical repositioning engineered exclusively for political and legal survival.
Speaking with Nova.rs, Radonjić stressed that the upcoming political cycle cannot be treated as a standard, regular democratic transition. With a legacy marred by structural cover-ups and the recent March 2025 deployment of an acoustic weapon against peaceful student protesters, the ruling elite is no longer fighting for ratings—they are fighting for their billions and their freedom.
1. The Premium Switch: Retaining Executive Control
Radonjić predicts that if Vučić follows through on stepping down from the presidency in the coming months, it will not signal a retreat from state power. Instead, it will trigger a tactical structural transformation designed to maximize direct command over the state apparatus.
The Executive Repositioning Strategy
[ THE PREMIUM COWL ] ──► RETURN TO THE PREMIER'S OFFICE
• Vučić is projected to slide from the head of state to the Prime Minister's
office, capturing the single most powerful executive post in the constitution.
[ THE MEDIATIC BLITZ ] ──► CENTRALIZED CAMP-OUT
• From the premier's seat, the ruling Organized Crime Group (OKG) will launch
an aggressive campaign using 100% of state-funded media and administrative resources.
[ THE EXIT PLAN CHANNELS ] ──► TIME BUYING & CASH FLIGHT
• Isolated presidential elections could be deployed to gauge public dissent;
if numbers crater, the timeline will be used to move plundered state assets abroad.
“This is not a regular electoral cycle or a normal rotation of power. The stakes far exceed political ratings because we are talking about billions of euros and, more importantly, survival on the outside.”
— Prof. Ognjen Radonjić, Belgrade University
2. The Historical Ledger of State Irresponsibility
Radonjić firmly rejected the government’s official narratives, framing the current administration as a continuous chain of unprosecuted state failures, administrative negligences, and outright crimes against its own citizens.
A Timeline of Unpunished National Crises
┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ [ THE LETHAL INFRASTRUCTURE CRISES ] ─────────────────────────────┐ │
│ • From the 2014 floods (57 dead) and the 2015 helicopter crash to the │ │
│ Novi Sad canopy collapse (16 dead) and the Barajev nursing home fire.│
│ │ │
│ [ UNDERGROUND EXECUTIONS & POLICE BRUTALITY ] ────────────────────┤ │
│ • The 2016 Savamala demolition, the 2018 assassination of Oliver │ │
│ Ivanović, and the recent death of Dalibor Dragijević in custody. │
│ │ │
│ [ THE ACOUSTIC TERROR ATTACK ] ───────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ • The March 2025 deployment of high-frequency sonic weaponry against │
│ the surging student movement on the streets of Belgrade. │
│ │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
3. Opposition Suicides and University Resistance
The interview shed a bleak light on the state of the traditional political opposition, which Radonjić notes is fragmenting its base ahead of potential parliamentary elections. By running on separate, fractured ideological tickets, the fragmented opposition is essentially beating itself, leaving the student-led protest movement as the only organic threat left on the field.
| Arena of Struggle | Current State Threat | Operational Strategy for Victory |
| The Political Opposition | Fragmented Co-optation. Right-wing groups are fracturing the vote, while pro-European factions perform theater aimed at Brussels rather than local voters. | Total Consolidation. Only minor groups like the Democratic Party (DS) and the Green-Left Front (ZLF) have embraced structural unification. |
| Belgrade University | Financial Starvation. The regime is actively setting up parallel, hyper-loyal universities to divert state budgets away from historic faculties. | The Three-Pillar Shield. Faculty, students, and the general public must maintain absolute solidarity; separating them destroys the resistance. |
4. High-Level Legal Cover-Ups: Veselin Milić & Tanja Drobnjak
Radonjić pointed directly to the complete collapse of the separation of powers in Serbia’s judiciary, citing two rampant examples of state-backed immunity:
- The Senjak Restaurant Murder: Following the Higher Public Prosecutor’s decision to drop key criminal charges against controversial Belgrade Police Chief Veselin Milić for aiding a perpetrator after the fact, Radonjić dropped a massive hint: “I believe someone highly sensitive and important was inside that restaurant during the crime, hence the forced chaos and orchestration to bury the file.”
- The Case of Officer Tanja Drobnjak: Video evidence caught police officer Tanja Drobnjak brutally assaulting a female student protester to force open her smartphone. Instead of facing criminal trial, prosecutor Ljubivoje Đorđević has pushed for opportunity (oportunitet)—allowing the officer to pay a minor $3,500 fine to completely wipe her criminal record.
For Radonjić, these legal maneuvers confirm that the state is panicking, doing everything in its power to protect its enforcers before the immunity walls come crashing down.
