According to Nova, in Serbia, if you drive under the influence of alcohol and drugs, you will almost certainly be held criminally responsible, but if you are a member of the SNS, close to that party, or at least the godfather of the state president, Aleksnadar Vučić, you will not be touched by anyone.
“In general, the competent authorities will not invite you to an informative interview, nor will they prosecute you if a criminal gives you a watch worth 17,000 euros or if you have earned more than 600 million euros.”
“You can do all this if you are the favorite of the government, a high official of the party and a person trusted by the head of state. All this is allowed to them because their charges are shelved or expunged from the court records if one does not like them. Previous experience has shown us that double standards are often applied in Serbia when it comes to citizens, their violations and problems with the law,” reports Nova.
On the one hand, the institutions are not blind to those who violate the norms and sanction them, but what about those who violate the law, but are in a party that guarantees them a place at the bottom of the court drawer?
For them, judicial norms, practices and laws are applied selectively, looking for loopholes in the system to remain unpunished or with minimal punishment.
Some call it the new elite, some the advanced old cadre or personal friends, but the effect is the same – they can be above the law if they want to.
An illustrative example of this is the godfather of the state president and businessman Nikola Petrović, who will not be prosecuted by the First Basic Prosecutor’s Office in March of this year.
Almost a year ago, under the influence of alcohol and narcotics, he had a traffic accident in Dedinja, but he will face only misdemeanor charges.
As they said, it was not established that he was drunk or drugged at the time of the accident. On the other hand, police officer Katarina Petrović made public the report from the accident investigation, which shows that Petrović had 0.41 ppm of alcohol in his blood at the time of the accident and that he tested positive for cocaine.
By all accounts, he will be treated legally as if he wasn’t wearing a seat belt or ran a red light. Therefore, his file does not say that he was prosecuted and the fact that he was driving under the influence of alcohol and opiates is a common violation for institutions.
The president’s godfathers, the Panic brothers, were also beyond the reach of the justice authorities, who, for unknown reasons, were not issued an international arrest warrant for a long time, even though they eluded the police in February just hours before their arrest theirs.
They were accused of organizing and brokering prostitution and human trafficking.
The investigation of this case was initiated by the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office, but the case was suddenly taken over by the High Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade (VJT).
This wouldn’t be so strange if VJT hadn’t shelved said case for months, so it begs the question whether the takeover of the case was intended to give Panic the best possible status during investigations.
Accordingly, the police discovered the whole case in October of last year, when they entered one of the apartments of the Panic family in New Belgrade and discovered what was hidden behind the “massage salon” advertised on social networks.
The name of Petar Panic Pana, the godfather of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, has been in the public eye in recent days after he released a video from his home’s surveillance cameras, where he is seen being visited by the head of the Interior.
Control Sector (SUK), Goran Çoliq. Pana presented a series of accusations, both against Coliq and another policeman, Marko Kriçko.
Petar Panić has been known to the general public for a long time, partly because of his conflict with the law, partly because of his acquaintance with high-level people of the state. Photos of Petr Panic with politicians, including the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, often appeared on social networks.
Paniqi is also known for his file, which also includes a criminal complaint. 13 criminal charges have been filed against him at the same time – for violent behavior, minor and serious injuries, extortion, possession of weapons without a permit and other criminal offenses.
Paniqi was once labeled as a person who was previously close to the leader of the “Zemun clan” Dushan Spasojevic.
Since 2022, the police have mentioned Nebojsha Stefanović and BIA chief Marko Parezanović in the criminal report for assisting the criminal Darko Shariq.
According to the investigation, Stefanović assigned two of his associates from the police in Sariq to help the clan, but he personally gave them the information
