Borović: Arrests of former high-ranking government officials are being prepared in Serbia

I am certain that major arrests are being prepared in Serbia, involving high-ranking officials of the former government. This is not only because they were involved in crime and corruption, but also because they damaged relations with all neighbouring countries - lawyer Borivoje Borović told Pobjeda.

Serbia’s Supreme Public Prosecutor Zagorka Dolovac first issued a mandatory instruction to public prosecution offices and subsequently instructed prosecutors to request that the police take measures to prevent the possible destruction of official records. The First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade has opened a case following public reports alleging the destruction of official records on the premises of government institutions and public enterprises.

- They interfered in political affairs, meddling in the political situations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. They simply could not come to terms with the fact that independent states existed and were dealing with their own affairs - Borović said.

He assessed that “the false national policy pursued by this regime has completely collapsed, and the time has now come to set things right – not only the interference in the political affairs of Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, but also the injustices committed against many people, and to prosecute those responsible”.

He explained that the mandatory instruction issued to the prosecution offices was largely an attempt by the Republic's chief prosecutor to curry favour with the new authorities, but added that the instruction could also prove very useful.

- The mandatory instruction means that all prosecution offices in Serbia will review cases that have been left sitting in drawers, cases in which indictments were unjustifiably brought, as well as cases in which no indictments were filed because someone escaped criminal liability under political pressure. On the other hand, the Student List has not yet formally taken power. Drawing on the experience of 2000, when files were destroyed and evidence concealed, an appeal was therefore issued warning against such actions. Once the new government is established, we will have fully independent prosecution offices. The law will be amended and, as in Montenegro, a prosecutorial police force will be established. There will be a serious fight against state-level crime and corruption, which have been eating away at this country for a decade and a half - Borović said.

Asked whether the aforementioned instruction to prosecution offices would speed up proceedings concerning the canopy collapse and other controversial cases allegedly covered up over the previous 14 years, Borović said that everything depended on whom the former president of Serbia had pardoned, a fact he was concealing.

- What if he pardoned Goran Vesić and Anita Dimoski? They are the main culprits in the canopy case, and their actions also weigh heavily on his own criminal liability, of which I am absolutely certain. All these operations were directed from the office of the former president, including the project involving the reconstruction of the canopy. On the other hand, we will see whether the pardons concern the cases he claimed were fabricated. Take the “Jovanjica” case, for example. We will see whether he pardoned Predrag Koluvija, given that he has been involved in a very large number of criminal proceedings throughout this period – Borović said.

He expressed hope that Europol would provide Serbia's new authorities, police force, and prosecution service with a report on conversations intercepted through the Sky ECC encrypted messaging application. This, he said, would enable the new police force to use the information to launch investigations into various criminal offences and identify those responsible.

He also addressed claims by the former regime that a sound cannon had not been used against peaceful demonstrators in Belgrade on 15 March 2025, while they were observing 16 minutes of silence in memory of the victims of the Novi Sad railway station canopy collapse.

- All along, they were whining through the media, claiming that the sound cannon was made up. They even arrogantly threatened everyone who discussed the issue in the media and prosecuted those people. The sound cannon existed. That is an established fact - Borović said.