Bratislav Dikić: „We collected grassroots votes for Vučić!“

Bratislav Dikić, a retired gendarmerie general, once convicted of involvement in an attempted terrorist attack in Montenegro in 2016 and now head of the prison in Niš, has publicly admitted to abusing his position by unlawfully monitoring grassroots vote-gathering activities and forwarding all information collected on election day, 25 October, to the campaign headquarters of Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party.

- We made a mistake. By accepting and carrying out such activities, we committed a professional breach because we failed to establish a clear distinction between our official duties and activities that do not fall within the scope of our responsibilities - Dikić wrote, among other things, in a written address to employees of the Niš Correctional Institution.

Last week, prominent Serbian lawyer Ivan Ninić exposed a system for collecting grassroots votes in Serbian prisons and filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime against 63 individuals, headed by Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić.

It was Ninić who published on his X account a letter from Bratislav Dikić in which he „apologises“ for his conduct on election day, 25 October, in Serbia.

It is noteworthy that Dikić decided to make this „admission“ just a few hours after his colleague, Rodoljub Rončević, head of the Zabela Correctional Institution in Požarevac, was arrested on suspicion of abusing his official position and giving and receiving bribes in connection with voting.

Meanwhile, officers from the Criminal Police Directorate entered Zabela following allegations that, on election day, 25 October, a Serbian Progressive Party call centre had been operating inside the institution and that grassroots votes had been solicited, with some convicted prisoners allegedly receiving a carton of cigarettes from a semi-truck parked in the prison yard in exchange for their votes.

- We are civil servants employed by an institution whose work is of particular importance to the security and functioning of the legal order. We are obliged to perform our duties lawfully, impartially, responsibly and professionally, regardless of political circumstances or personal political beliefs - Dikić wrote, among other things. He stressed that none of the prison governors who had worked for the Serbian Progressive Party headquarters „should have, or had the right to, use their positions, official powers, authority or institutional resources for political activities“.

Dikić thus confirmed that, on 25 October, the Niš Correctional Institution organised and conducted voting for persons deprived of their liberty at polling station No. 26, in accordance with the law and prescribed procedures, but that all information was forwarded to Vučić’s party. He denies asking prisoners how they should vote or offering them bribes.

So far, there has been no information indicating that the Prosecutor’s Office for Organised Crime has questioned Bratislav Dikić. ETV had previously published an article about alleged electoral manipulation in Serbian prisons on election day, 25 October, including a photograph of Bratislav Dikić that he had sent to the Serbian Progressive Party headquarters.

Lawyer Ivan Ninić has presented evidence which, he claims, confirms that Justice Minister Nenad Vujić, his adviser Milica Radonjić, the director of the Administration for the Enforcement of Criminal Sanctions, the governors of all 29 prisons in Serbia and approximately 30 other individuals operated as an organised criminal group from 30 April to 25 October, exerting pressure on convicted prisoners to vote for Vučić in the elections.