Before the panel of the Special Court in Belgrade, the trial of the Minister of Culture Nikola Selakovic begins today, along with three other civil servants accused of having, through a series of illegal actions, created a document of false content that served the authorities to remove protection as a cultural asset from the General Staff building, damaged in the NATO bombing, and to pass a lex specialis.
Nikola Selakovic arrived at the court, our reporter reports. N1 reports that he was greeted with the words “Thieves, Thieves.” In front of the Special Court, as reported by the Danas reporter, among the present citizens are MPs Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta and Srdjan Milivojevic. According to the Beta agency reporter, there are also about fifty citizens, including students. Several police officers are also present, and everything is proceeding peacefully.
Traffic in Ustanicka Street flowed as usual until 10 o’clock.
Previously, around 9:00 a.m., a group of prosecutors and employees of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime, as a sign of protest against “Mrdic’s laws,” expressed their protest with a symbolic gathering for about ten minutes in front of the court and announced that they would continue to do so in the coming days.
The Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (TOK), besides Selakovic for giving orders, charges the director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Goran Vasic, the director of the city institute Aleksandar Ivanovic, and the secretary of the Ministry of Culture Slavica Jelaca with abuse of official position and falsification of official documents.
As claimed in the indictment, by violating procedure, they bypassed experts from the Republic Institute and the Sector for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Digitalization in the Ministry of Culture, and sent a false Proposal for a decision on the termination of the status of a cultural asset for the General Staff building to the government, after which a special law was adopted in the Serbian Parliament.
This allows the government to demolish the building and build a luxury complex with massive towers on that site, as provided for in the contract signed by the Minister of Construction Goran Vesic and the company of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, although the company withdrew from the deal, “at this moment,” due to public protests.
Upon receiving the indictment, Selakovic, as it seems, presented his defense in advance to the public, although it is reserved for the courtroom, attacking TOK as a “blockade gang” and the previous director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments Dubravka Djukanovic at a parliamentary session regarding “Mrdic’s” laws.
She, as well as the director of the city institute Olivera Vuckovic, resigned, stating that she did so due to pressure because she refused to remove protection from the General Staff, after which Vasic and Ivanovic were quickly appointed to their positions.
Ministar Selaković je došao u sud, građani i studenti su uzvikivali "ministre lopove". pic.twitter.com/kHueVmPSG4
— Mašina (@MasinaRS) February 4, 2026
President Aleksandar Vucic joined Selakovic’s defense outside the courtroom, asking the prosecution to indict him as well, saying he “can’t wait,” stating that he is the ideological creator of the demolition of the General Staff, with an announcement that he would pardon the other defendants.
His lawyer is a member of the presidency of the Serbian Progressive Party, Vladimir Djukanovic, as in a series of politically sensitive cases, who advocates for the abolition of TOK or placing it under the control of another prosecution, obviously closer to his taste.
Since the initiation of proceedings in the “General Staff” and “Canopy” cases, the government has been in a campaign against TOK, before which these cases are ongoing, as they involve ministers which could lead to the narrowest political leadership and threaten its survival.
The government could not directly subordinate TOK through “Mrdic’s” laws, as it did with the Prosecution for High-Tech Crime, but it has created the possibility for itself to halve the prosecutorial staff and thereby practically block its work.
Source: Danas; Photo: ATA Images