Ivica Dačić, the Minister of Internal Affairs, spoke out today for the first time regarding the arrest of the former head of the Belgrade police, Veselin Milić, after almost 10 days of silence on this case. Dačić said that he cannot interfere in investigative actions without an order from the court or the prosecutor’s office and that he did not appoint Milić to that position, hence he sees no reason why he should resign.
On TV Prva, for the first time, 10 days after the murder of Aleksandar Nešović, following which the former head of the Belgrade police Veselin Milić was arrested, Dačić spoke out about this case.
He followed up on the question of opposition MPs in the Parliament from last week who asked why Dačić was not in the Parliament to speak out regarding that case and indirectly said that he should not be speaking out about it.
“For 20 years, work has been done to completely separate the role of the Minister of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Internal Affairs from the police. The European Union has an instruction that the ministry and the minister do not interfere in the work of the police. Now, according to the current law, I can only interfere in investigative actions and procedural actions by order of the prosecutor or the court,” said Dačić.
He added that there are no protected individuals and thus mentioned the arrest of Milić for the first time.
“What is important is that there are no protected individuals, regardless of who is in what position, in a managerial position, it would be catastrophic if the police covered up the crime that exists. As soon as the police, as far as I have been informed by the police, received a tip and information about what happened, from the wife who reported it, they urgently arrested everyone mentioned there,” stated Dačić and continued:
“There is no ‘a day later’ or ‘a day earlier’ there. That all happened on that day of the report. In record time, everyone was arrested. This is a monstrous crime that happened.”
Dačić said that he spoke out through the statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, because, as he said, every statement of the MUP is his statement.
“I cannot talk about that”
When asked if Milić’s role in this case has been shed light on, Dačić said that this is not a question for him, but rather a matter for the prosecutor’s office.
“I cannot talk about that, because that is a matter for the prosecutor’s office. What is up to me as the minister, I can say that he has been suspended from duty. The police cannot announce something if the prosecutor’s office does not give consent,” said Dačić.
When asked if it is true that he offered his resignation because of this case, Dačić said the following:
“Why should I offer a resignation? I didn’t even appoint him. In the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police, the category of resignations is not discussed. Here, the categories of who is guilty and who is not guilty are discussed, that is the only way to talk. I bear no guilt as far as that is concerned, nor did I participate in those criminal offenses. The police is managed by the director of police. That is not my manner,” he said.
When asked about holding elections, he stated that he always advocates for regular ones and that it is exactly known when the time is for them, emphasizing that in some countries there is not even a possibility of extraordinary elections.
Among other things, Dačić compared the number of criminal offenses and murders from 2001 with the number from 2024. Also, he compared the number of vehicle thefts, robberies, drug seizures, juvenile delinquency, offenses against public order and peace, as well as the number of traffic fatalities with the figures from 2001.
As a reminder, Aleksandar Nešović Baja disappeared on May 12 at Restaurant 27 in Senjak, and a week since the disappearance, there is no trace or voice of Baja.
This information reached the public when the common-law wife of Nešović reported his disappearance, a day later. Although the police and the prosecutor’s office reacted with a two-day delay, on Thursday, May 14, numerous material traces were found, as claimed by the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade.
Two shell casings and traces of blood in the restaurant, an “iPhone” in a dumpster nearby, and the car of the missing Nešović was parked near the restaurant until Friday, when the police finally took it away.
After the information reached the public, opposition MPs in the Parliament asked several times last week where Dačić was to speak out regarding the case of the murder of Aleksandar Nešović and the arrest of Veselin Milić.
The Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government in the Parliament of Serbia, answering the question of MPs where Dačić is and when he will appear in the parliament, said that the job of a minister is not to explain to the four winds what he thinks about that case.
“It is not written in the job description of any minister that he is obliged to know why someone is sitting in a restaurant with anyone, so your question to me is completely groundless. Neither do I know, nor does that part interest me. If your question went in the direction of what the minister of police thinks, then the answer is that the authorities should do their job. It would be good for us to do that too and leave sensationalism alone. How much Veselin Milić is guilty, the competent authorities will determine. It is not the job of the minister of police to sit and explain to the four winds what he thinks about this situation. The director of police held a conference, everything else is part of the investigation which I would not jeopardize,” stated Minister Snežana Paunović.
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Source: Nova, Photo: Ata images