The longtime commander of the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit (SAJ), Spasoje Vulević, has been relieved of his duties and will formally retire on Monday, N1 has learned. A source claims his dismissal came after a request from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
“Radar” reported that the SAJ commander had, on several occasions, refused requests for his unit to intervene against protesting citizens.
Coinciding with Vulević’s dismissal, or retirement, the security for the U.S. Embassy, which the SAJ had provided for nearly two decades, is now being gradually and completely taken over by the Protection Unit (JZO), commanded by Marko Kričak, “Radar” writes. Vulević had been at the helm of the SAJ for almost two decades and had been with the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) since 1993. He was the first Serbian police officer to graduate from the prestigious FBI academy, and “Vreme” states that during his command, the SAJ “remained conspicuously free of scandals, with professionally trained and disciplined members.”
According to “Vreme,” Vulević “refused to transform the SAJ into a praetorian guard for the authorities, which was seen as disobedience by the political leadership.” The newspaper adds that “his authority within the police became an obstacle precisely because he did not want the unit to be used in actions against citizens.”
The “Radar” portal notes that Vulević was one of the names mentioned in the context of the latest purge within the MUP. As they report, his retirement shows that “professionals with integrity are leaving the police, and their places are being taken by personnel ready to show political loyalty.”
The departure of Spasoje Vulević is seen not only as the end of an era for the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit but also as a political signal—that there is no longer a place at the top of the police for those who, as “Vreme” wrote, “are not willing to put the unit into a function of repression against citizens.”
Source: N1, Photo: Printscreen/YouTube/MUP