The Higher Court in Niš announced that the Ministry of Justice delivered to it on November 2 decisions by former President Aleksandar Vučić granting pardons to 18 individuals who are or have been subject to criminal proceedings before the court.
Under decisions issued by then-President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić on September 27, 2026, 14 people were released from criminal prosecution for the continued criminal offense of abuse of official position as co-perpetrators, while Snežana Radivojević was released from criminal prosecution for the criminal offense of abuse of official position as a co-perpetrator. The case, registered as KPo4 No. 95/25, is being heard before the Higher Court in Niš, Special Department for Combating Corruption, the court announced.
Those pardoned in this case include Srđan Mitrović, Vladislava Ivković, Ivan Mihajlović, Nenad Stanković, Dragan Trajković, Slavoljub Živadinović, Aleksandar Tričković, Miloš Arsić, Sanja Stojanović, Dušica Davidović, Miloš Petrović, Goran Milosavljević, Milorad Jerkan and Miodrag Stojanović.
The case is connected to the work of the former Emergency Situations Headquarters of the City of Niš, whose members are suspected of abusing their official positions to enable private companies to carry out work on the water supply and sewage networks without following the prescribed public procurement procedures. According to previous statements by investigative authorities, the contracts were awarded to “Vodomonteri” from Lalinac and “Sim Puk Gradnja” from Malošište, with suspicions that the work was invoiced at prices significantly higher than market rates. The estimated damage to the city budget amounted to more than 843 million dinars.
A separate presidential decision issued on the same day also approved a pardon request submitted by Igor Novaković on June 11, 2026. Novaković had been sentenced to one year and six months in prison by a final ruling of the Niš Court of Appeals on March 11, 2026, along with a five-year security measure. Vučić decided that neither the prison sentence nor the security measure would be enforced, provided Novaković did not commit another criminal offense during the next five years.
Novaković was convicted of abuse of official position in connection with the operations of the Niš-based company “Jugoistok,” which he had previously headed. The case concerned abuses involving the management of the company’s funds and the conclusion of business deals, and the final judgment was handed down in March this year.
By a presidential decision dated September 25, 2026, a pardon request submitted on October 8, 2024, by Bratislav Todorović was also approved, granting him rehabilitation following a 2014 ruling by the Higher Court in Niš. Todorović, a former gynecologist at the Niš Clinical Center, had been convicted of accepting a bribe. According to previous media reports, he had asked the husband of a woman who had given birth to give him a mobile phone as a gift and was convicted after accepting the device.
A decision by the President of the Republic of Serbia dated September 27, 2026, also approved a pardon request submitted on November 12, 2025, by Milosav Simović. A final ruling by the Higher Court in Niš on October 29, 2025, had sentenced Simović to six months in prison, to be served at his place of residence without electronic monitoring. Vučić released him from serving the sentence and also revoked a two-year security measure.
Simović, a retired general of the Serbian Army, was convicted of violating the Law on the Secrecy of Data, specifically the unauthorized handling of confidential military information. The case concerned information contained in official documents and a telephone, which had been copied and transferred to a private hard drive without the necessary authorization.
All the aforementioned decisions by the President of the Republic of Serbia granting pardons took effect on the day they were issued. The Higher Court in Niš announced that it would continue handling the cases covered by the decisions in accordance with the law and relevant regulations.
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Source:: N1 / Serbian Times, Foto: GP018; Wikimedia Creative Commons
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