Who filed criminal charges against Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and why?

You can find news on the internet that questioned by the police only in 2015, after the accusations Kurir that he participated in the extortion and blackmail of the former director of that newspaper

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Vučić, Photo: Fonet
Vučić, Photo: Fonet
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

From abuse of official position, to unauthorized photography and sharing of personal data, to serious bodily harm in the attempt.

All these crimes, according to the allegations students who block faculties for months and organize protests, was carried out on March 17th of this year by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, for which they filed charges against him criminal complaint.

Accompanied by cameras and journalists from pro-government media, Vučić visited the seriously injured in the intensive care unit of the Clinical Center of Serbia in Belgrade. in a fire at a disco in Kočani, in North Macedonia, when 62 people died.

The president has not yet commented on the criminal charges against him, but he "intensive care case" has spoken several times so far, emphasizing that everything was "his will".

"They don't have to chase anyone, let me tell the prosecutors - I'm responsible," Vučić said in April.

This is the third criminal complaint against Vučić in the last three months.

In April, one was arrested for "fencing off citizens" at a rally of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), submitted by the opposition movement "Kreni-promeni" (Go-Change)., in May and Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA).

"A criminal complaint against Vučić should be treated like any other, because he is a citizen like everyone else," Vesna Rakić Vodinelić, a retired law professor, told BBC Serbian.

The President of Serbia, he adds, according to the law has immunity as a member of parliament, but it "does not have to be referred to".

"It would be normal for the police or public prosecutor to summon him to be questioned, as a person against whom a criminal report has been filed," adds Rakić Vodinelić.

You can find news on the internet that questioned by the police only in 2015, after the accusations Kurir that he participated in the extortion and blackmail of the former director of that newspaper.

Students have been blocking faculties for months, demanding accountability for the collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people.

Because, as they say, their demands have still not been met - and the government claims they have - they insist on holding parliamentary elections, which Vučić says will be held in late 2026 or early 2027.

Criminal charges

According to the law, a criminal complaint can be filed by any person, legal entity, individual or state body that claims to have knowledge that a criminal offense has been committed.

"The prosecutor receives them and if he believes there is reason to suspect, he will order the police to carry out certain actions, for example, question certain persons," explains Rakić Vodinelić, a former candidate for mayor of Belgrade from the opposition New Party.

The prosecution may dismiss an unfounded complaint.

Political actors regularly file criminal charges against each other, and most of them generally do not get beyond newspapers and internet portals.

A number of complaints have been filed against Vučić, and one of the most notable was the one from 2019, which came from within his party - It was submitted by former Prime Minister and current leader of the Progressive Party, Miloš Vučević.

The reason was "The Jovanjica affair", named after a company that was known for years for producing organic food, which the media then discovered was producing something else - marijuana.

Jovanjica received loans from the state-run Export Financing Agency, and was regularly visited by state officials, such as the former head of the Security and Information Agency (BIA), Aleksandar Vulin.

The name of Andrej Vučić, the president's brother, was also mentioned in the affair, which is why Vučević filed a complaint against both of them, in order to "verify all the facts."

"It was a farce," says Rakić Vodinelić.

"The prosecutor's office dismissed the criminal complaint, finding no basis to suspect the commission of a criminal offense, which is why government representatives said in the media that the Vučić brothers were acquitted of all guilt, which is not true."

"You can file a criminal complaint against the same person as many times as you want - if and when you come across new evidence, you will file a second one, in case the first one is dismissed."

Former leader of the opposition New Party Zoran Živković filed criminal charges against Vučić and former Interior Minister Nebojša Stefanović in 2019., for "illegal actions and abuse of authority in the sale of weapons".

"I didn't get any response," Živković tells BBC Serbian.

Boško Obradović, former leader of the opposition Dveri, filed two criminal charges against Vučić.

One 2019., claiming that "the policy of the current government is to threaten the territorial integrity of the state of Serbia, which is a criminal offense," and the second one in 2020. for "failure to report a crime."

He, as he said in a brief interview with the BBC, never received an answer to them either.

The criminal complaint filed by Saša Radulović, leader of the opposition movement Enough is Enough, who accused Vučić, his brother and the police leadership of abuse of office, failure to report a crime and trading in influence, The Organized Crime Prosecutor's Office dismissed it in 2017.

The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade dismissed the 2023 and criminal complaint against the representative of the "Upright Serbia" association, Dragan Dobrašinović against Vučić, filed for the criminal offense of "endangering territorial integrity".

Dobrašinović recently filed criminal charges against Vučić again, accusing him of terrorism for the alleged use of a sound cannon at a protest in Belgrade.

Private lawsuits

In the meantime, a whole series of private lawsuits followed, in which case the president does not have parliamentary immunity.

It was Boško Obradović who sued Vučić for damages for injury to reputation and honor, because Vučić called him a "thief and a fascist", as announced by Dveri at the time.

In 2021, the First Basic Court ordered Vučić to pay Obradović 200.000 dinars, but that ruling was overturned after an appeal. abolished by the Court of Appeal.

Most lawsuits cite similar reasons - damage to reputation and honor, insult, or falsehood.

And for most, the epilogue is unknown.

Branislav Jovanović, a representative of the citizens' group "Niš, our city", filed a lawsuit against Vučić in April 2025. due to, as he claims, the spread of falsehoods and insults in the media against him and his family.

The same thing was done in 2024 by an opposition councilor of the Novi Sad Assembly. Misha Bachulov, because Vučić "called him a drug dealer".

For "injury to reputation and honor", Vučić was also sued in 2023 by the Secretary General of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Strategy of Kosovo, Boban Bogdanović, including President of the Union of Doctors and Pharmacists Rade Panić in 2020

In the same year, he also filed a lawsuit against Vučić. Vojin Rakic, head of the European Directorate of the UNESCO Chair in Bioethics and leader of the "New 6th October" movement, for "telling falsehoods and insults with the aim of violating his scientific and moral integrity."

Former leader of the opposition People's Party Vuk Jeremic He sued Vučić in 2018 for calling him "the boss of an international gang of thieves."

Later, from the People's Party, communicated that the court invoked the defendant's parliamentary immunity "despite the fact that Jeremić sued Vučić as a citizen, not as president."

The leader of the movement Enough is enough, Radulović. - a former minister in Vučić's former government - sued him in 2016 for "insulting, falsehoods and disparagement".

In the meantime it is Journalist and lawyer Milan Pavica sued both Vučić and the leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Ivica Dačić for "the years they took away from him through the policies they pursued in the 1990s".

He recently announced a lawsuit against Vučić. Đorđe Stanković, opposition MP from Niš.

Reuters

What are the students accusing Vučić of?

That for the sake of "self-promotion in public", and using his official position, he visited the intensive care unit of the Clinical Center, accompanied by a large number of journalists, and endangered the health of those injured in the fire.

On that occasion, they point out in the criminal complaint, was either "without adequate protection" or used protective equipment inadequately, while also approaching "inadequately close" to the injured.

"He touched them with severely injured body parts and spoke to them after first removing his protective mask," they added.

In addition, he held a press conference without protective equipment, in an intensive care unit, to which access is otherwise restricted.

They add that, by his own admission, he did this on his own initiative, without anyone's approval, and all in order to gain "personal and political benefit" and "increase political popularity."

All these accusations are made by the leader of the Serbian Progressive Party, Miloš Vučević. denies, claiming that all rules and procedures were followed.

Vučić, as he says, has nothing else to charge him with, so he is being prosecuted for "visiting the injured."

Students at the time stressed that they were "just looking for responsibility."

"It was not only an arrogant gesture, but also a humiliation of the healthcare system and the injured people - burnt skin is not a billboard, justice for them is justice for everyone," said one of the student representatives in front of the First Basic Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade.

Determining who was responsible for the incident was the sixth demand of the students in the blockade, along with, among other things, determining those responsible for the canopy collapse and increasing state funding for higher education.

"They don't have to chase anyone, I came in myself," said a proud Aleksandar Vučić, whose idea was to renovate the Clinical Center, and because it is so modern, those people had somewhere to come.

"Sixth demand fulfilled, I did it myself, it's my own fault," he replied. Vucic then.

Watch the video about the tragedy in Kočani: 'I was saved, my sister was not'

In their criminal complaint, the students now accuse him of "inciting cameramen and journalists" from a number of pro-government media outlets, such as Pink and Kurir, to "unauthorized and without consent" take photographs and videos of the injured.

He later "encouraged the editors" of those media outlets to publish those photos and recordings, also without the permission of those injured in the fire in Kočani, they point out.

In the meantime, they add, he had been unauthorizedly disclosing their private information to the public.

"The public prosecutor is the one who should assess the qualification of the criminal offense," says Rakić Vodinelić.

"Considering that the recording of it was made public, he should at least be called to testify, but I don't think that will happen, it will probably end up in a drawer."

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