New York Times: Belivuk's arrest followed by allegations of his links to government officials

Suspicions that Belivuk had powerful friends in the government, or at least in the security services, have been growing since 2016, when he was arrested on charges of murder, the paper says, and reminds that he was then released after DNA and other evidence against him either disappeared or were discarded

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

The arrest of the leader of the Partizan fan group, Veljko Belivuk, suspected of murders, kidnappings and drug trafficking, was followed by allegations of his alleged many-year association with people from the authorities, writes the American newspaper New York Times today.

In an article entitled "Arrests Shake Up Serbia's Soccer Scene Ruled by Gangsters and Gravedigger", the New York Times states that Serbia is now dealing with the question of what led to the arrest of Belivuk, who "acted with impunity for a long time", and that the media reports that he had close ties with the government and security forces.

"The government presents Belivuk as a brutal mobster whose arrest signals its determination to curb the criminal gangs that contributed to the instigation of the horrific violence in the wars of the 90s in the Balkans, assassinated reformist Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003, and thwarted Serbia's efforts to become a normal, democratic country. country," writes journalist Andrew Higgins.

The New York Times also reports the statement of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, from March 6, when the bodies of the victims of Belivuk's gang were shown to the public in a live broadcast.

"Our message is that we are done with this gang," the New York newspaper recalls the words of Vučić, who he adds is a big Red Star fan who has repeatedly said that he participated in fan fights in his youth.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said that Vucic was Belivuk's target, but she admitted that criminal gangs have developed "strong ties" with state and security structures and that they are now under investigation, the New York Times writes, adding that she stated that "the mafia obviously it wouldn't be so strong if it didn't have the support of the government".

Suspicions that Belivuk had powerful friends in the government, or at least in the security services, have been growing since 2016, when he was arrested on charges of murder, the paper says, and reminds that he was then released after DNA and other evidence against him either disappeared or were discarded.

The paper states that "there is a widespread belief that Vučić is hiding something" and that this is being followed up by a campaign of slander in the pro-government media directed against those who question the Serbian president's story of a strong crackdown on organized crime.

The text adds that law professor Vladimir Vuletić, until recently the vice-president of Partizan, who publicly accused the government of colluding with Belivuk, has since been slandered daily in tabloids that support Vučić.

"Professor Vuletic said that Belivuk and a fan known by the nickname Sale Mutavi, who has since been killed, took control of the southern part of Partizan's stadium shortly after Vučić became prime minister in 2014, and began beating anyone in the stands shouts insults against Vučić," the text reads.

According to the New York Times, the portal KRIK, a respected group of investigative journalists, which for years reported on the connections between government officials and Belivuk's gang, was also targeted by the tabloids.

Higgins also writes that KRIK previously published photos showing a member of the Gendarmerie (Nenad Vučković Vučko) attending football matches with Belivuk.

"At that time, the police officer (Vučković) was in a relationship with a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (State Secretary Dijana Hrkalović)," it said.

The paper adds that the investigators connect Belivuk with the ten-year war of two rival criminal clans (Kavak and Skaljar) over the control of the drug smuggling route across the Adriatic Sea, from Montenegro to Western Europe.

The New York Times indicates that the readiness for violence has made fans of Serbian football clubs, especially Belgrade rivals Partizan and Crvena zvezda, "a powerful force on the street and in the turbulent politics of the country."

The newspaper quotes the statement of the president of the "Nezavisnost" Professional Footballers' Union, Mirko Poledica, that "violent fans like Belivuk represent such a terrifying force that control over them has always been a priority of any government that wants to avoid trouble and stay in power."

"Our football hooligans are controlled by the state, they do what the state tells them to do. Our politicians are always afraid of the stadium and its terrible power. They know that any discontent in the stadium can quickly spread to the streets. They want to control it" , said Poledica.

For ordinary fans of Partizan, the New York Times concludes, Belivuk was never a true fan, but a fraud sent by President Vučić to control and discredit his team's bitter rival, Crvena zvezda.

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