A businessman for Serbia, a criminal for Kosovo, blacklisted in the United States.
Zvonko Veselinović was associated with the organization of barricades and riots in the north of Kosovo, the murder of politician Oliver Ivanović, the smuggling of oil, drugs and weapons, but he was never held accountable.
In Serbia, he was tried twice for embezzlement and abuse of position and was acquitted both times.
The last time he was with the police was on October 4, when he denied allegations that he ordered and paid for the murders of police inspectors who discovered a marijuana plantation in Jovanjica in 2019.
His business partner is Milan Radoičić, the organizer of the armed attack on the Kosovo police. Their construction companies are engaged in state projects and record millions in earnings.
Unlike Radoičić, who was the vice-president of the largest party of Kosovo Serbs, Veselinović never held a political position.
Nevertheless, officials in Belgrade labeled him, along with Radoičić, as "the protector of the Serbs in Kosovo."
Arrests for drugs and theft
He was arrested for the first time, as reported by the media at the time, in 2003 on suspicion of selling drugs. Three years later, the court in Kraljevo, Serbia, acquitted him of responsibility.
He was arrested in Kosovo in 2005 for allegedly stealing a car.
As published by the Crime and Corruption Research Network (KRIK), in the 2001 Serbian Police Organized Crime White Book, he is mentioned as the leader of a group that stole and smuggled cars in Kosovo.
The group allegedly also engaged in extortion and falsification of documents.
Barricades and riots in the north of Kosovo
He came into the public spotlight during the barricades in Kosovo in 2011 and 2012, which were set up by local members of the Serbian community opposing the presence of the Kosovo police and customs officials on the northern borders.
The NATO mission in Kosovo (KFOR) identified Zvonko and his brother Žarko Veselinović as organizers of barricades, riots and attacks on members of that mission.
KFOR commander Erhard Drews said that the evidence in the form of video recordings was forwarded to EULEX (the European Union's mission for the rule of law in Kosovo).
The then Minister of Police, Ivica Dačić, stated in December 2011 that Serbia had not received official requests for the arrest of the Veselinović brothers and that the Serbian police were not dealing with the case.
At that time, Serbs in Kosovo called Veselinović a symbol of resistance at the barricades, and before he assumed the office of President of Serbia in 2012, Tomislav Nikolić also referred to his case.
"We really need a lot of evidence to justify the arrest of the man who helped the Serbs endure these three most difficult months," Nikolić said in December 2011.
Oil smuggling
In the same year, in 2011, the world media also wrote about Veselinović.
"Herald Tribune" and "New York Times" linked him with Albanian businessman Mentor Beqiri, with whom he allegedly smuggled oil.
In one of the rare interviews for the Belgrade tabloid "Pečat" in October 2011, Veselinović rejected accusations of smuggling and stated that the barricades in the north of Kosovo "do not work in his favor".
"Four or five years ago, I started doing business seriously. I did not smuggle anything, I did not engage in any kind of crime. I made money based on the fact that we had privileges from the Republic of Serbia," Veselinović told Pečat.
He also stated that "all the citizens of Mitrovica know that since 1999, along with the people, they have been actively resisting the Albanian occupation."
"30 trucks work for me, some are my property, some belong to my friends, but they are in my service. One truck brings three thousand euros in cash per month. Since these blockades began, all my trucks are parked. All my and the trucks of my friends were put at the disposal of the people and the presidents of the municipalities, so that they could be used as blockades," said Veselinović at the time.
Arrest in Kopaonik
When Zvonko Veselinović and his brother Žarko were arrested in December 2011 on Kopaonik, at first it was not clear whether this was done because of the organization of barricades in the north of Kosovo.
Kosovo Serbs then organized a series of protests and threatened to end cooperation with EULEX if Veselinović was not released.
The case was clarified by the Minister of Police at the time, Ivica Dačić, stating that Veselinović was not arrested at the request of EULEX, but at the behest of the Serbian Prosecutor's Office.
Veselinović's lawyer was Goran Petronijević, who today represents Milan Radoičić, the organizer of the armed attack on the Kosovo police in the village of Banjska on September 24.
At the time, Petronijević told Radio Free Europe (RSE) that no proceedings were ever initiated against Veselinović regarding allegations of organizing riots in the north of Kosovo.
Appropriation of trucks Hypo leasing
It turned out to be an indictment according to which Veselinović and Milan Radoičić were accused of inciting their business partner Dragan Ćurčić, the owner of the company "Euro kop", to keep the trucks of Hipo Alpe Adria Lizing even after the termination of the leasing contract and to give them to them on usage.
According to the indictment, Ćurčić was repeatedly called and persuaded to use trucks together in the territory of Kosovo.
By stealing and using the truck, the prosecution claimed, they earned around two million euros.
In December 2012, Veselinović was released to defend himself.
In March 2016, Veselinović and Radoičić were legally acquitted, and Ćurčić was sentenced to three years.
Veselinović was also suspected of illegal production and trafficking of weapons and explosives, but the prosecutor dropped those charges.
Illegal gravel mining
In February 2013, an indictment was brought against Veselinović, Radoičić and two of their associates for malfeasance during the construction of Corridor 10.
They were accused of excavating gravel without the consent of the competent Ministry and without paying compensation to the local authorities, and then used it for road construction.
In 2017, the High Court in Pirot acquitted them of the charges, but the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial.
In January 2019, the court in Pirot sentenced Veselinović to two years in prison, while Radoičić was acquitted.
Six months later, the Court of Appeal acquitted Veselinović as well.
The murder of Oliver Ivanovic
The Prosecutor's Office of Kosovo connects Veselinović and Radoičić with the murder of Oliver Ivanović, a politician from the north of Kosovo, in 2018 in Mitrovica.
They were mentioned as the alleged organizers of the criminal group, but no charges were brought against them because they were on the run at the time.
Kosovo law does not allow indictments to be filed against fugitives, unless they have been previously investigated.
Officials in Serbia consider this procedure to be politically motivated.
The investigation into Ivanović's murder is also led by the Special Prosecutor's Office of Serbia, but it has not progressed beyond preliminary investigations.
US blacklist
At the end of 2021, the US Treasury will put Veselinović on the sanctions list. His brother Žarko Veselinović, Milan Radoičić and ten other people connected with them were also there.
The US Treasury has designated Zvonko Veselinović as the leader of an organized criminal group, and one of the most notorious corrupt figures in Kosovo.
The US has said his criminal group is involved in a wide-ranging bribery scheme, with Kosovo and Serbian security officials facilitating its illegal trade in goods, money, narcotics and weapons between Kosovo and Serbia.
The corrupt scheme also mentions politicians, whom Veselinović allegedly helped in the election campaign, and in return they would "reward him with the best infrastructure contracts".
"In the end, they will be accused of not respecting the border between Kosovo and Serbia, but that is already their business. If there are any serious accusations, our state authorities will investigate them as well," said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić in December 2021.
Vučić denied that the ruling Serbian Progressive Party took money from Zvonko Veselinović.
"They didn't even give us a dinar, I don't know about the others," said Vučić.
The President of Serbia and Prime Minister Ana Brnabić also "defended" Veselinović and Radoičić in the Serbian Parliament.
"When you tell me the criminal group of Zvonko Veselinović and Milan Radoičić, and you show me the verdicts where they are a criminal group or don't criminalize the Serbs from Kosovo," said Brnabić in October 2022, responding to the opposition MPs.
A year after the USA, Great Britain put Veselinović on the list of sanctions as part of global anti-corruption measures.
Millions from the state of Serbia
At the end of November 2018, Veselinović and Radoičić made official the ownership of the company Inkop from Ćuprija, which received lucrative jobs from the state on the construction of Corridor 11, and whose headquarters were also at a state address for a time, RSE research showed.
Millions of jobs were awarded to them even after the American sanctions.
RSE established in April 2023 that three companies connected to Veselinović and Radoičić had built at least three major roads in Serbia in the past two and a half years.
Inkop also owns the hotel company Dolly Bell, which owns the Grej Hotel on Kopaonik.
That hotel was marked by the Kosovo police as the place where the armed group that attacked the Kosovo police on September 24 gathered.
The wiretapping affair
In September 2021, the name of Zvonko Veselinović was also mentioned in the affair of the wiretapping of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić.
The vice-president of the opposition Party of Freedom and Justice, Marinika Tepić, said that the police eavesdropped on Vučić because he was talking to people associated with crime.
Vučić denied these accusations, stating that he never spoke to Veselinović and Radoičić and that the police certainly did not tap him because of that.
"I saw Veselinović twice in Kosovo, and I don't think we've ever heard each other in my life. I don't even have his number memorized in my phone," said Vučić at the time.
Demolition in Savamala
In February 2022, the media reported the testimony of the leader of the criminal clan, Veljko Belivuk, who allegedly said at the hearing in the prosecution that he and Zvonko Veselinović "sent their men to demolish in Savamala in the center of Belgrade" in 2016.
The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have not commented on these allegations.
On the night between April 24 and 25, 2016, masked persons used excavators to demolish buildings in Hercegovačka Street in the Savamala neighborhood.
The police did not respond to citizens' calls, and the perpetrators have not been discovered to this day.
At the site of the demolition in Savamala, the state project Belgrade on the Water began to spring up after that.
Truck at the barricade in Banjska
RSE research showed that the company whose name was written on one of the trucks used by the armed group on September 24 to block the road to the village of Banjska is a business partner of the company of the brothers Veselinović and Milan Radoičić.
After the police tried to remove the barricade, the police officers were attacked. Police officer Afrim Bunjaku was killed, and several others were injured.
Radoičić took responsibility for organizing the attack, while the name of Zvonko Veselinović is not mentioned in the statements of Kosovo and Serbian officials in this case.
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