Belgrade: Hrkalović found guilty, sentenced to one year and four months in prison

Dijana Hrkalović, former State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) who is on trial for influence peddling, was found guilty today at the Special Court in Belgrade and sentenced to one year and four months in prison, including time spent in detention, Nova.rs reports.

Along with Dijana Hrkalović, the former head of the Novi Sad Police Department, Milorad Šušnjić, was also found guilty and sentenced to one year in prison. Police Chief Dejan Milenković, also accused, was acquitted.

As the judge stated, Milenković was acquitted because he was charged with a very complicated crime, which has not been proven.

Influence peddling in three cases

Hrkalović is on trial for influencing police chiefs to obstruct investigations and break the law in three cases.

Hrkalović is accused of ordering Milenković to delay the delivery of the report on the expert examination of the phone of Veljko Belivuk, then suspected of the murder of karate fighter Vlastimir Milošević on tram tracks in 2017. The report was only forwarded to the prosecution towards the end of the trial, which made the prosecution's work more difficult and contributed to Belivuk's acquittal.

She is then accused of ordering Milenković to delete part of the recording of a conversation between lawyer Dragoslav Miša Ognjanović.

Also, according to the indictment, Hrkalović ordered Šušnjić to falsely place criminal Darko Elez under surveillance and wiretapping measures in order to prevent other police departments from investigating him.