A former Belgrade police chief pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from a brazen gangland murder, while prosecutors have dropped the most severe allegations against him.
Former Police Chief Veselin Milić appeared Monday before the First Basic Court in Belgrade to deny charges of failing to report a crime and falsifying an official document, OCCRP’s Serbian member center KRIK reported.
In addition to those charges prosecutors had previously accused him of participating in covering up the physical traces of the May 12 murder of Aleksandar Nešović, whose body was discovered stuffed in a barrel that had been buried in the town of Inđija after a week-long search. Prosecutors have now withdrawn those allegations, while the investigator who built the case has been arrested on suspicion of illegally gathering evidence against Milić.
Milić was removed from his post as Belgrade’s police chief, but he currently serves as an Assistant Director of Police.
Initial reports and prosecutorial statements alleged that Milić had lured the victim to a Belgrade restaurant, explicitly told him to leave his security detail behind, and then stayed at the scene after the fatal shooting to delete surveillance footage and coordinate the removal of the body. Milić was arrested, held in 30-day pretrial detention, and stripped of his position as Chief of the Police Administration for the City of Belgrade.
Instead, the indictment now accuses him only of failing to report the murder—despite allegedly being informed about it by the restaurant owner—and falsifying his official police notes. Prosecutors say Milić deliberately omitted crucial information from his report, namely that he knew the suspected shooter, former police officer Saša Vuković, and that he had personally invited both the suspect and the victim to the restaurant that day.
In court, Milić’s defense attorney, Nemanja Vasiljević, argued there is no legal evidence to support the remaining charges and called the proceedings a “relapse of malicious and illegal behavior.”
Vasiljević also highlighted a stunning twist in the case: the original criminal complaint against Milić was filed by the Criminal Police Directorate under the leadership of Marko Kričak. He said Kričak was recently arrested after Milić filed a complaint alleging he had illegally gathered evidence against him.
The defense argues the case should be thrown out due to the alleged abuses by Kričak and other interior ministry officials. The judge scheduled the next hearing for December 17, when Milić is expected to present his full defense.
Meanwhile, the trial against Vuković, the alleged shooter, and his accomplices f is proceeding separately before the Higher Court in Belgrade.
Source: OCCRP · 2026-11-09