Scandals of the Serbian Progressive Party
These are some of the controversies, scandals, and examples of corruption of the leading party in Serbia, which the members of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) have been involved in.
Media Control
Serbia consistently lacks freedom of press and effective journalism.
Newspaper media, both digital and physical, gained a negative reputation in Serbia due to their prominent use of clickbait as well as spreading disinformation. Examples of this include: The front page of Informer claiming Ukraine started the Russian invasion of Ukraine by attacking Russia, or claiming Aleksandar Vučić received multiple death threats, when no such threats have been made. These tabloids are also known for regularly breaching the journalism code of ethics in other ways.
This also applies to TV channels. In Serbia, five channels are supposed to have a national frequency.[1] Of those five, four are exclusively pro-government, while the one remaining spot has been illegally kept without a channel since November 2022.[2]
The Media Regulatory Body of Serbia (REM) doesn't punish the violation of its own rules, as the TV channels that hold a national frequency do not follow the programming regulations established by REM,[3][4] while independent TV channels like Nova S and N1 are denied a national frequency despite following all rules and regulations.[2]
This caused a scandal in December 2022, when Nova S and N1 shut down their programmes for two days.[5]
One of the many infamous channels supported by the Serbian government is Pink TV, owned by Željko Mitrović, CEO and founder of the Pink Media Group. In June 2018, his son committed a hit-and-run, leading to the death of a 17-year-old girl. Željko's son was put under only 11 months of house arrest following the incident, which he has publicly violated by traveling to Florence and received no additional punishment for.[6] Pink TV is known for its pro-government programming, including "Novo Jutro" and "Hit Tvit". Pink TV received backlash during the Protests Against Violence due to its inaccurate reporting on the event. The channel spread false information, such as spreading falsified footage to downplay the size of the protest and labeling the participants as "drunkards" and "drug addicts".
Another infamous TV channel supported by the Serbian government is Happy TV, owned by Predrag "Peconi" Ranković. Happy TV has gained notoriety in Serbia because of its pro-government programming, such as "Ćirilica" and "Jutarnji program".
Not a lot is publicly known about Peconi and Mitrović, though a former assistant of Aleksandar Vučić and an active journalist, Predrag Popović, has accused them of being involved with multiple clans of the Serbian mafia, as well as with every government since Milošević's regime, which allowed them to stay in business. Peconi and Mitrović are some of the richest people in Serbia, with Mitrović reportedly receiving €100 million of the country's funds.[7][8]
Many of these issues have arisen over the last four years, ever since Telekom Srbija, a government-owned joint-stock company, took out a loan of €600 million and bought up many independent TV stations.[9][10]
Between 2022 and 2023, the president Aleksandar Vučić was present on national television programmes 300 separate times.[11]
Involvement With Criminal Organizations
Since 2021, the President Aleksandar Vučić and his relatives, most notably his son Danilo Vučić, have faced serious allegations of being involved with Serbian mafia, football hooligans, and other criminal groups.
Following the crackdown and arrest of Belivuk's clan in February 2021, Veljko Belivuk and his mafia members vehemently claimed that a lot of the actions of the clan were carried out on the request of the president. This was their main defence in court.[12]
Veljko claimed the president paid them to commit various violent acts, from intimidating political opponents to suppressing derogatory chants targeted at the president and suppressing unwanted protests.[12]
Given the bad reputation Veljko Belivuk and his clan got, mostly due to their extremely gruesome killings connected to the "house of horrors" in Belgrade's suburban neighborhood of Ritopek, these allegations took a heavy toll on the president's reputation.
Many independent news outlets connected the sudden crackdown on the clan with the fact that just two months prior, on New Year's Eve, the president's son got in a bar fight with Veljko. Before the bar fight the two of them were seemingly on good terms.[13]
Football hooligans were a massive part of the Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, hence Aleksandar Vučić has seemingly tried to put them in a position where they wouldn't protest against him. This was achieved through Belivuk who had a large influence in Partizan's ultras "Grobari". In court he claimed he isn't a mafia member but merely an "ultras leader". In Crvena Zvezda's case, control was established through the director, Zvezdan Terzić, who is an international criminal, as per Interpol.[14][expl 1] He was arrested in 2010, and spent about 7 months in custody when in 2011 he posted a surety of €1 million. Despite still waiting to be prosecuted, in 2014 he became the general director of Zvezda, though the court case would never arrive as it got repeatedly delayed through the 2010s.[15]
Another seeming connection to organized crime was during the 2021-2022 Environmental protests, when masked men approached the crowd in cars with tinted windows. They physically attacked peaceful protestors with hammers. This escalation was defended by the president; he claimed it "wasn't that bad [...] because they used rubber hammers, not regular ones".[16]
Minor Controversies
These are controversies in which there's at most a minor loss of country funds, as well as technically legal actions which were unpopular among the general public.
Fake Diplomas
Many SNS members and high-ranking officials of Serbia have been accused of buying/faking their university degrees.[17] The most notorious of these accusations involved Siniša Mali whose PhD was withdrawn by the senate of the University of Belgrade for plagiarizing over half of his doctorate.[18]
The Zlatibor Gift
In 2015 a large plot of land in Zlatibor was gifted to a privately owned company by the Ministry of Construction. The estimated value of the land is over €4 billion.[19] This caused backlash from the general public, as people found this to be giving up €4 billion that could've gone to other projects.
Holiday Lighting in Belgrade
Between 2014 and 2017, the city of Belgrade appointed holiday decoration manufacturer KeepLight to install holiday decorations throughout the city. In three years, the decoration costs amassed around €4 million, along with the Christmas tree which cost the city €83 thousand.[20][21]
The Slavija Fountain
The Slavija Square fountain cost the city of Belgrade €1.8 million, €300,000 more than the largest fountain in Europe, despite being considerably smaller and having fewer features in comparison. It is heavily suspected that this was in some way money laundering.[22]
Aunt from Canada
In 2012, Aleksandar Vulin bought a 107 m² apartment in the center of Belgrade which cost him €205,000. This caught the attention of the Anti-corruption department and three different judges in 2017. He claimed that he borrowed the money from his aunt in Canada, and that he brought the money in €9,000 at a time by flying back and forth. This would've required him to fly to Canada and back 23 times, which he provided no proof of doing.[23]
All charges were subsequently dropped.
Belgrade Waterfront
Contrary to the development plan of Belgrade, a large plot of land was given for 99 years to a private company from the UAE in 2014. Since then, a large project, Belgrade Waterfront, has started construction on that plot of land.[24][25]
The general public strongly opposed this move, both because it went against the general development plan of Belgrade and because the Belgrade Waterfront project led to the demolition of Savamala.
Bot List
In July 2023, a list of people spreading a pro-government narrative for financial gain was published on social media. This list included their full legal names, their social media accounts, and the municipalities they reside in. About 14,000 people were on the list. These people were quickly named "SNS bots" by other social media users due to their repeating, seemingly scripted, talking points.[26]
Aflatoxin
In 2013, high levels of aflatoxin were found in Serbian milk. The legal amount at the time was 0.005 µg/l, while the newly recorded levels were exceeding 0.05 µg/l. The then Minister of Agriculture Goran Knežević asserted that the milk was safe to drink on national television, and the legal limit was promptly increased to 0.05 µg/l. Despite that, the amount of aflatoxin in milk kept increasing, hitting a high of 1.2 µg/l, after which the minister and some of his assistants in the Ministry of Agriculture were removed from their positions. The projected damage from this incident is about €100 million.[27] [28]
The Helicopter Incident
On the 13th of March 2015, a five-day-old infant in Novi Pazar needed urgent care. A helicopter was sent to help the baby, despite insufficient weather conditions for takeoff and landing. These decisions were direct orders from the Minister of Defence Bratislav Gašić and the Minister of Health Zlatibor Lončar.
An army pilot Omer Mehić was assigned as the pilot for the operation. He was reportedly unhappy with the idea as he too thought the weather conditions were inadequate.
The helicopter got to the infant's location despite bad weather; however, on the way back, the Minister of Defence directly made a request for the pilot to land at the Nikola Tesla airport, which was farther away. The pilot first suggested alternative landing options, but after they were all turned down by Gašić, the pilot obliged, and during the flight to the airport, the helicopter crashed due to the extreme weather, killing the infant, the pilot, copilot, and five other crew members.[29][30]
The then Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić refused to remove the two ministers from their positions. Both Lončar and Gašić had legal processes started against them, but the court ultimately ruled in their favour.[31]
The Demolition of Savamala
On the 24th of April 2016, at about 2 a.m., a crowd of masked men, some of whom were driving bulldozers, drove into the Hercegovačka street of Savamala. They bulldozed homes and other private property, while the bystanders were tied down and their phones were stolen.
Most footage from the incident was lost because all of the CCTV systems in the area stopped functioning shortly after the bulldozing started; it was also reported that, for a brief moment, street lighting was turned off as well.[32]
The police refused to answer calls and investigated ten days later, but the investigation was cut short because city officials already removed the debris. As such, nobody was ever arrested or prosecuted.[33]
It was heavily suspected by the general public that the city administration had something to do with this incident, which seven years later, the president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić confirmed by stating: "[...] I ordered the demolition of Savamala." on national television.[34]
Jovanjica
In 2019, a police inspector discovered 650 kg of marijuana plants, about 1000 kg of dried marijuana, and a marijuana processing setup at the Jovanjica farm near Stara Pazova.
The owner of the farm, Predrag Koluvija, was arrested and is being prosecuted. He was involved with the president's brother, Andrej Vučić, whom he contacted as soon as the discovery of marijuana became public news. His farm received €3.9 million in loans from the country of Serbia.[35]
Aleksandar Vučić argued Koluvija shouldn't get a harsh sentence, as he was "only working with marijuana [...] he didn't murder anybody, nor did he have 10 tons of cocaine", and that the government funded Koluvija's farm because of tomato production.[36]
The inspector who discovered the marijuana on the farm was taken into custody. He later made a public statement saying that the president and his family had nothing to do with Jovanjica. For months to come, the Ministry of Internal Affairs tried to fire him, but they were met by fierce opposition from the public.[37][38]
Krušik
In 2015, a whistleblower from a state-owned enterprise Krušik made a public statement saying that the state-owned company is intentionally selling its products to multiple privately owned companies at a loss.[39]
The privately owned company that profited from this the most was GIM, which is owned by the father of the former Minister of Police Nebojša Stefanović. GIM earned about €14 million from this incident.[40][41]
The whistleblower, Aleksandar Obradović, was promptly arrested and is currently being prosecuted.[42]
The Obrenovac floods
In 2014, the urban neighborhood of Belgrade Obrenovac was facing severe floods.
In a now deleted post, the Mayor of Belgrade Siniša Mali addressed the citizens and told them to stay inside. The emergency services response was heavily delayed while high-ranking officials held press conferences.[43] [44]
Officially, 17 people died due to the floods, although it is heavily suspected that the number is way larger as some of the deaths got classified as "death due to natural cause".
On 3 May 2023, a school shooting occurred in the Vladislav Ribnikar Elementary School in Belgrade. A day later, another mass shooting occurred in Mladenovac. The leading party was heavily criticized for their poor handling of both situations, and for their response to the protests that followed.
In the case of the Belgrade school shooting, people criticized the police's decision to publish the full name of the shooter, as well as his face and the plans he drew. This caused an uproar among children mimicking his actions, writing "kill lists", and threatening to shoot up schools.[45]
The former Minister of Education was forced to resign after he made a remark saying that the school shooting was a result of "western influence" and videogames. Teachers in Belgrade organized a strike, requesting his resignation, which he fulfilled three days later.[46]
In the case of the Mladenovac shooting, people criticized the slow and inadequate reaction of the police force. It took the police several hours and reinforcements in the form of the Special Anti-terrorist Unit and the Gendarmery to track down a single shooter.[47]
Following these two incidents, mass protests took place every week. The ruling party publicly made fun of the protests, claiming they were inflating the number of people that attended those protests by altering images from the protests. The most known instance of this was when the Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić, tweeted, "There's a lot more of us this time around, soon we'll go to Gazela". With this tweet, she posted a picture of her with the President, Aleksandar Vučić and the Minister of Finance, Siniša Mali, which has been altered to include 3 copies of each person in the picture.
This tweet provoked massive backlash and subsequently increased the number of people attending the protests.
On May 26, the President, Aleksandar Vučić, organized a political rally branded as the "largest counter meeting ever". The rally was met with extreme disapproval of the general public as information surfaced revealing that many people that attended the rally were blackmailed or pressured into attending.[48]
Rio Tinto
In 2017, Rio Tinto was given permission to start expropriating the mineral Jadarite in the Jadar Valley. The project was set to start sometime in 2023.
In the 2020 parliamentary elections, SNS won a supermajority in the National Assembly, and passed a modification to the referendum law and the law on expropriation such that the major expropriation project involving Rio Tinto required no confirmation through referendum.
The general public firmly opposed this move which sparked the start of the 2021-2022 Environmental protests, and despite saying the project will not be canceled, the President Aleksandar Vučić officially canceled the project after protests escalated in early 2022.[49]
COVID-19 Pandemic
Slightly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Serbia, a former pulmonologist Branimir Nestorović was brought onto national television to inform the public about the pandemic, where he called it "the funniest virus ever" and told people to "go shopping in Milan", while Italy was going through a massive COVID-19 crisis.[50]
The government was met with further criticism as the people felt that the emergency medical board, which was assembled to deal with the pandemic, was inadequate and that most decisions were still made by the president.
In the middle of 2020, the government was about to extend the curfew, which was introduced two months prior. This sparked the beginning of the 2020-2022 Curfew Protests.
These protests were accusing the president of having authoritarian control of the country, and were demanding more technical solutions to the pandemic.
Police brutality marked the protests; 80 people were injured, and over 200 were arrested. To this day, nobody has been found responsible for blatant police brutality during the protests.[51]
The government also falsely decreased the number of deaths during the pandemic, so the 2020 parliamentary elections could be held, where SNS won a supermajority.[52]
Electoral fraud
SNS was accused of buying votes, blackmail and other forms of electoral fraud by CRTA, a body that reviewed the 2020 and 2022 elections.[53][54]
These events were present both in the 2020 Parliamentary election and the 2022 General election.
References
- ↑ "The electronic media law" on paragraf.rs
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Živanović, Katarina (2022-11-29). "I dalje bez naznaka kad će se dodeliti peta frekvencija". Danas. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ Mihajlović, Danka (2019-07-04). "Ni sekunda kulture: Nacionalne televizije ne ispunjavaju programske obaveze za koje su dobile dozvole". UNS. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ Kojić, Nikola (2023-07-18). "REM: Nijedna nacionalna TV nema sve sadržaje zbog kojih je dobila frekvenciju". N1. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Medijski mrak u Srbiji". N1. Belgrade. 2022-12-06. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ Ljubičić, Milica (2020-10-06). "Sinu Željka Mitrovića na ponovljenom suđenju 11 meseci kućnog zatvora". KRIK. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ "Peconi; Najbogatiji Srbin se još uvek potpisuje palcem.", Predrag Popović - Blog (2018-05-17)
- ↑ Predrag, Popović (2019-04-18). "Vučićevi mediji iz septičke jame". Tabloid. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Čolić, Nina (2019-01-15). "Telekom potrošio 310 miliona evra na kupovinu kablovskih operatera". Danas. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ Radojević, Vesna (2018-11-06). "Telekom kupio Kopernikus za 195 miliona evra". KRIK. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ "CRTA: Za 365 dana Vučić imao 300 direktnih obraćanja na televiziji". Al Jazeera Balkans. Belgrade. 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Belivukov iskaz: Vučić mi je tražio razne usluge". KRIK. Belgrade. 2021-07-22.
- ↑ "Tuča Velje Nevolje i Danila Vučića". Naša Borba. 2021-02-12.
- ↑ "Zvezdan Terzić na poternici Interpola". RTS. Belgrade. 2008-06-22.
- ↑ "Ko štiti Zvezdana Terzića". Glas Javnosti. 2020-05-15. Archived from the original on 2020-05-16. Retrieved 2023-07-27. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Mirković, Milena (2021-11-30). "Vučić na pitanje Nove o nasilju na blokadi: To su bili gumeni čekići". Nova. Belgrade.
- ↑ "Proverite validnost diploma četiri aktuelna ministra". Nedeljnik. Belgrade. 2019-11-24. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ "Senat Beogradskog Univerziteta doneo odluku o poništavanju doktorata Siniše Malog". Insajder. Belgrade. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ "Država oštećena za četiri milijarde evra". Danas. Belgrade. 2019-11-24. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Đurić, Snežana (2017-12-21). "Ovako izgleda jelka u centru Beograda od €83.000!". Kurir. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ↑ "4 Miliona evra na nameštenim tenderima za novogodišnju rasvetu", Crna knjiga SNS-a (2018), referencing N1
- ↑ Pronić, Jelena (2018-06-18). "Spiskani milioni, fontana na Slaviji skuplja od najskuplje". Kurir. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-12.
- ↑ Pavlović, Bojana (2018-06-10). "Hronologija slučaja tetka iz Kanade". KRIK. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ↑ "Ekspropriaciju objekata i zemljišta na Beogradu na vodi država platila 50 miliona evra Kanade". Insajder. Belgrade. 2019-07-17. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ↑ Radojević, Vesna (2018-07-18). ""Beograd na vodi" u medijskim lažima". KRIK. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ↑ Diković, Jelena (2023-07-11). "Procurila imena iz Vučićeve internet brigade". Danas. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-16.
- ↑ "Vlada Srbije "rešila" aferu mleko". B92. Belgrade. 2013-02-28. Retrieved 2023-07-13.
- ↑ "Ministar odlazi, aflatoksin M1 ostaje?". Vreme. Belgrade. 2013-02-21. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Slučaj helikopter: Pitanja bez odgovora". Insajder. Belgrade. 2016-07-01. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Galović, Milan (2015-03-15). "Pad helikoptera - Činjenice i sumnje". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Nema krivicne odgovornosti za pad helikoptera". Al Jazeera. Belgrade. 2016-06-30. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Izveštaj o Savamali". KRIK. Belgrade. 2017-10-02. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Vuković, A. (2016-04-29). "Ne zna se ko je rušio u Savamali". Politika. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Vučić rekao da je on naredio rusenje u Savamali". Al Jazeera. Belgrade. 2023-04-24. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Slučaj Jovanjica - Afera čiji se kraj ne nazire". Insajder. Belgrade. 2020-01-05. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Vučić u odbrani Koluvije". 021. 2021-10-02. Retrieved 2023-07-28.
- ↑ "Pozadina hajke na policijskog inspektora koji je otkrio Jovanjicu". Danas. Belgrade. 2022-07-05. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Zorić, Jelena (2022-07-14). "Policajac na nišanu države". Vreme. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Sporno poslovanje Krušik-GIM", Insajder (YouTube) (2020)
- ↑ "Afera Krušik: Bivši direktor bogatiji za milion evra". BIRN. Belgrade. 2019-10-24. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "GIM zakinuo Krušik za 16,4 miliona evra". Nova. Belgrade. 2020-02-27. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Proces protiv Obradovića pratiće međunarodni posmatrači". Cenzolovka. Belgrade. 2020-01-29. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Poslanička pitanja o poplavama". Vreme. Belgrade. 2014-06-01. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Stojanović, Milica (2015-05-14). "Ni posle godinu dana država ne zna šta se dogodilo u Obrenovcu". CINS. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ The police chief's address to the nation after the Vladislav Ribnikar school shooting[permanent dead link], which was controversial as the police revealed confidential info about the shooter.
- ↑ Latković, Nataša (2023-05-22). "Gde se zagubila Ružićeva ostavka?". Nova. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Pucnjava kod Mladenovca". N1. Belgrade. 2023-05-04. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Naprednjaci jure ljude po parkovima nudeći im novac da dođu na SNS miting: Skup će morati da uveličaju i upravnici i čuvari u zatvorima". Danas. Belgrade. 2023-05-25. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ {cite news |last=Anđelković |first=Nataša |date=2021-01-21 |title=Jadarit, Rio Tinto i životna sredina: Šta treba da znate o nalazištu litijuma u Srbiji |URL=https://www.bbc.com/serbian/lat/srbija-55646178 |work=BBC |location=Belgrade |access-date=2023-07-18 }
- ↑ A tweet with a video of Dr. Nestorović calling COVID-19 "the funniest virus ever [...] that only exists on Facebook".
- ↑ Andrić, Grujica (2021-06-07). "Srbija i julski protesti - godinu dana kasnije". BBC. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ Jovanović, Natalija (2020-06-22). "Korona: Broj umrlih i zaraženih višestruko veći od zvanično saopštenog". BIRN. Belgrade. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
- ↑ "Završni izveštaj o izborima 2022", (PDF) Report on the general elections by CRTA. Pages 100-109.
- ↑ "Završni izveštaj o izborima 2020", (PDF) Report on the parliamentary elections by CRTA. Pages 100-109.
- ↑ Terzić was wanted by Interpol and Serbian police for malfeasance.
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