Dacic: Milic Keeps His Post at Serbian Police Directorate

Caretaker Interior Minister Ivica Dacic confirmed on October 4 that Veselin Milic, who has been charged in connection with the killing at the “27” restaurant in Senjak, still holds a post in the top ranks of the Police Directorate. His employment status, Dacic said, cannot be changed until the criminal proceedings end. He spoke in response to reporters’ questions in Palilula, after a World War II bomb was destroyed.

What did Dacic say about Milic’s post?

Milic is the former chief of the Belgrade Police Department. Dacic maintains that this was never his actual post: he was an assistant police director, temporarily appointed by the minister’s decision to run the Belgrade department. Dacic says he relieved him of that command, but that the post Milic holds remained unchanged.

Sources differ on what that post is called. Insajder and Danas report that Milic was returned to the position of assistant police director, while N1 and Nedeljnik say he is still deputy police director. In Dacic’s own words, the title is “assistant director.”

Speaking to Insajder, the minister said:

“His post was not chief of the Belgrade Police Department. He was an assistant director who was temporarily appointed by the minister’s decision to run the Belgrade Police Department. I relieved him of that, but his post for now is what it is.”

Insajder reports in the same piece that Milic has returned to work at the Interior Ministry (MUP). In Palilula, Dacic added that the ministry does not control his employment status:

“Those are not functions that exist under the laws that exist. It is known exactly how this is regulated. So it is not within the competence of the Interior Ministry, but of those in the Police Directorate who deal with employment status. That employment status cannot be changed until these proceedings are over.”

According to Dacic, the Police Directorate decides on the status, and the Interior Ministry has no say in it.

Why is Milic no longer suspended from work?

Dacic says assistant police director is a job, not a public function, and that Milic could be suspended from it only while the measures providing for suspension were in force. The minister explained to Insajder:

“While those grounds were in force, he was suspended. When he was released from detention, those legal grounds ceased. And suspension from the job is not provided for the offense he is charged with.”

Milic was arrested on May 15, 2026, and was held in detention until July 6, when he was released to defend himself while free. At the time of his arrest he was chief of the Belgrade Police Department, and he was removed from that post soon afterward.

What is Milic charged with, and when does the trial begin?

Milic is charged with two offenses: failing to report a crime and its perpetrator, and forging an official document. The indictment concerns the killing at the “27” restaurant in Senjak. According to the indictment as reported by N1, restaurant owner Nenad L. called Milic after 11 p.m. on May 12 to report, as a police officer he knew personally, that a man had been killed in the restaurant, and Milic reported it to no one. He is also accused of entering false information into an official note on May 13, in the official premises of the Office of the Chief of the Belgrade Police Department, including that he met the defendant Saso V. at the restaurant by chance, even though he had personally called him to come.

The Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office filed the charging motion. The Higher Court in Belgrade then declared itself not competent and sent the case file to the First Basic Court in Belgrade, and the First Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office agreed to represent the charging motion. The trial is scheduled to start on November 9 at the First Basic Court.

According to earlier statements by the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office, Milic was initially suspected of aiding a perpetrator after the fact. The prosecution then stated that Milic and members of his security detail left the restaurant before the victim arrived, after which the charge was reclassified.

Milic’s lawyers filed a criminal complaint at the end of July against Marko Kricak, chief of the Criminal Police Directorate, and Bosko Sekulovic, head of the Organized Crime Unit, for abuse of office. According to the lawyers’ statement, Kricak and Sekulovic did not give the competent prosecutor’s office evidence “from which it was clearly and unambiguously evident that the facts stated in the criminal complaint against Veselin Milic are not true.”

Until a verdict, Milic is presumed innocent, and the proceedings before the First Basic Court are only beginning.