Vujic reports forged pardon in Novi Sad canopy case

The Justice Ministry announced on October 22 that caretaker minister Nenad Vujic has filed a criminal complaint against persons unknown, over suspicion that someone forged a decision pardoning the defendants in the Novi Sad canopy case. The complaint went to the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad and concerns the offense of forging a document. The ministry told the Tanjug news agency that the forged document was then shared on social media.

What does the disputed document say?

According to the ministry, the fake decision carries the number KPRS 244 and the date September 27, 2026, with the purported signature of the then president, Aleksandar Vucic. It would have freed five defendants from criminal prosecution. Four are named: Goran Vesic, Jelena Tanaskovic, Anita Dimoski and Nebojsa Surlan. The sources do not name the fifth.

In its complaint, the ministry says there are grounds to suspect that a person unknown produced the forged document between September 27 and October 22, 2026. The statement reads:

“There are grounds for suspicion that a person unknown, in the period from September 27, 2026 to October 22, 2026, produced, for use, a forged public document, namely a Pardon Decision”

According to that statement, the decision covers all the offenses in the indictment of the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Novi Sad, filed under the reference KTO 112/26. The statement gives September 16, 2025 as the date of the indictment, while N1 reports in a separate article that prosecutors filed it on September 16, 2026.

Why does the ministry say it is a forgery?

Vujic argues that the document is an obvious fake, because its form and content differ from authentic pardon decisions. He gave two specific reasons:

“In particular, it states that the decision was delivered to the public prosecutor’s office rather than the court, even though the indictment has been confirmed. Also, this act does not contain the case number of the court, only that of the prosecution, which it should not, because the authority currently handling that proceeding is the Higher Court in Novi Sad,” Vujic said.

Pardons the public knows nothing about

On September 27, after resigning as president of Serbia, Vucic said he had pardoned 49 people “despite the opinion of various services of the Republic of Serbia.” The names of those pardoned remain unknown to the public.

The indictment the forged decision refers to was brought against 13 people over the collapse of the canopy at the railway station in Novi Sad, which killed 16 people. All defendants were ordered to stay at home, except Vesic and Dimoski. The Supreme Court, to which the Higher Court in Novi Sad sent the case files on October 6, will decide whether the measure will cover them too. Until that decision, the two remain free.