The Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime announced that acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasić arrested and detained by the police on suspicion of falsifying the Proposal for making a decision on the termination of the status of cultural property General Staff, after which it is Government of Serbia and made such a decision.
At the proposal of the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, Vasić was detained due to the suspicion that, as the acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, by exceeding his official authority, he falsified the Proposal for the adoption of a decision on the termination of the status of cultural property for the buildings of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense in Belgrade in Kneza Miloša Street, reports RTS.
In mid-April, employees of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments sent a request to the Ministry of Culture and the Government of the Republic of Serbia requesting the removal or resignation of Goran Vasić, the acting director of this institution, due to, as they stated at the time, gross violations of professional ethics and procedures related to the cultural heritage status of the General Staff and Ministry of Defense facilities in Belgrade.
The request for the dismissal of Goran Vasić has 40 signatures, which is two thirds of the employees.
The employees found out about his letter by accident, when they saw it from the hands of Criminal Police officers who visited the RZZSK.
"The document was hidden under a subject related to the solution of the housing issue, which is an obvious attempt to avoid internal control and supervision. This behavior violates institutional integrity and threatens the protection of cultural heritage," the employees warned in their request.
As they told "Vremena" at the time, Vasić sent that letter independently, without the prescribed procedure, that is, without the knowledge of the expert services of the Republic Institute. In addition, his letter does not have the elements that are implied when writing a proposal for a decision, but reminds of a literary composition, and it does not even have the seal of the Ministry of Culture because it was not submitted to the registry office, but was delivered privately.
Also, the acting director, Goran Vasić, is not competent to write the said Proposal, since he has not passed the professional conservatorship exam. He moved from the museological profession, from the position of director of the Kruševac National Museum, to the protection service for the acting director of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments.
He was appointed to the position of acting director of the RZZSK by the Government of Serbia, after the previous director, Dubravka Đukanović, resigned, because she believed that the General Staff should remain a cultural monument.
Goran Vasić, however, believed that the General Staff should be stripped of its protection status.
Vasić is now suspected of having submitted a falsified Proposal for a Decision, made without the participation of experts from the conservation profession of the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, to the Government of Serbia through the relevant Ministry of Culture.
On November 14, 2024, the Government of Serbia, on the basis of Vasić's proposal, issued a Decision on the termination of the status of cultural property for the buildings of the General Staff of the Army of Serbia and Montenegro and the Ministry of Defense in Belgrade.
The Government then asked the Republic Institute to delete the General Staff from the Register of Cultural Property, but the employees refused to do so, explaining that the Government's decision was illegal.
As stated by the Public Prosecutor, Vasić caused damage to the cultural heritage of the Republic of Serbia, which he was obliged to protect, based on the Constitution of Serbia, the Law on Cultural Heritage and the Law on Culture. According to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime, a search was conducted at the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments on May 12, after which Vasić was detained and will be taken to the Public Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime for questioning.
It is not known what will happen if it is proven that Goran Vasić is guilty. The Government should withdraw its decision, i.e. return the status of cultural property to the General Staff. Or will some other way be found to implement the agreement made with Trump's son-in-law about demolishing the General Staff and building a hotel.
