The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Nis refused to provide the public with information about the allegations that the police refused to act on his order to arrest the mayor Explore Aleksandar Milikić and several other local officials, with the explanation that the publication of those data could jeopardize the pre-investigation procedure.
As reported by Danas, journalists asked the prosecutor's office to confirm whether a warrant was issued for the arrest of Milikić and other suspects at the beginning of December last year due to alleged abuse of official position and obtaining financial benefits. Instead of an answer, the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš received a notification that the requested information could not be provided because it could disrupt or jeopardize the course of the proceedings.
The Prosecution, however, thereby indirectly confirmed that the pre-investigation procedure is being conducted.
It was not specified whether there really was an arrest warrant, nor whether the police eventually refused to execute it.
Arrest warrants for other city officials
According to earlier media reports, apart from Milikić, other local officials are also mentioned in the same case, including the head of the city administration and representatives of sports organizations, due to the suspicion that they have obtained illegal financial benefits of more than one and a half million dinars by abusing their positions.
The refusal to provide details to the public has sparked political backlash. The President of the Party of Freedom and Justice, Dragan Đilas, assessed that the possible failure of the police to act on the order of the prosecution would represent a "classic coup d'état", claiming that it would mean the collapse of the basic principles of the separation of powers and the rule of law.
Let us remind you that the police are obliged to act according to the orders of the competent prosecutor's office in pre-investigation and investigative proceedings, and that, if it were shown that such an order existed, but it was not acted upon, the question of institutional responsibility and the relationship between the prosecuting authority and the executive would open up.
For now, however, the public remains without an answer to the key question - was the arrest warrant for the mayor of Bor really issued and, if so, why was it not implemented?
Source: Today
