Serbia arrests police chief over abuse-of-office allegations
Serbian authorities have arrested the head of the country's criminal police directorate, Marko Kricak, on suspicion of abuse of office and dereliction of duty. A second senior officer, Bosko Sekulovic, who heads the police unit responsible for fighting organised crime, was also detained on Sunday. Prosecutors said the case is being handled in Belgrade and insisted it has no connection to the legislative elections held a week earlier.
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Belgrade chief prosecutor Nenad Stefanovic said the two men are suspected of abusing their positions and failing to carry out their duties, causing prejudice and serious harm to the rights of former police chief Veselin Milic. The allegations emerged from an investigation into the killing of a suspected underworld figure at a Belgrade restaurant in May. Milic was arrested days after that killing for failing to report the crime and for helping the perpetrator, and later launched legal action from custody against Kricak and Sekulovic.
According to the prosecutor, Milic accused the two officers of giving prosecutors incomplete and false evidence. Kricak, 42, has been described by student groups as a loyalist of defeated President Aleksandar Vucic, and he had previously been accused by those groups of brutality in the police response to demonstrations. Those protests helped bring down Vucic's ruling right-wing party, and student-backed forces won a historic victory in the snap election on October 25.
The arrests come at a sensitive moment for Serbia's security institutions, which have been under scrutiny during a period of political change. Student groups had last week demanded the removal of Kricak and several other police and intelligence chiefs as part of wider reforms. Prosecutors have not said whether the arrests are linked to those demands, and Stefanovic explicitly rejected any connection to the election result.
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The case also intersects with wider public anger over policing and accountability in Serbia. The allegations are tied to a murder investigation, but they also touch on claims of misconduct inside the police hierarchy and the handling of evidence by senior officials. That makes the case significant beyond the individuals involved, because it raises questions about trust in law enforcement at a time of political transition.
The full evidence against Kricak and Sekulovic has not been made public, and it remains unclear what charges, if any, prosecutors will ultimately bring. It is also not known whether the arrests will lead to further action against other senior police or intelligence figures. What happens next will depend on the outcome of the investigation and any court proceedings that follow.
