The Belivuk group and its ties to the state

Category: Above the law

Period: from 4 Feb 2021

Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković, leaders of the Partizan fan group Principi, were arrested on 4 February 2021 along with more than 15 associates on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and drug and arms trafficking. Belivuk claims that President Aleksandar Vučić and other officials sought favours from the group, which Vučić and Aleksandar Vulin deny. Of the nine cases, two have ended with the conviction of police officers who helped the group. The main trial of the group is still under way, and Vučić pardoned former Interior Ministry state secretary Dijana Hrkalović during her retrial, releasing her from prosecution.

The group and the house in Ritopek

Veljko Belivuk and Marko Miljković were arrested along with more than 15 associates on suspicion of murder, kidnapping and drug and arms trafficking. According to the indictment, a house in Ritopek had a hidden room where victims were tortured and killed.

The main trial of the group, on an indictment covering seven murders, is still under way, as are money laundering proceedings. Belivuk and Miljković were acquitted with final effect of the 2017 murder of Vlastimir Milošević.

Police officers who helped the group

The same pattern runs through the proceedings against police officers and Interior Ministry officials charged with helping the group. Former SBPOK organised crime police inspector Božidar Stolić was convicted in a retrial in 2024, and former SBPOK deputy chief Goran Papić in 2022, both for helping the group and both in rulings that are not final.

Two police officers have been charged with concealing a pistol and money during a search.

Hrkalović and the pardon

The Court of Appeal in Belgrade overturned the first conviction of Dijana Hrkalović, a former state secretary at the Interior Ministry. During her retrial, Aleksandar Vučić pardoned her and released her from prosecution for influence peddling, the Higher Court in Belgrade announced on 2 November 2026.

Claims about Vučić and Vulin

Belivuk claims that President Aleksandar Vučić and other officials asked the group for favours, among them controlling Partizan fans and stopping protests. Vučić and then police minister Aleksandar Vulin denied this, and the Organised Crime Prosecutor's Office shelved the complaints against the two of them. In November 2026, the Student List called on prosecutors to investigate the allegations of Vučić's links to the groups of Darko Šarić and Belivuk and to open proceedings.

Belivuk's statement about the demolition in Savamala is covered in the affair “The Savamala case: demolition in Hercegovačka Street”.

Uninvestigated ties to the state

The investigation into the group's training at a military shooting range was dropped in 2018 because the evidence had disappeared. KRIK and Vreme say the prosecution did not look into the group's deeper ties to the police and politics.

According to Vreme, the group worked with the Montenegrin Kavač clan and its leader Radoje Zvicer, and the media described Belivuk as an alleged member of that clan. In Serbia, Zvicer has been convicted in absentia only over a false identity card and passport, by the Higher Court in Novi Sad.

Papić, “Inex” and money for football fans

Eduardo Lo Jakono, owner of the "Inex" venue on Republic Square, claims that businessman and SNS member Aleksandar Papić organised the seizure of his venue through Belivuk and Miljković. Papić denies this.

At the trial, indicted members of the group claimed that Papić brought money to the Partizan stadium so that the fans would not chant against the authorities, and that the money came from the SNS; Papić says he does not know the indicted men. The proceedings over the venue are being conducted against Belivuk and Miljković, not against him.

Participants

Serbian Progressive Party: In 2021 one of its MPs called on Vučić to name Belivuk's associates, saying the group could not have operated without support from within SNS (commented on the case)
Veljko Belivuk: According to the indictment, he is charged, together with the group he led, with seven murders, drug and arms trafficking and rape; he denies everything (responsible)
Marko Miljković: According to the indictment, he is charged along with Belivuk's group with seven murders and drug and arms trafficking, and separately with money laundering (responsible)
Dijana Hrkalović: According to the indictment, she pressured the Novi Sad police chief into opening a sham operational case against Darko Elez (responsible)
Božidar Stolić: As an inspector with the organised crime police unit SBPOK, he leaked confidential information from the investigation into the group to one of its associates in exchange for money; he was convicted for this (responsible)
Goran Papić: As deputy head of the organised crime police unit SBPOK, he ordered in 2020 that an armoured car be returned to Miljković without a full check; he was convicted (responsible)
Dejan Milenković: According to the indictment, on Hrkalović's orders he sought the deletion of part of a wiretapped conversation and of the material from operation “Kroše”; he denies this (responsible)
Milorad Šušnjić: According to the indictment, Hrkalović pressured him, as head of the Novi Sad Police Department, into using a sham operational case to block oversight by other Interior Ministry units (responsible)
Aleksandar Vučić: In 2021 he said he had never met Belivuk's group and that, if anyone could prove otherwise, he was willing to go behind bars „for life“ (responsible)
Aleksandar Vulin: According to the statements Belivuk and Miljković gave to prosecutors, he too asked the group for favours, alongside Vučić; he denies it, and the complaint was shelved (responsible)
Darko Glišić: According to Vreme, Belivuk named him in his statement as a longtime friend and the group's direct link to Vučić; he denies it (responsible)
Novak Nedić: Allegedly proposed BIA officer Colić in 2014 as the fans' representative in the Partizan Assembly, at the time of the Belivuk group (responsible)
Nebojša Stefanović: According to Hrkalović's defence, she kept him informed of the prosecution's requests to speed up the forensic report on Belivuk's phone (responsible)
Vladimir Đukanović: In an open letter, he called on Vučić to name the people who had worked with Belivuk, saying the group must have had support from within SNS (oversight and the public)
Miloš Vučević: As Vučić had announced, he filed a criminal complaint against Vučić over allegations of links to Belivuk's group (oversight and the public)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: His police officers and officials have been convicted or charged over leaking information to the group, influence peddling and covering up what was found in a search (responsible)
Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime: It allegedly charged Interior Ministry officials only over sporadic, minor cases, leaving out the group's ties to the state (responsible)
First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: It charged two SBPOK officers with covering up a pistol and money while searching the flat of a Belivuk associate (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: It confirmed the indictments against the group, convicted Papić and Stolić in non-final rulings and Hrkalović at first instance, and announced her pardon; it is trying the group (investigation and courts)
Court of Appeal in Belgrade: It overturned the first-instance verdict against Hrkalović and Milenković and sent the case back for retrial; it increased Šušnjić's sentence to four years (investigation and courts)
KRIK: It wrote that Belivuk had been in contact with Hrkalović; in 2022 it concluded that the group's ties within the police and the state had not been investigated (oversight and the public)
Milenko Mandić: Leads the prosecution in the retrial of Hrkalović and Milenković; Milenković sought his recusal (investigation and courts)
Nataša Krivokapić: According to Milenković's defence, she kept pressing for the forensic report on Belivuk's phone until she was told to call the minister (investigation and courts)
Goran Colić: According to NIN, while a BIA member he represented the fans in the Partizan Assembly at a time when Belivuk's group ran the stands (responsible)
Aleksandar Papić: Allegedly hired Belivuk and Miljković to take over the “Inex” venue and paid them; denies they worked together (responsible)
Student List – Students Are Winning: Called on prosecutors to examine allegations of Vučić's links to the Šarić and Belivuk groups and to open proceedings (oversight and the public)