General Staff: lifting of protection and the Selaković trial

Category: Money and deals

Period: from May 2024

Outcome: Indictment filed (as of 16 Oct 2026)

On 14 November 2024, the Government of Serbia stripped the General Staff buildings of their cultural heritage status, half a year after it had signed a deal on the site with a company linked to Jared Kushner's firm Affinity Partners. According to the indictment, the proposal to lift the protection was drawn up without the knowledge or involvement of conservators at the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. The Organised Crime Prosecutor's Office has charged Minister of Culture Nikola Selaković and three others with abuse of office and forgery. The trial has been under way since February 2026, all of them deny guilt, there is no verdict, and Vučić has announced in advance that he will pardon the accused.

Lifting of protection and the Kushner contract

On 14 November 2024 the Government of Serbia revoked the cultural property status of the General Staff buildings on Kneza Miloša Street in Belgrade, acting on a proposal from the Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Half a year earlier, the state had signed a contract with a company linked to Jared Kushner's firm Affinity Partners to build a hotel and residential complex on the site.

The Institute's previous director, Dubravka Đukanović, resigned, saying she had been told to leave if she did not support lifting the protection. According to the indictment, the proposal to lift the protection was drawn up without the knowledge or involvement of the Institute's conservators.

The Ministry of Construction's role

According to BIRN, the Ministry of Construction was the body that formally put to the Government both the "strictly confidential" memorandum of December 2022 and the contract of May 2024, which were signed by Minister Goran Vesić, as well as the designation of the project as one of special importance. It did not seek the Ministry of Culture's opinion on the contract, which provides for the protection to be lifted and the buildings demolished, and it did not obtain the documentation required by regulation for the special-importance designation. The opinion on the memorandum was signed by Culture Minister Maja Gojković without waiting for the Institute.

Minister Aleksandra Sofronijević told police in April 2025 that the ministry had not taken part in drafting the contract and that it could not find a signed copy in Serbian.

Meeting at the Presidency

Dubravka Đukanović told Vreme and N1 in January 2026 that she had also been asked to lift the protection at a meeting at the Presidency on 6 February 2024, which, by her account, Aleksandar Vučić attended in person. In her resignation she had described only a later meeting, on 22 May.

Vučić then said that the General Staff project was his idea, that "everything was clean" and that he had asked for the lex specialis to be passed as soon as possible.

The forged proposal

In May 2025 the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime said that the Institute's acting director, Goran Vasić, had forged the proposal and had confessed to it; Vasić later disputed that this had been a confession. President Aleksandar Vučić claimed there had been no forgery.

Special law and indictment

In November 2025, the National Assembly passed a special law (lex specialis) declaring the protected status of the General Staff building null and void.

On 15 December 2025, the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime filed an indictment against Culture Minister Nikola Selaković, ministry secretary Slavica Jelača, Vasić and the director of the city heritage protection institute, Aleksandar Ivanović, for abuse of office and forging an official document. The same day, Affinity Partners pulled out of the project; Vučić had announced in advance that he would pardon the accused. On 29 October 2026, at her own request, the Government dismissed Jelača as acting secretary of the ministry.

Trial at the Special Court

The trial before the Special Court in Belgrade has been under way since 4 February 2026. All those charged deny guilt, and Selaković has not invoked his immunity. The defence cases were presented by 21 September 2026 and there is no verdict. The hearing on 4 November 2026 was adjourned to 23 November because Vasić, who according to his lawyer is in hospital, did not appear. The prosecutor asked for the proceedings against him to be separated, and according to N1 the panel refused to continue the trial without him.

The same day, the prosecution told N1 that the lifting of protection had been preceded by several meetings, that witnesses who attended them had been questioned, and that work on the case was not finished.

Participants

Nikola Selaković: According to the indictment, on 10 July 2024 he ordered the directors of the heritage institutes to propose lifting the protection of the General Staff building, bypassing their expert services (responsible)
Slavica Jelača: As the ministry's acting secretary, she is charged as a co-perpetrator of abuse of office over the lifting of the General Staff building's protection (responsible)
Goran Vasić: According to the indictment, on the minister's orders he drew up a document with false content without the conservators, who alone are authorised to draft such a proposal (responsible)
Aleksandar Ivanović: According to the indictment, he aided the forgery; he told prosecutors that under pressure from the minister he issued a "proposal" he had no authority to make (responsible)
Aleksandar Vučić: According to Dubravka Đukanović, he attended the meeting at which she was asked to lift the protection; he has announced pardons for the accused (responsible)
Siniša Mali: According to Dubravka Đukanović, he attended the meeting at which she was told to back the lifting of the protection or resign (commented on the case)
Goran Vesić: As construction minister, in May 2024 he signed the contract handing the General Staff site for 99 years to a company linked to Affinity Partners (responsible)
Ana Brnabić: She called the trial "pointless and shameless" (commented on the case)
Dubravka Đukanović: Former director of the Republic Institute; resigned over pressure to back lifting the protection; a witness; a criminal complaint has been filed against her (harmed)
Government of the Republic of Serbia: By a decision of 14 November 2024 it revoked the General Staff building's cultural heritage status, after handing the land to an investor for 99 years in May (responsible)
Affinity Partners: An affiliated company, Affinity Global Development, was granted the General Staff land for 99 years under a contract; in December 2025 it withdrew from the project (responsible)
National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia: On 7 November 2025 it passed a special law declaring null and void the 2005 decision protecting the General Staff as cultural property (responsible)
Republic Geodetic Authority: It struck the cultural-property annotations from the complex's records and rejected 22 appeals by trade unions and professional organisations as “filed by an unauthorised person” (responsible)
Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime: It notified Vasić that he was a suspect, and on 15 December 2025 it filed a summary indictment against four people (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: Since 4 February 2026 it has been trying those indicted; it refused to remand Vasić in custody, and on 4 November 2026 it postponed the trial to 23 November (investigation and courts)
Republic Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments: Staff gathered 40 signatures demanding Vasić's dismissal and called the seizure of documents political pressure (oversight and the public)
Society of Conservators of Serbia: Together with ICOMOS Serbia and Europa Nostra Serbia, it called for Vasić to resign and, if he did not, to be dismissed (oversight and the public)
ICOMOS Serbia National Committee: Together with the Society of Conservators and Europa Nostra Serbia, it called for Vasić's resignation and a review of the acts he signed (oversight and the public)
Europa Nostra Serbia: Together with the Society of Conservators and ICOMOS Serbia, it called for Vasić's resignation and for the General Staff to be returned to the register (oversight and the public)
Aleksandra Sofronijević: She told police that the ministry had no part in drafting the General Staff contract, even though the ministry had proposed it to the Government (commented on the case)
Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure: It allegedly proposed the contract without an opinion from the Ministry of Culture, and the project of special importance without the documentation required by decree (responsible)
Maja Gojković: She allegedly signed a favourable opinion on the General Staff memorandum without waiting for the Institute's opinion that the ministry had requested (responsible)

Victims and others harmed

Estela Radonjić Živkov