# Plainclothes JZO members arrested citizens on the streets of Belgrade

Category: Violence against citizens  
Period: from 4 Jul 2025  
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 23 Aug 2025)  

During the blockades in Belgrade on 4 July 2025, plainclothes men without ID detained citizens on the streets: a clarinet teacher in Stari Grad and a young man near the Church of Saint Sava, who was bundled into an Audi with no number plates. They were allegedly members of the JZO under the command of Marko Kričak, and the media name Nenad Marić, Marko Zafirović and Nenad Obradović. As of November 2026, we had found no report of an investigation into those detentions.

## Detention in Stari Grad

On 4 July 2025, a plainclothes individual detained a clarinet teacher from a Belgrade music school and two other citizens on Palmotićeva Street. He did not identify himself, although citizens and a lawyer asked him to. The lawyer says he led the detained man across the road against a red light. After giving a statement at the police station, the teacher was taken to the Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade.

According to citizens, the reason was a knocked-over rubbish bin, but his colleague says this is not true. He was allegedly arrested by JZO assistant commander Nenad Marić, who refused to identify himself. The Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia demanded his release and an investigation into who abducted him.

## Young man near the Church of Saint Sava

That same afternoon, according to a student at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, three men bundled a young man into an Audi without licence plates near the Church of Saint Sava and drove him away. They did not identify themselves when the people gathered there asked them to. One of them, seen in a photograph from social media, is allegedly Marko Zafirović, then a department head in the JZO.

Zafirović and colleagues from the JZO also allegedly arrested a student who was with a fellow student on Bulevar oslobođenja, using a car with taped-over plates. The sources do not say whether this was the same incident.

## People's Movement of Serbia councillor

The Stari Grad citizens' assembly reported that NPS councillor Mihailo Maletić had also been detained. NPS president Miroslav Aleksić told N1 that he had been arrested by the Security Unit run by Kričak and taken to the police station in Zvezdara, and that the arrests were being carried out by men without badges or insignia, recognisable by their tattoos. We found no official confirmation or outcome.

## The commander and the order

In the first week of July 2025, members of the unit allegedly arrested people on the streets of Belgrade, outside any jurisdiction but following their commander's order. Among the most prominent was allegedly Nenad Obradović, whom a photo shows arresting a lawyer outside the Faculty of Law; the arrests allegedly looked like abductions, carried out in plain clothes, without ID and from cars whose registrations were concealed.

## What followed

In August 2025 it was argued that footage of the unit's members in action, published that summer, should be examined by the Internal Control Sector and the Ombudsman. We found no report of proceedings against the police officers who carried out the detentions.

After Kričak was appointed head of the Criminal Police Directorate in late December 2025, Marić allegedly became his deputy and Zafirović head of the Service for Combating Organised Crime. For the torture in the Government garage and the arrests of JZO members in November 2026, see the Kričak case.

## Participants

- [Unit for the Protection of Certain Persons and Facilities (JZO), Interior Ministry](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/jzo): Its members, in plain clothes and without insignia or ID, allegedly arrested people on the streets of Belgrade in July 2025 (responsible)
- [Marko Kričak](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/marko-kricak): His order allegedly set members of the unit arresting people on the streets, outside their remit (responsible)
- [Nenad Marić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/nenad-maric): Allegedly arrested a clarinet teacher in the street and refused to show his ID (responsible)
- [Marko Zafirović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/marko-zafirovic): Allegedly bundled an activist into an Audi with no number plates near the Church of Saint Sava, and arrested a student on Bulevar Oslobođenja (responsible)
- [Nenad Obradović](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/nenad-obradovic): Allegedly among the JZO members who arrested people on the streets, including a lawyer outside the Faculty of Law (responsible)
- [Miroslav Aleksić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/miroslav-aleksic): Publicly claimed the unit had abducted a councillor from his party and a young man near the church, and called on police officers to resist it (commented on the case)
- [Mihailo Maletić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/mihailo-maletic): Detained on 4 July 2025, according to his party's leader, while walking with people who were blocking intersections (harmed)
- [Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia (NSPRS)](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/nsprs): Demanded the release of its member, a clarinet teacher, and an investigation into who abducted him (oversight and the public)

## Sources

- [N1: Detention in Stari Grad: plain-clothes officer refused to show ID, even though citizens and a lawyer repeatedly demanded it](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/privodjenje-na-starom-gradu-policajac-u-civilu-odbijao-da-se-legitimise-iako-su-gradjani-to-trazili-od-njega/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [Nova.rs: Watch muscle-bound plainclothes police officers arrest „dangerous“ „Mokranjac“ clarinet professor Vladimir Gurbelj and two other citizens](<https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/pogledajte-kako-nabildovani-policajci-u-civilu-hapse-opasnog-profesora-klarineta-iz-mokranjca-vladimira-gurbelja-i-jos-dvojicu-gradjana/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [N1: Independent Union of Education Workers of Serbia demands the clarinet teacher's immediate release](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/nezavisni-sindikat-prosvetnih-radnika-srbije-trazi-da-se-nastavnik-klarineta-hitno-pusti-na-slobodu/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [Nedeljnik: Music school teacher and municipal councillor detained in Stari Grad: plainclothes officer refused to identify himself](<https://www.nedeljnik.rs/privodjenje-na-starom-gradu-policajac-u-civilu-odbijao-da-se-legitimise-iako-su-gradjani-i-advokat-od-njega-to-uporno-trazili/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [Radar: Who's who in the JZO: From criminals to fringe figures](<https://radar.nova.rs/drustvo/ko-je-ko-u-jzo/>): 21 Jul 2025
- [Insajder: Marko Kričak - police commander and businessman](<https://www.insajder.net/teme/marko-kricak-policijski-komandat-i-biznismen>): 23 Aug 2025
- [Nova.rs: Interior Ministry's „blood count“ completely changed: Kričak moves the JZO into the UKP, loyalists take full control of the police, and these are all the new changes](<https://nova.rs/vesti/hronika/potpuno-izmenjena-krvna-slika-mup-kricak-preselio-jzo-u-ukp-vlast-u-policiji-potpuno-preuzeli-lojalisti-a-ovo-su-sve-nove-promene>): 19 Jan 2026
- [N1: Student: Three men bundled a young man into a car with no plates and drove him away](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/studentkinja-trojica-muskaraca-ubacila-mladica-u-auto-bez-tablica-i-odvezli-ga/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [N1: Aleksić: What Legija's unit once did, Marko Kričak's unit does today](<https://n1info.rs/vesti/aleksic-ono-sto-je-nekada-radila-legijina-danas-radi-jedinica-marka-kricka/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [Nova.rs: „We recognised them by their tattoos“: Stari Grad councillor bundled into a „Mercedes“ by a man from Marko Kričak's unit, our children are being arrested on the street by people without badges](<https://nova.rs/vesti/drustvo/prepoznali-smo-ih-po-tetovazama-odbornika-na-starom-gradu-u-mercedes-ubacio-covek-iz-jedinice-marka-kricka-decu-nam-na-ulici-hapse-ljudi-bez-znacke/>): 4 Jul 2025
- [Nova.rs: Purge at the UKP after new chief is appointed: Kričak brings in his crew of loyalists, even transfers secretaries from the JZO](<https://nova.rs/vesti/hronika/cistka-u-ukp-nakon-postavljanja-novog-nacelnika-kricak-dovodi-svoju-ekipu-lojalista-prebacio-i-sekretarice-iz-jzo/>): 13 Jan 2026

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Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/jzo-hapsenja-na-ulicama-jul-2025  
As of: 6 Nov 2026  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)