The persecution of police officer Katarina Petrović

Category: Persecution

Period: from 6 Mar 2023

Outcome: No one investigated (as of 26 Mar 2026)

In 2023, Katarina Petrović, a police major from Valjevo, passed to MP Marinika Tepić a police report on a crash caused in a McLaren by Nikola Petrović, best man to President Vučić, which states that he had alcohol in his blood and tested positive for cocaine. She was arrested and charged with disclosing classified information, but was acquitted with final effect because the information was not classified, while the proceedings against Nikola Petrović fell under the statute of limitations. The Valjevo Police Administration filed around ten disciplinary complaints against her, and in March 2026 it suspended her again.

The report on the Dedinje crash

In June 2023, Katarina Petrović passed to MP Marinika Tepić a police report on a traffic accident caused in a McLaren in Dedinje on 6 March 2023 by Nikola Petrović, former director of Elektromreža Srbije and best man to President Vučić.

The report Tepić published states that Petrović had 0.41 per mille of alcohol in his blood and tested positive for cocaine; two women in the other car suffered minor injuries.

Arrest and acquittals

Katarina Petrović was suspended and, on 3 July 2023, arrested on the order of the Interior Ministry's Internal Control Sector. She spent several days in custody. The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade filed a charge against her for disclosing classified information and proposed a seven-month suspended sentence.

The Higher Court in Valjevo acquitted her twice, and on 30 September 2024 the Court of Appeal ruled in a final judgment that the information had not been classified.

Case against the best man time-barred

The prosecution downgraded the case against Nikola Petrović from a criminal to a misdemeanour case; the first-instance fine of 10,000 dinars was overturned, and the statute of limitations then ran out.

Suspension and disciplinary complaints

Despite a final acquittal, the Valjevo Police Department kept Katarina Petrović suspended for more than two years, on half pay, and while she was suspended it filed about ten disciplinary complaints against her over her public statements.

In May 2025 she was punished with a 30 per cent pay cut for three months, and in July 2025 she was returned to work.

A new suspension

In March 2026, after the launch of her book „Na putu ka slobodi“ (On the Road to Freedom), Katarina Petrović was suspended again on the orders of Valjevo Police Administration chief Vlada Jerinić. She says she will not resign.

In November 2026 Jerinić was relieved of his post as chief, at his own request according to a statement from the Interior Ministry, and reassigned to the information technology sector, after calls for his resignation over the beating of citizens in Valjevo.

Husband stripped of his rank

Her husband, a traffic police officer in Valjevo, posted a cartoon on his private Facebook account in November 2024 showing a police officer leaving bloody boot prints behind him. At the initiative of Traffic Police chief Predrag Radosavljević, proceedings were allegedly launched by Dejan Ostojić, and in August 2026 his disciplinary superior Mirjana Milovanović imposed the penalty of loss of rank; in October the Interior Ministry disciplinary commission rejected his appeal.

In his appeal he states that the decision is retaliation for his being Katarina's husband, and that almost all the officers who testified against him are suspects in a case brought by the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime over the beating of citizens in Valjevo. After the elections, the Sloga police union called for all penalties against both of them to be annulled.

Participants

Valjevo Police Department: Over her public statements, it filed around ten disciplinary complaints against her, fined her and suspended her twice (responsible)
Vlada Jerinić: As head of the Valjevo Police Department, he ordered the complaint and immediately suspended her over remarks she made at a book launch (responsible)
Internal Control Sector of the Interior Ministry (MUP): With the prosecution's approval, it arrested her and held her for 48 hours on suspicion of passing data about the crash to Marinika Tepić (investigation and courts)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: It suspended her in June 2023, and her husband was stripped of his rank over a Facebook caricature; the disciplinary commission dismissed the appeal (responsible)
Nikola Petrović: Driving a McLaren in Dedinje, he crashed into a car in which two women were lightly injured; the misdemeanour proceedings against him lapsed under the statute of limitations (responsible)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: Approved her detention and accused her over documents given to an unauthorised person, and according to Vreme it did not have jurisdiction over that offence (responsible)
Nenad Stefanović: The investigation was opened by the prosecutor's office they headed; according to Vreme, that office had no jurisdiction over the offence (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: Extended her detention by up to 30 days, then lifted it because she had been suspended and could not repeat the offence (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Valjevo: Twice acquitted Katarina Petrović of disclosing classified information (investigation and courts)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Valjevo: Appealed both acquittals; the first was overturned, and the second upheld (investigation and courts)
Court of Appeal in Belgrade: Overturned the first acquittal, then upheld the second because the information about the accident was not classified (investigation and courts)
First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: Concluded that there was no criminal liability in Nikola Petrović's crash because the women were not seriously injured, and filed only a misdemeanour charge (responsible)
Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade: It fined Nikola Petrović 10,000 dinars and gave him two points; the ruling was overturned and the case became time-barred (investigation and courts)
Marinika Tepić: Asked in Parliament about alcohol and cocaine and published an Interior Ministry document on the crash (oversight and the public)
Mirjana Milovanović: As disciplinary superior at the Valjevo Police Department, she stripped her husband of his rank over a cartoon posted on a private Facebook account (responsible)
Predrag Radosavljević: As a superior officer, he initiated disciplinary proceedings against her husband over a cartoon, after which her husband was stripped of his rank (responsible)
Dejan Ostojić: Allegedly took up the initiative and launched disciplinary proceedings against her husband over a Facebook cartoon (responsible)

Victims and others harmed

Katarina Petrović