Pink's Nina Kovačević hit a girl in Voždovac

Category: Above the law

Period: from 26 Jun 2024

Outcome: Indictment filed (as of 19 Jan 2026)

On 26 June 2024, Pink TV editor Nina Kovačević struck a fifteen-year-old girl with her car on a pedestrian crossing in Voždovac. According to the injured girl's lawyer, she will be left with permanent consequences, and sources put Kovačević's blood alcohol level at between 1.02 and 1.70 per mille. She already had 11 misdemeanour convictions, and according to CINS, the police failed in 2023 to report her for driving while banned, which, according to legal experts, allowed her to avoid losing her licence. In January 2026, the Court of Appeal overturned her first-instance sentence of two years and ten months in prison and ordered a retrial.

The girl on the pedestrian crossing

Late in the evening of 26 June 2024, Pink TV producer and editor Nina Kovačević struck a fifteen-year-old girl with her car on a marked pedestrian crossing on Vojvode Stepe Street in Voždovac. The girl was taken to the Military Medical Academy (VMA) with serious bodily injuries and spent a week in intensive care. According to the injured girl's lawyer, she is recovering after a series of operations but will be left with permanent consequences.

The sources give differing alcohol levels: the Interior Ministry said a breathalyser test measured 1.02 per mille, the prosecution cited 1.51 per mille in her blood, and according to CINS, the indictment and the reasoning of the verdict state 1.70 per mille.

Driving while banned, with no report filed

According to the prosecution, 33 requests for misdemeanour proceedings had previously been filed against Kovačević, resulting in 11 convictions by the Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade. CINS revealed that in August 2023 she drove while a driving ban was in force and that police filed no report over it, which, according to lawyers, allowed her to avoid losing her licence. A report on a second breach of the ban, from March 2024, reached the court only after the crash.

The Interior Ministry's Internal Control Sector first denied this, then opened proceedings and submitted a report to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, which opened a case in October 2025. The outcome of that case has not been made public.

Charges and an overturned verdict

In August 2024, the Second Basic Public Prosecutor's Office filed an indictment against Kovačević for an aggravated offence against public traffic safety. After two months in custody, the Higher Court placed her under house arrest and temporarily suspended her driving licence.

On 4 June 2025, the Second Basic Court convicted her at first instance and sentenced her to two years and ten months in prison and a five-year driving ban, but in January 2026 the Court of Appeal in Belgrade overturned the verdict for insufficient reasoning and ordered a retrial. No outcome of the retrial had been found as of October 2026.

Participants

Nina Kovačević: With more than one per mille of alcohol in her blood, she seriously injured a girl on a pedestrian crossing in Voždovac; according to the prosecution's expert witness, she was speeding (responsible)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: Police notified her of the driving ban a year late, and when they stopped her in 2023 they did not file a charge (responsible)
Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade: For camera-recorded offences he fined her between 10,000 and 25,000 dinars instead of the prescribed 100,000, and four of the fines lapsed under the statute of limitations (responsible)
Second Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: It filed an indictment for an aggravated offence against public traffic safety, citing 1.51 per mille (investigation and courts)
Second Basic Court in Belgrade: He ordered her detention and, at first instance, sentenced her to two years and ten months, but the Court of Appeal overturned the verdict (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: It replaced detention with house arrest and temporarily took away her driving licence (investigation and courts)
Court of Appeal in Belgrade: It overturned the first-instance verdict because it did not explain why the prosecution expert's findings were accepted (investigation and courts)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: It opened a case on possible failings by the traffic police and is looking into the claims (investigation and courts)
CINS (Centre for Investigative Journalism of Serbia): It reported that police did not file a charge for driving while banned and that internal control at first denied this (oversight and the public)
Marinika Tepić: She was the first to publicly name the driver and wrote that she had been drunk (oversight and the public)
Green-Left Front: He called on citizens to protest outside TV Pink after the accident (oversight and the public)
TV Pink: At the time of the crash the driver had been employed at the station for thirteen years; no public response from the station was found (commented on the case)

Pink's Nina Kovačević hit a girl in Voždovac

The girl on the pedestrian crossing

Driving while banned, with no report filed

Charges and an overturned verdict

Participants

Sources