# Persecution of police officer Vladimir Janković Category: Persecution Period: from 27 Jan 2025 Outcome: No one investigated (as of 29 Mar 2026) Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Janković, who spent 15 years in legal affairs at the Valjevo Police Administration, says he refused an order on 27 January 2025 to take down the names of citizens paying tribute to the victims of the canopy collapse outside Valjevo Gymnasium. The next day, he says, he received a notice that disciplinary proceedings had been opened against him, and the ministry allegedly terminated his employment for absence from work. He then requested the names of the police officers who beat citizens on 14 August 2025, but was allegedly turned down. ## Order refused outside the gymnasium After the canopy collapse in Novi Sad, citizens of Valjevo paid tribute to the victims every day at 11:52 outside Valjevo Gymnasium. Janković says that on 27 January 2025 he was supposed to "provide security" for the gathering, but in reality to write reports on who was there and who stood with whom, which he refused to do. The order was allegedly given to him by the administration's deputy chief Milan Simić, and a few minutes before the gathering Simić and the head of the administration came and made it clear to him that if he did not go, disciplinary proceedings would be opened. ## Disciplinary proceedings and dismissal According to Janković, the next day he received a notice that disciplinary proceedings had been opened against him, even though the day before he had been given nearly the top performance rating. After his annual leave he asked to end his employment by mutual agreement, and for four months nobody replied. The Government Appeals Commission upheld his appeal over the "administrative silence". In the end, he says, the minister refused the mutual termination and ended his employment for allegedly failing to show up for work three days in a row, which he calls untrue. ## Requests for the officers' names After the beating in Valjevo on 14 August 2025, which is covered as a separate affair, Janković filed seven freedom of information requests about the police officers who were on the street. According to him, the police administration rejected four of the requests by formal decision and answered the other three by saying it did not hold the information. He says the Commissioner upheld his four appeals, but only after four months instead of the maximum of two, so he filed four lawsuits with the Administrative Court. According to him, the 15-day deadline the Commissioner gave the police administration to hand over the information has expired. ## Participants - [Milan Simić](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/milan-simic): Allegedly ordered Janković to write reports on citizens at the gathering outside the gymnasium and warned him of disciplinary proceedings (responsible) - [Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/mup-srbije): Allegedly ended his employment over an absence from work that, he says, never happened, after he refused the order (responsible) - [Valjevo Police Department](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/pu-valjevo): Allegedly rejected Janković's requests for the names and badge numbers of police officers and did not comply with the Commissioner's order (responsible) - [Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection](https://odgovornost.rs/en/organizacije/poverenik): According to Janković, it upheld all four appeals and ordered the Valjevo Police Administration to hand over the information, but only after four months (oversight and the public) ## Victims and others harmed - [Vladimir Janković](https://odgovornost.rs/en/osobe/vladimir-jankovic) ## Sources - [Vreme: Why I refused their order](): 22 Oct 2025 - [Radar: Valjevo: Vladimir Janković, the police officer who refused an order](): 29 Mar 2026 - [N1: Former police officer: Six months on, we still do not know which officers beat our children](): 14 Feb 2026 --- Source: Odgovornost, https://odgovornost.rs/en/afere/progon-policajca-vladimira-jankovica As of: 6 Nov 2026 Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)