Death of lawyer Vladimir Cvijan
Category: Above the law
Period: from Dec 2013
Outcome: No one investigated (as of 6 Aug 2026)
The body of lawyer Vladimir Cvijan, a former SNS official who filed a criminal complaint against Aleksandar Vučić in 2013, was found in the Danube on 5 January 2018, but the public learned of his death only three years later. The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade says he drowned, with no signs of mechanical injuries, and it shelved the case because there were no grounds to suspect a crime had been committed. The Ustavobranitelji speak of a „murder cover-up“, while the prosecution calls those claims malicious; no authority has established that Cvijan was murdered.
Clash with Vučić
Vladimir Cvijan, a lawyer and former secretary general to President Boris Tadić who later became an MP and a member of the presidency of the Serbian Progressive Party, left the SNS after a public clash with Aleksandar Vučić. In December 2013 he filed a criminal complaint against Vučić, which the prosecutor's office dismissed.
Body in the Danube and a shelved case
Cvijan's body was found in the Danube in Belgrade on 5 January 2018. According to the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, the autopsy and toxicology analysis established death by drowning, with no signs of mechanical injuries, and the case was shelved on 27 March 2018 because there were no grounds to suspect a crime had been committed.
The public learned of his death only in March 2021, from the Belgrade Bar Association.
Doubts that an investigation was carried out
Lawyer Ivan Ninić and the association Ustavobranitelji claim that no investigation was ever conducted and that the autopsy does not show whether it was murder, suicide or an accident; Ustavobranitelji speak of a "cover-up of a murder".
In August 2026 the prosecution called those claims malicious and stressed that there are no indications of a crime, adding that the term "violent death" is also used for suicide. Ustavobranitelji then submitted a proposal to the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office for an extraordinary review of the prosecution's work. No authority has established that Cvijan was murdered.
Participants
- Vladimir Cvijan: Lawyer, former secretary general to President Tadić and SNS MP; found dead in the Danube in 2018. (harmed)
- Aleksandar Vučić: According to Cvijan's 2013 criminal complaint, he tried to physically attack him and insulted him (responsible)
- Nataša Krivokapić: According to Ninić's complaint, as head of the prosecutor's office she denied him access to the case file on Cvijan's death (responsible)
- Ivan Ninić: He sought access to the case files and said the file was incomplete and that the prosecutor's office took no evidence-gathering steps in 2018 (oversight and the public)
- Čedomir Kokanović: He says the autopsy does not explain the death and that the bar association kept a letter secret for three years; he called for an investigation (oversight and the public)
- Jovan Rajić: With Ninić and Kokanović he sought the file so that an investigation could be opened, and speaks of a murder cover-up (oversight and the public)
- Jugoslav Tintor: According to Kokanović, the bar association under his leadership kept a letter from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund hidden for three years, a letter that showed Cvijan was dead (responsible)
- Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: It shelved the case on the death in 2018 after finding no grounds for suspicion, and withheld the files from Ninić and the Commissioner (responsible)
- Ustavobranitelji association: It demanded an investigation and speaks of a murder cover-up, asking who decided that none would be conducted (oversight and the public)
- Belgrade Bar Association: According to Kokanović, it kept a letter from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund hidden for three years, a letter that showed Cvijan was dead (responsible)
- Security Information Agency: After the documents were declassified it handed them over, and says it had written nothing about Cvijan before that (commented on the case)
- Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection: He requested oversight of the prosecution, and was then given access to the case files (oversight and the public)
- Misdemeanour Court in Belgrade: It dropped misdemeanour proceedings against Nataša Krivokapić, then head of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, because the statute of limitations had expired (responsible)
- Party of Freedom and Justice: She asked whether Vučić knew of Cvijan's death and had been hiding it since 2018 (oversight and the public)
- Serbian Progressive Party: Officials responded to the criminal complaint by saying it was the other way round; Cvijan left the party after a clash (commented on the case)
- Radomir Nikolić: Along with Nebojša Stefanović, he claimed that Cvijan had attacked Vučić, not the other way round (commented on the case)
Sources