The „Senjak“ case: a restaurant murder and Veselin Milić

Category: Above the law

Period: from 12 May 2026

Outcome: Indictment filed (as of 4 Oct 2026)

Aleksandar Nešović was killed at the restaurant 27 in Senjak on 12 May 2026, and his body was found in a barrel near Inđija. Six people have been indicted for the murder and for covering it up. Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić is charged with failing to report the murder, which he learned of the same night, and with falsifying an official report. After his release from custody, he was reinstated at the Interior Ministry as assistant director of the police. His trial began on 9 November, and he denies the charges. Marko Kričak and Boško Sekulović are in custody on suspicion of abusing their positions against Milić during the investigation.

Murder at the „27“ restaurant

On the night of 12 May 2026, Aleksandar Nešović, whom the media link to organised crime, was killed at the „27“ restaurant in Senjak. His body was removed from the restaurant and found on 21 May in a barrel buried near Inđija.

Saša V. has been charged with the murder, and five other people with helping to cover up the traces. The Higher Court confirmed that indictment on 9 October, but the decision is not yet final.

Police chief arrested

Three days after the killing, Belgrade police chief Veselin Milić, a former adviser on fighting corruption and crime to President Aleksandar Vučić, was arrested and dismissed the same day. The prosecutor's office initially also suspected him of assisting the perpetrator after the killing, but in June it dropped that part of the complaint, stating that Milić had not been in the restaurant at the time of the killing.

Milić was also in charge of the Belgrade police at the time of the demolitions in Savamala in 2016 (see the Savamala affair).

Indictment motion against Milić

Prema optužnom predlogu Višeg javnog tužilaštva od 10. jula, vlasnik restorana je Miliću još te noći javio da je u lokalu ubijen Nešović, a Milić to nikome nije prijavio; tereti se i da je u službenu belešku uneo neistinite podatke o susretu sa optuženim za ubistvo. Navodno, u zapisnicima sa saslušanja vlasnik restorana nijednom nije rekao da je Miliću javio za ubistvo.

Milić tvrdi da mu je slučaj nameštan i podneo je krivičnu prijavu protiv načelnika UKP Marka Krička.

Arrest of Kričak and Sekulović

Kričak and Boško Sekulović, head of the Crime Suppression Service, were arrested on 1 November 2026 on the orders of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade. The office suspects that from 12 May to 3 June, while handling the murder, they abused their official positions to cause harm and seriously violated Milić's rights. A complaint filed by his lawyers has also been joined to the case.

According to details of the complaint released by the prosecution, on 15 May Sekulović included Milić in the criminal complaint even though he allegedly knew Milić had left the restaurant before the shooting, and he did not mention the camera footage showing this; Kričak gave him verbal approval for the complaint. Kričak is also suspected of having beaten and choked one of the injured parties together with other police officers on the premises of the Criminal Police Directorate (UKP) on 16 May.

Custody and suspension from duty

Kričak and Sekulović were ordered held for up to 48 hours, and Higher Public Prosecutor Nenad Stefanović said the arrests had nothing to do with the elections. After questioning, the Higher Court in Belgrade, at the prosecution's request, remanded them in custody for up to 30 days over the risk that they could influence witnesses. On appeal by the prosecution, a panel of that court ruled on 6 November that they should also be held over the risk of reoffending, and rejected the defence's appeals.

The Interior Ministry then temporarily suspended them from duty. The Criminal Police Directorate is now run by Kričak's deputy Nevenko Marić, the former head of the Novi Sad police. According to Nova.rs and RTS, on 1 November, on the prosecution's orders, Marić and the head of the Service for Combating Organised Crime, Marko Zafirović, were also summoned to the police for an informational interview, in the capacity of private citizens.

Return to the Interior Ministry and trial

Milić was released from custody on 6 July. According to the Interior Ministry's reply to the N1 portal, his suspension from duty also ended that day, and the ministry has no document on any disciplinary proceedings; in October, minister Ivica Dačić confirmed that Milić is an assistant police director.

The trial before the First Basic Court in Belgrade began on 9 November 2026: Milić said he was not guilty, and his lawyer said that the complaint filed by the Criminal Police Directorate, then headed by Kričak, was, in his words, not based on facts. Milić will present his defence when the main hearing resumes on 17 December.

Custody for accomplices and prosecution oversight

Three of those charged with helping, whose custody the Higher Court had replaced with house arrest on 2 October, were ordered back into custody by the Court of Appeal on 26 October, following an appeal by the prosecution.

According to Danas, a commission of the Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, which began reviewing the work of the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade on 28 October, requested the „Senjak“ case among the first.

Participants

Veselin Milić: According to the indictment, he did not report a murder he was told about the same night, and gave a false account of a meeting in an official note (responsible)
Ivica Dačić: He said he had merely removed Milić as head of the Belgrade police and that the offence Milić is charged with does not carry suspension from work (commented on the case)
Marko Kričak: Prosecutors suspect he beat and choked the owner of the "27" restaurant at the Criminal Police Directorate and abused his position in the murder investigation (responsible)
Boško Sekulović: Prosecutors suspect he named Milić in a criminal complaint despite knowing he had left before the shooting, and that he was late handing over camera footage (responsible)
Aleksandar Vučić: After the arrest he said no one is protected, and in June that he would neither lead a witch hunt against Milić nor protect him (commented on the case)
Belgrade City Police Department: According to the prosecution, the commander of its Intervention Unit 92 ordered that the shooting in the restaurant be passed off as a bar brawl (responsible)
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia: It announced Milić's dismissal without giving a reason, and on the same day his detention was lifted it assigned him to the post of assistant police director (commented on the case)
Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade, Special Department for Combating Corruption: It charged Saša V. with murder and Milić by summary indictment; it suspects Kričak and Sekulović of abusing their positions in the investigation to Milić's detriment (investigation and courts)
Higher Court in Belgrade: It ordered and then lifted Milić's detention, confirmed the murder indictment against Saša V. in a ruling that is not yet final, and ordered detention for Kričak and Sekulović (investigation and courts)
First Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade: Took over the indictment motion against Milić after the Higher Court declared it lacked jurisdiction (investigation and courts)
First Basic Court in Belgrade: Milić's trial on the indictment motion began before it on 9 November 2026; the next hearing is scheduled for 17 December (investigation and courts)
Serbian Progressive Party: According to the indictment, a party official in Stara Pazova put the body in a barrel and buried it (commented on the case)
Nenad Stefanović: He set out the suspicions against Kričak and Sekulović and said the arrest had nothing to do with the elections; according to Danas, the commission requested the "Senjak" case (investigation and courts)
Zagorka Dolovac: She sent prosecutors' offices a binding instruction to give the commission access to case files (investigation and courts)
Court of Appeal in Belgrade: It upheld the prosecution's appeal and ordered three people charged with aiding the killer back into custody (investigation and courts)
Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office: The commission has begun inspecting the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office; according to Danas, the cases include "Senjak" (investigation and courts)
Marko Zafirović: On the prosecution's orders, he was summoned for questioning as a citizen over the "Senjak" case (commented on the case)
Nevenko Marić: As Kričak's deputy, he took over running the Criminal Police Directorate after Kričak's arrest; on the prosecution's orders, he was summoned for an informational interview about "Senjak" (commented on the case)

Victims and others harmed

Aleksandar Nešović