Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić downplayed recent revelations that the former head of the country’s football association plotted to violently intimidate Manchester United legend Nemanja Vidić for criticizing his work, even as state prosecutors announced they are seeking police records to take action on the case.
The public fallout follows a June 30 investigation published by OCCRP and its Serbian partner KRIK. Using leaked messages from the encrypted Sky ECC app, reporters revealed that Slaviša Kokeza, former president of the Football Association of Serbia (FSS), discussed hiring criminals in 2020 to track and assault Vidić and his supporters after the football star publicly criticized the association.
The investigation also revealed Kokeza planned retaliation against footballers Nemanja Matić, Danko Lazović, and Dragan Mrđa because they had publicly supported Vidić. The messages further showed that Kokeza sought to lobby influential Red Star Belgrade supporters to back his position at the FSS, and that some of his contacts were also in communication with the notorious criminal Veljko Belivuk.
Following the investigation's publication, Serbia's Prosecution for Organized Crime (TOK) told KRIK last week—in direct response to the journalists asking if there had been any official reactions to their reporting—that it had been unaware of the communications until the article was published, but will now take action.
The organized crime office stated it will request information from the Ministry of the Interior to determine if the police possessed the conversations published by KRIK, whether they had been analyzed, and what actions, if any, were taken.
“The Prosecution for Organized Crime will also request that all available Sky ECC communications concerning former Football Association of Serbia president Slaviša Kokeza, as well as the other individuals he was in contact with according to your investigation, be submitted to the Office as soon as possible,” the prosecution said.
Explaining the previous blind spot, the prosecution claimed that Europol provides Sky ECC intercepts exclusively to the Ministry of the Interior, meaning prosecutors can only review materials forwarded by the police. The Ministry of the Interior has not yet responded to KRIK’s questions regarding whether it possesses the messages.
The prosecutorial shift comes after Belgrade-based lawyer Ivan Ninić filed a criminal complaint against Kokeza, accusing him of preparing a murder for self-interest and base motives.
Ninić initially filed the complaint with the Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade. The filing also targets unidentified police officers who allegedly covered up the plot when they questioned Kokeza in early 2021, intentionally ignoring evidence that Vidić’s life was in danger and allowing the football chief to leave the country freely. Ninić is demanding an international arrest warrant and an internal police probe.
However, the Higher Public Prosecution told KRIK it is forwarding the case to the organized crime prosecutor.
“The Higher Public Prosecution in Belgrade has no knowledge of these facts, does not possess the Sky ECC messages, nor are such materials submitted to it. For these reasons, the criminal complaint will be forwarded to the Prosecution for Organized Crime, which has jurisdiction over the matter,” the office stated.
Despite the escalating legal action and the severity of the leaked messages, President Vučić brushed off the findings in comments to N1 TV, KRIK reported.
"Neither Nemanja Vidić is particularly important to me, nor is Slaviša Kokeza particularly important to me," Vučić said.
The leaked chats showed Kokeza believed Vučić’s brother, Andrej, was secretly backing Vidić's criticisms. Vučić dismissed this theory, stating that his brother is "not exactly a big fan" of the former Manchester United captain.
The Serbian president also minimized his own connections to influential football hooligans mentioned in the investigation. The leaked messages indicated that Vučić had met with Stevan Sojić, a known hooligan figure, and shared the contents of police wiretaps. Vučić confirmed he has known Sojić for more than 30 years and proudly stated he knows nearly all the prominent fans because he "grew up on the terraces."
However, Vučić claimed their conversations were strictly about sports, rather than anything illicit. "We talk nonsense, about who unfurled a bigger flag and who kicked the ball better," he said, adding that competent authorities should act if a criminal offence had been committed.
Others in Serbia took the investigation's findings much more seriously.
Slavoljub Muslin, the former coach of the Serbian national football team who was dismissed during Kokeza's tenure, expressed outrage over the revelations.
"I am appalled, despite the fact that I constantly say nothing can surprise me anymore," Muslin told the daily newspaper Danas, in comments carried by KRIK. "It is terrifying when the president of the Football Association of Serbia wants to endanger the life of Nemanja Vidić or his family members over a statement that was not at all insulting and was exclusively about sports."
Muslin noted that crime has deeply penetrated all levels of Serbian society, including sports, but expressed doubt that Kokeza would face any real legal consequences under the current political establishment.
"With this government, there is neither justice nor the rule of law," Muslin told the Danas daily. "Unfortunately, there have been much more serious cases than this for which no one was held responsible."
Source: Original article