Serbia’s New Majority Tests a Judiciary That Waited

After the Students’ List won Serbia’s October 25 parliamentary election, prosecutors began making arrests and reopening stalled cases, even though the incoming majority had yet to take control of any levers of power. That sudden movement has put the judiciary itself to the test: will state institutions pursue evidence, or change their pace to suit whoever holds political power?

Cases Out of the Drawers

Prosecutors arrested four people in Novi Sad on suspicion of vote-buying and detained six others in Mali Zvornik on suspicion of helping citizens from Bosnia and Herzegovina register their residence in Serbia so they could vote. Police officials, the head of the Republic Hydrometeorological Institute and several public-company managers also faced arrest over suspected abuse of office and rigged procurement.

Davor Macura, owner of Alta Bank, was arrested on suspicion of illegally entering the bank’s vault and removing the equivalent of about €383 million ($430 million). The arrest came days after the National Bank of Serbia revoked Alta Bank’s licence and began bankruptcy proceedings. Macura had publicly associated with the SNS; Alta Bank did significant business with the state and had many Russian clients.

Prosecutor Bojana Savovic told DW the sudden burst of activity “paints a sad picture of the Serbian prosecution service.” She said prosecutors were trying to ingratiate themselves with the incoming authorities. “With these actions, they are showing what they could have done but were unwilling to do until just ten days ago,” Savovic said.

Tanja Arsic, an incoming MP from the Students’ List, said people had obstructed the system and put files in drawers, leaving cases unresolved. “When you want the rule of law and when you want something to be done, it is possible,” she said. “Our regulations allow for it.” The students and incoming majority have demanded investigations into long-unresolved corruption cases, saying nobody should be above the law and prosecutors and courts must do their jobs—or be held accountable for failing to act.

Power in Motion, Records at Risk

Air Serbia flight JU134, travelling from Belgrade to Moscow, had reached deep into Lithuanian airspace on November 3 when its crew received instructions to return to the Serbian capital. Passengers included Aleksandar Vulin, former defense and interior minister and former head of Serbia’s Security Intelligence Agency (BIA); Dusan Bajatovic, long-serving director of state-owned gas company Srbijagas; and Nenad Popovic, a minister without portfolio. All three had close ties to Moscow and faced controversies, including allegations of corruption and abuse of public office.

Unofficial media reports said authorities ordered the plane back because Vulin had allegedly boarded without mandatory security screening. Vulin said he was travelling to Moscow to discuss extending a gas agreement with Russia. Bajatovic said he didn’t know why Vulin and Popovic were travelling and denied they would attend scheduled meetings on gas supplies. Vulin has faced US sanctions since 2023 over what Washington described as “engaging in corrupt and destabilizing activities that undermine the rule of law in the Western Balkans.”

Reports and video footage after the election suggested officials might have removed or destroyed documents in state institutions and public companies. On October 29, Prosecutor General Zagorka Dolovac issued a binding instruction telling chief public prosecutors to prevent the destruction of official and other records. The Students’ List urged employees of state institutions and media workers to report destruction; Savovic said even attempting to destroy official records was punishable by law.

Convictions, Not a Performance

Former President Aleksandar Vucic said he wasn’t afraid of arrest and that investigators would find no evidence of financial wrongdoing. “I don’t sign or do anything when it comes to money, and nothing can be found in that regard,” he said.

Arsic warned against prosecuting major figures without sufficient evidence or charging them with something less serious than what they had done. She said rushed indictments ending in acquittals would be disastrous. Savovic said success should be measured by final convictions and the permanent confiscation of assets acquired through crime, not by the number of popular arrests.

Savovic said people promoted for blind obedience, reading the political climate and self-censorship had shaped the prosecution service and courts. Without fundamental changes in the judiciary, police and security structures, she said, she saw no possibility of substantial and lasting transformation. The cases’ verdicts will test whether the old system of power is breaking—or whether its brokers are simply changing places.