The Third Basic Court in Belgrade ordered the detention of four suspects for stealing decorations from the Palace of Serbia, this judicial institution announced.
Detention was assigned to the persons I.Z. /53/, S.S. /44/, N.A. /63/ and A.T. /60/ for participating in the theft of 43,000 orders from the Office for orders in the right wing of the Palace of Serbia.
The court said that the public will be informed in a timely manner about further actions taken by the prosecution in order to clarify all the details of the criminal act.
Eight people were arrested for the theft of medals, two of whom are on the run, which is why the prosecution proposed to the court to issue a warrant.
It was discovered a decade ago that tens of thousands of orders were missing from the Palace of Serbia building, after which the case began to be investigated.
However, it was only now that the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against ten people, including Slobodan Homan, a lawyer and former state secretary in the Ministry of Justice.
As “Blic” learns, the stolen items were located in three rooms in the SIV building.
“The thieves were so proud that they took almost everything from what was in the premises. Moreover, if they had stolen 20 percent of what was in them, no one would have even noticed,” says a “Blic” source familiar with the investigation.
As “Blic” learns, the cabinet of the then Minister of Justice Nikola Selaković noticed that the decorations had disappeared from the premises, and made an official note.
“This has been investigated for years, and the medals were allegedly stolen back in 2007,” says the “Blic” source.
In addition to Slobodan Homen (52), collector Jovan Mara (65) is suspected of complicity in the theft of 43,000 medals.
A warrant was issued for Homen at the proposal of the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade. He was the State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and a lawyer.
In an extensive arrest operation organized by the Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade and the Criminal Police Directorate, the Crime Suppression Service, eight persons, J.M. (65), N.A. (63), I.Z. (53), O.P.G. (65), S.S. (44), A.T. (60), A.R. (61) and R.K. (64), while after Slobodan Homen (52) and S.B. (46) The third prosecution submitted a proposal to the court to issue warrants.
According to the criminal complaint, so far 10 persons from the decoration office, which is located in the right wing of the SIV, committed serious theft of state property, namely 43,000 state decorations of extremely high value.
The suspects were heard, they all presented their defences, after which the Third Prosecutor’s Office submitted to the court a proposal to order detention for four people, to issue a warrant and order detention for two people, because they are not available to state authorities, and for three people a measure to ensure the smooth conduct of criminal proceedings.
The Third Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade continues with the Criminal Police Department, the Crime Suppression Service, further work on elucidating all the details of the event in question and work on establishing the identity of all persons who participated in this serious theft of state property, about which the public will be informed later, reports “SrpskaInfo“.
