Serbian police minister says number of murders average

N1

The number of murders in Serbia is about average compared to other countries, Internal Affairs Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Tuesday.

“We aren’t the best, we’re far from the best and far from the worst. This year we’ll be among the best,” he said.

Asked to comment the fact that there were 29 crime-related murders in Serbia in 2018, with 21 of those in Belgrade, Stefanovic said having a single murder is not good.

Montenegro reported seven crime-related murders in 2018, three in the Republika Srpska, two in Croatia and none in Slovenia.

Stefanovic said the ministry informed the public about every murder and expressed satisfaction that their number was dropping.

“I want to say that these are things not linked solely to Serbia – often criminals from the region are the killers under orders from someone outside the region. Why do they commit those crimes in our country? Because criminals hide in Serbia, they come to Serbia to flee situations in smaller countries,” the minister said.

Asked by N1 why the ministry reports on the police have not been published on its web site for the past five years, Stefanovic said that the ministry gazette includes those reports and added that he regularly reports to parliament at open session with his reports published on the parliament web site.