Radar weekly said that the court ruling forcing the Belgrade city authorities to pay compensation for demolishing buildings in the Savamala neighborhood is just the tip of the iceberg.

The Savamala neighborhood was demolished to make way for the Belgrade Waterfront, a pet project for the Serbian authorities which brought in millions. The neighborhood consisted of small houses which were easily demolished. The whole thing attracted public attention on a night in April 2016 when masked men using heavy machinery demolished what was left of the neighborhood. The masked men took hostage a security guard who died later.

The first instance of a court ordering the authorities to pay compensation for one of the Savamala houses was the case of Canada resident Slobodanka Juricic whose house was demolished in December 2014. She inherited the house from her parents who were given it by the national railway company her father worked for. Juricic asked the city authorities if the house would be demolished and whether they would make it up to her somehow but got no reply.

Her lawyer Milan Sucevic told Radar that she received 4 million Dinars as compensation and 700,000 in court costs with interest which was collected by court order. He added that the first ruling in his client’s favor was in February 2017 before it went to the Appeals Court which confirmed the ruling in April 2024.

Sucevic said that this first final court ruling is a huge step because of the large number of similar cases still waiting for rulings. He added that the court never determined who and under whose orders demolished the houses in Savamala, including Juricic’s house.