SSP: Gang leader confirms link to Serbia's President, Belgrade authorities

Serbia's opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP) said on Thursday that the accused head of the criminal clan, Veljko Belivuk, confirmed he was involved in the demolition in Belgrade's Savamala district and linked his group to Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, then-Mayor Sinisa Mali and city manager Goran Vesic.

In a statement before the Special Prosecutor, Belivuk said he and two others "sent guys" to demolish premises in Savamala at night to build a parking lot for the Belgrade Waterfront.
"It is now clear why the trial of the Belivuk clan is being delayed. It did not begin four months after the indictment was confirmed to avoid the accusations against the regime and corroborate the statements of other witnesses who earlier said that the top state and Belgrade leadership, as well as the city's police, were behind the demolition in Savamala in April 2016, being heard before this year's April 3 elections," the SSP press release said.

It described the demolition as "an event that symbolises the collapse of the state and the system in the regime and the mafia union."

"Now, in his statement before the prosecutor, Belivuk revealed not only the perpetrators but also threatened the masterminds because only one man could not order the closure of the street and the power outage," the party added.

The SSP, a leading opposition party in Serbia, promised that "immediately after the change of government", the judiciary would determine all the circumstances, perpetrators and those who ordered the demolition.