In Serbia, the head of the criminal police, Marko Kricak, a man who rose through the ranks of a political order built around President Aleksandar Vucic, has been arrested and charged with abuse of office over his handling of a gangland killing in Belgrade. The arrest arrived little more than a week after that order lost parliamentary elections to the opposition Student List, and while prosecutors insist the two events are unconnected, many observers see in it the first visible cracks in a system that once seemed immovable. Whether this marks a turning point or an isolated reckoning remains for
Serbia's Criminal Police Chief Arrested on Abuse of Office Charges, Denies Link to Election Result
Kricak is alleged to have personally led the abduction of university students, including threatening to rape a female student in a government building basement in Belgrade.
The arrest has no link to the election result, the prosecutor said.
Mark
Why does this arrest matter beyond one police chief?
Mimi
Because of who he was. Kricak ran the criminal police, and before that the protection unit, and he came up through the BIA. He sat inside the machinery the students wanted dismantled.
Mark
And the charge itself is about a murder case?
Mimi
Yes. He's accused of suppressing and manipulating the investigation into a May killing in a Belgrade restaurant. The victim was a suspected underworld figure.
Luke
Worth being clear on what we don't know. The reporting doesn't say how the investigation was allegedly manipulated, or what evidence the prosecutors have.
Mark
The prosecutor says it has nothing to do with the election.
Mimi
Nenad Stefanovic said exactly that. But the arrest came eight days after Vucic's camp lost, and removing loyalists was a student demand.
Luke
Timing is not proof of motive. The prosecutor's denial is a statement, not a finding, and the reporting offers nothing that settles it either way. That the system is eroding is an interpretation, not an established fact.
Mark
What about the abduction allegations?
Mimi
They're serious: that he personally led the seizure of students and that a female student was assaulted and threatened with rape in a government building basement.
Luke
Those are allegations, and they're not part of the current charge. Keep them separate.
El Pulso
- A senior police chief, long seen as a loyalist of the Vucic government, now stands accused of manipulating a May gangland murder investigation in Belgrade.
- The arrest lands just over a week after the Student List defeated Vucic's camp at the polls, and the timing has the country buzzing with suspicion.
- Prosecutors flatly deny any link to the election or to student demands for purging loyalists from police and intelligence, leaving the question hanging in the air.
- Serious allegations of brutality and an alleged abduction of students, including a threatened sexual assault, remain unproven claims that the current charge does not address.
- Watchers will now test whether the prosecutor's case holds and whether other loyalists in the security apparatus follow him into custody.
In Serbia, the head of the criminal police, Marko Kricak, a man who rose through the ranks of a political order built around President Aleksandar Vucic, has been arrested and charged with abuse of office over his handling of a gangland killing in Belgrade. The arrest arrived little more than a week after that order lost parliamentary elections to the opposition Student List, and while prosecutors insist the two events are unconnected, many observers see in it the first visible cracks in a system that once seemed immovable. Whether this marks a turning point or an isolated reckoning remains for the coming weeks to show.
On Sunday, Serbian state media reported that Marko Kricak, the head of the country's criminal police directorate, had been arrested and charged with abuse of office. He is 42, and his arrest came just over a week after the government he served lost parliamentary elections on October 25.
The charge concerns a killing in May, when a figure from the criminal underworld was murdered in a Belgrade restaurant. Kricak is accused of suppressing and manipulating the investigation into that death. The details of how he allegedly did so have not yet been laid out.
Kricak's rise was bound up with the system of President Aleksandar Vucic. He began as a car salesman, was recruited into the intelligence service BIA, became a committed member of the Serbian Progressive Party, and was later given command of the police protection unit before taking over criminal police at the end of 2025. Student leaders had demanded that loyalists like him be removed from the police and intelligence services.
Belgrade's chief prosecutor, Nenad Stefanovic, rejected any connection between the arrest and the election or the students' demands. Still, many read the case as a sign that the foundations of the Vucic system are beginning to give way.
The most serious accusations against Kricak, from his time commanding the protection unit, involve the alleged abduction of university students, during which a female student was reportedly assaulted and threatened with rape in a government building basement. These remain allegations and are not part of the current charge. What comes next will show whether the prosecution's account holds and whether others in the security apparatus face similar consequences.
On Sunday, Serbian state media reported that the head of the country's criminal police directorate, Marko Kricak, had been arrested and charged with abuse of office. He is 42 years old, and the arrest came just over a week after the government he served lost an election.
The charge centers on a killing in May, when a suspected figure in the criminal underworld was murdered in a Belgrade restaurant. Kricak is accused of suppressing and manipulating the investigation into that murder. The reports did not describe in detail how he is alleged to have done so.
The timing is hard to ignore. On October 25, the opposition Student List defeated the right-wing populist camp of President Aleksandar Vucic in parliamentary elections. Kricak was widely seen as a Vucic loyalist, and removing him and other loyalists from the police and intelligence services had been among the demands of the student leaders.
Belgrade's chief prosecutor, Nenad Stefanovic, rejected any connection. Speaking to journalists, he said the arrest had no link to the result of the legislative elections, and that it did not stem from the student movement's demands.
Still, the arrest of a senior police officer regarded as close to the former leadership is being read as a sign that the strongholds of the Vucic system are slowly eroding.
Kricak's path to the post was tied to that system. He worked as a car salesman before being recruited into Serbia's domestic intelligence agency, the BIA, and he was a committed supporter of Vucic's Serbian Progressive Party, the SNS. In July 2023 he was appointed commander of the police personal protection unit, known as the JZO. At the end of 2025 he became head of the Serbian Criminal Police.
Student groups have accused him of brutality in the police response to peaceful anti-Vucic demonstrations. The most serious allegation dates to his time at the JZO. He is alleged to have personally led the abduction of a group of university students. One female student was allegedly assaulted and threatened with rape in the basement of a government building in Belgrade. These are allegations; the current charge against him concerns the murder investigation, not the abduction claims.
What to watch now is whether the prosecutor's account of the case holds up as details emerge, and whether other loyalists in the police and intelligence apparatus face similar action.
Citas Notables
This arrest has no link with the result of the legislative elections.— Nenad Stefanovic, Belgrade chief prosecutor
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