Investigate allegations of Ristovski against Vučić

Transparency Serbia has asked Higher Public Prosecution and the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime information regarding accusations made by actor, director and producer Lazar Ristovski on behalf of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. TS requested information from the prosecutors on whether they have been charged in connection with the allegations in an interview Ristovski gave on August 13th in the Morning programme of TV Prva and what they have taken on such allegations – if they have requested additional information from Ristovski, Vucic and those responsible in the RTS.

Ristovski in mentioned appearance said that thanks to Vucic's support “in conversation” with RTS “it has come that the RTS had to financially support his film. TS pointed out that from Ristovski’s statement, one could conclude that Public media institution RTS's decisions on which films to support is not made solely based on artistic and other criteria, that are important from the perspective of the role of these institutions, but that the decision is affected by others, namely the President of the Republic, in whose jurisdiction these issues are not included.

In that context the statement by Ristovski could be understood as an accusation against the President of the Republic and unnamed managers in the RTS that by overstepping their official authority, by misusing their official position, they obtained a benefit for Ristovski, which would constitute the crime of abuse of official position under Article 359 of the Criminal Code, said TS. With regard to potential disturbance of the public for these accusations we believe that it would be necessary for the prosecution to inform the public about their findings and measures taken regardless of the procedure for this request.