site.btaHead of Serbian Cultural Monuments Protection Institute Arrested After Alleged Falsification of Documents Pertaining to Sought-after Buildings in Belgrade

The acting director of the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments in Serbia, Goran Vasic, has been arrested. Vasic had proposed to the Serbian government that the status of cultural monument of the two buildings of the General Staff of the former Yugoslav Army, partially destroyed during NATO bombings in 1999, be removed, Serbian media report.

Goran Vasic is suspected of falsifying a document that allowed the General Staff buildings and the Ministry of Defense in central Belgrade to be removed from the cultural heritage register.

A company owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, plans to build a business and residential complex at the site of these buildings in downtown Belgrade, which will also include a memorial to the victims of the NATO bombings.

According to a statement from the Belgrade District Prosecutor's Office, Vasic abused his official position by falsifying the proposal to the government and creating a document without the involvement of restoration experts from the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. He then sent it to the Serbian government through the Ministry of Culture.

Based on this document, on November 14 of last year, the government of then-Prime Minister Milos Vucevic removed the cultural monument status from the partially destroyed buildings of the former General Staff of the Yugoslav Army and the Ministry of Defense and allowed an agreement with Kushner’s company for their revitalization.

Last year, the project was valued at around USD 500 million by The New York Times.

The complex of buildings of the General Staff is the work of one of the greatest representatives of Yugoslav modernism, architect Nikola Dobrovic.

The director of the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Professor Dr. Dubravka Džukanović, resigned from her post on June 3 last year. The decision was made after she was given an ultimatum to either propose the removal of the protected status of the General Staff building or resign, the "Novi Magazin" publication reported at the time.

After Professor Džukanović’s resignation, Goran Vasic was appointed as acting director of the institute.

In connection with the removal of the cultural monument status of the buildings, students blocking around 60 faculties in the country organized a protest demanding that the status be restored, claiming the government’s decision was made without expert evaluation.

The arrest and allegations of abuse of office and document falsification by Goran Vasic, acting director of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, came after Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s visit to the US, which was interrupted on May 3 due to a sudden deterioration in his health.

"This man, Goran Vasic, did not do this because he wanted to, or because he had some agreement with Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Vasic was ordered to do this by someone at the top of power. Regardless if the order came from Vučić or from Finance Minister Siniša Mali. And now, with Vasic’s arrest, this is a response to Trump,” commented Miroslav Aleksić, leader of the opposition People’s Movement of Serbia, regarding the arrest and questioning of Goran Vasic.

Before leaving for the US, Vučić announced he was expecting to meet with key representatives of the Republican Party and was preparing for a meeting with US President Donald Trump.

The meetings did not take place, and Serbian opposition representatives at the time commented that this happened because Vučić used unofficial channels to make contact.

Over the past six months, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had meetings with US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and son, who have business interests in Serbia and the Balkans.