Bošković: Prosecutor Radonjić’s father received an apartment from the state
Former Defence Minister Predrag Bošković told the High Court today that the father of Special Prosecutor Vukas Radonjić had received an apartment from the state on favourable terms, describing this as „an interesting piece of information“.
He made the statement during the retrial in the case publicly known as the Apartment Allocation Case. In addition to Bošković, the indictment names Suad Numanović, Budimir Šegrt, Sanja Vlahović, Ivan Brajović, Dražen Miličković, Damir Šehović, Dragica Sekulić, Osman Nurković, Suzana Pribilović, Jelena Radonjić and Aleksandar Jovićević. They are accused of causing €2.6 million in damage to the state budget through the allocation of housing loans.
Bošković reiterated that the approach taken in allocating apartments had been the Government’s policy, not his own. He also pointed out that the father of the prosecutor in charge of the case, Vukas Radonjić, had received an apartment from the state on favourable terms.
- I do not feel guilty. After all these years and the proceedings brought against me, I am now certain that all these cases are politically motivated and that the other defendants are merely collateral damage - Bošković told the panel presided over by Judge Vesna Kovačević.
After the former defence minister disclosed that Prosecutor Radonjić’s father had received an apartment from the state, lawyer Velibor Marković intervened, saying that the prosecutor should initiate his own recusal in the case.
- I believe Prosecutor Radonjić should consider whether he ought to request that Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović remove him from handling these proceedings - Marković said.
Prosecutor Radonjić then explained that his father had received an apartment from the state in 1992, although he did not know the terms under which it had been granted.
- The subject of these proceedings is not the allocation of apartments, but the allocation of loans intended to improve housing conditions, which I consider to have been unlawful. I was six years old when my father received the apartment, and I have no intention of investigating the terms under which he obtained it - Radonjić said.
Judge Kovačević addressed the defence, informing the lawyers that they could request the prosecutor’s recusal.
- This panel will not request the case files concerning the apartment received by the prosecutor’s father - Kovačević stressed.
Following this, lawyer Marković formally requested Radonjić’s recusal.
- The prosecutor did not dispute that his father had also received an apartment under the same conditions and from the same Commission, albeit with a different membership at the time - Marković said.
Prosecutor Radonjić maintained that there were no grounds for his recusal and accused the defence of delaying the proceedings.
Today’s hearing was adjourned until 9 November. Chief Special Prosecutor Vladimir Novović will decide on the request for Radonjić’s recusal.
It should be recalled that on 16 May last year, all the defendants were acquitted due to insufficient evidence that they had abused their official positions as members of the Government Commission for Housing Issues, which operated from 2016 to 2020. The verdict was delivered by High Court Judge Vesna Kovačević, but the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and remanded the case to Judge Kovačević for a retrial.
The reasoning behind the first-instance verdict stated that the court had examined all the evidence and established that, during the proceedings, the Special State Prosecutor’s Office had submitted key evidence in the form of ordinary photocopies, without certification by the competent authority or confirmation of their authenticity. According to the first-instance panel, the evidence presented did not meet the required standard of evidentiary value in criminal proceedings. Since that evidence constituted the sole basis of the indictment, the court was unable to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants had committed the criminal offence.