Novak Nedić

Nedić has been accused of having connections with organized crime groups in Serbia and the region. He has been named by several sources as a protector and associate of members of the criminal clan led by Janjičari leader Veljko Belivuk, also known as Velja Nevolja, who was arrested in February 2021 on charges of murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking and other crimes.[5][6] According to the testimonies of some of Belivuk's associates, who are also in custody, Nedić intervened on their behalf after they attacked and demolished a nightclub in Belgrade in 2018. He allegedly used his influence to prevent any legal consequences for the perpetrators. Nedić has also been mentioned in official police reports and notes as a person who had contacts with Belivuk and his associates.[7]

Furthermore, Nedić has been accused of participating in shooting practice with members of Belivuk's clan at a military shooting range in 2016. According to the Military Trade Union of Serbia, Nedić was accompanied by Nenad Vučković and Aleksandar Stanković, also known as Sale Mutavi, another notorious crime figure who was killed in 2016.[7] The evidence from the shooting range later disappeared without trace.[8]

At a press conference in March 2021, President Aleksandar Vučić avoided answering the question about Nedić's involvement with Belivuk's clan. Vučić dismissed the question as irrelevant and accused Crime and Corruption Reporting Network (KRIK), which wrote about Nedić's involvement with organized crime, of being "biased" and "working for foreign interests".[9]

During the 2023 Serbian protests, Nedić was seen with a group of men who were allegedly sent to break up the protests of farmers who blocked the traffic in Pančevo, where SNS held a rally on the same day.[10] Marinika Tepić, the vice-president of the Party of Freedom and Justice accused Nedić of "leading SNS hooligans" to a rally in Pančevo.[11] Not long after, a video showing Nedić leading a group of men through the streets of Pančevo was revealed by N1.[12]

In February 2014, Nedić, then a deputy secretary-general, was accused of sexually harassing by a female official of the Commission for Securities, who claimed that he pressured her to have a relationship with him and threatened her and her family. She reported the case to her superiors and colleagues via email, but did not file a criminal complaint. Nedić denied the allegations and said that someone wanted to harm him. The case was not investigated by the government or any other authority. Nedić was later promoted to the position of secretary-general of the government.[13] In May 2014, Nedić was attacked and beaten up by a group of men in a Belgrade bar for allegedly sexually harassing their friend.[14]