Ex-vice consul speaks out over Kovačević case

Slobodan Nenadovic, the former vice consul to New York, says he has written reports to Belgrade on the Kovacevic case and met with consular section chiefs. In an interview with daily Borba, Nenadovic said that Consul Igor Milosevic had notified Miladin Kovacevic’s family and the Foreign Ministry last May that a Serbian national had been involved in a bar brawl, that he had been arrested and that he (Milosevic) was due to visit him. Ex-vice consul speaks out over Kovacevic case “He went to see Miladin one more time before bail was posted, on June 6. All the information I had on the case at the time was general: we had a Serbian in custody, there was talk of the judge setting bail for his release,“ said the former vice-consul. “The whole time Milosevic wrote all the reports on the case for the Ministry by himself, nor did he give them to me to sign. I presume—and for the financial bit I know—that he maintained communication with the ministry,“ he added. Nenadovic went on to say that the embassy was not entitled to issue Kovacevic a new passport as, under the law, passports may not be issued to citizens that are the subject of a criminal investigation, but that an order issued by the host country—the U.S. in this case— needed to exist, prohibiting the issuance of a new passport. According to the former vice-consul, the U.S. courts failed to submit this order, as it was assumed that the Serbian consulate representative that brought Kovacevic’s bail had already been informed of this. Milosevic, however, did not mention this in his report, nor did he tell Nenadovic that the Serbian student had been issued a new passport on June 9. The U.S. courts are continuing to demand Kovacevic’s extradition after the student was accused of assualting fellow student Bryan Steinhauer in a barroom brawl. In the meantime, the Serbian government has declared the case a state secret after it came to light that it had been holding covert talks with the victim’s family regarding compensation.

Ex-vice consul speaks out over Kovačević case

“He went to see Miladin one more time before bail was posted, on June 6. All the information I had on the case at the time was general: we had a Serbian in custody, there was talk of the judge setting bail for his release,“ said the former vice-consul.

“The whole time Milošević wrote all the reports on the case for the Ministry by himself, nor did he give them to me to sign. I presume—and for the financial bit I know—that he maintained communication with the ministry,“ he added.

Nenadović went on to say that the embassy was not entitled to issue Kovačević a new passport as, under the law, passports may not be issued to citizens that are the subject of a criminal investigation, but that an order issued by the host country—the U.S. in this case— needed to exist, prohibiting the issuance of a new passport.

According to the former vice-consul, the U.S. courts failed to submit this order, as it was assumed that the Serbian consulate representative that brought Kovačević’s bail had already been informed of this.

Milošević, however, did not mention this in his report, nor did he tell Nenadović that the Serbian student had been issued a new passport on June 9.

The U.S. courts are continuing to demand Kovačević’s extradition after the student was accused of assualting fellow student Bryan Steinhauer in a barroom brawl. In the meantime, the Serbian government has declared the case a state secret after it came to light that it had been holding covert talks with the victim’s family regarding compensation.