Daily: Dismissals looming in Interior Ministry

Daily: Dismissals looming in Interior Ministry

More than any other elite police unit, the Gendarmerie has remained in the media spotlight for years - its members have been accused of numerous crimes, such as providing security to criminals, illegal wiretapping and excessive use of force, the paper reported.

Most of the allegations are associated with the Niš detachment of the Gendarmerie.

Over the past two years - before the Pride Parade incident - there have only been two criminal charges, filed against two members of the squad - one is suspected of having killed a drug dealer, and the other of shooting a woman driver after a brief altercation in traffic.

"There is no way that around 50 criminal charges have been filed against members of the Niš squad of the Gendarmerie, or that most of them have criminal records. All allegations about criminal acts that some media had been making for years in a biased manner have been checked and investigated within the Interior Ministry, but none of the cases reached the prosecutor's office because the allegations had been groundless," unnamed sources in the Gendarmerie told Danas.

The Nis squad was back in the public spotlight after its members brutally beat up Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić's brother and three of the prime minister's bodyguards in downtown Belgrade on September 29 while the streets were cordoned off for the Pride Parade.

Criminal charges have been filed against seven gendarmes as a result, with squad commander Senad Kostić relieved of his duties.

The members of all elite units - not just the Gendarmerie - have been subjected to the checks, the sources in the Interior Ministry said.

Police unions have vehemently condemned what they see as a campaign against the Gendarmerie, adding that the elite unit and its members, "who are doing their jobs honorably," are being maligned.

The Belgrade-based daily Blic reported on Tuesday that gendarmes who have criminal records or are incident-prone cannot be discharged from service, but that they will be transferred to lower and less remunerative positions.

Under the labor law and the law on the police force, they cannot be discharged unless they have been charged with major crimes, and those who have are already out of their jobs in the police force.

A new job classification is the only way for the Gendarmerie to get rid of people who have criminal records or are incident-prone, the paper said, quoting sources in the Interior Ministry.