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The trial of Serbia's Culture Minister Nikola Selakovic and three other officials, accused of illegally removing the cultural heritage status of the former Yugoslav Army headquarters, a symbolic building bombed by NATO in 1999, began in Belgrade on Wednesday.
In addition to Selakovic, the defendants are the Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Slavica Jellaca, the acting director of the State Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, Goran Vasic, and the acting director of the Institute of Cultural Monuments of the City of Belgrade, Aleksandar Ivanovic. All four have pleaded not guilty.
According to the indictment, the removal of the cultural protection status was a necessary step to allow the demolition of the complex and pave the way for a new investment project. International media have reported that the project was related to a luxury complex development, associated with the investment fund “Affinity Partners”, owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump. According to the “Wall Street Journal”, Kushner has withdrawn from the project after the accusations and public protests against him were raised.
The prosecutor in the case, Vojislav Isailovic, stated at the hearing that the defendants have caused damage to the cultural heritage of the Republic of Serbia and announced that the prosecution will call about ten witnesses to support the accusation.
On the other hand, Minister Selakovic's defense rejected all claims, calling the charges politically motivated by the Organized Crime Prosecution. The defense attorney argued that the removal of the protection status has not caused any harm to Serbia, describing the former military headquarters as "ruin".
All defendants are charged with abuse of office, while Selakovic, Jellaca and Vasic also face charges of forgery of official documents. Ivanovic is accused of aiding and abetting forgery.
The defense has also emphasized that, according to them, there is no criminal offense, since in November 2025 the Serbian Parliament adopted a "lex specialis" to accelerate the redevelopment of the former Yugoslav Army headquarters, a law that repealed the 2005 decision on the status of cultural heritage.
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