Justice Delayed: The Eight-Year Ordeal of Milomir Živković Against Injustice in Military Intelligence

Milomir Živković, a former member of the Military Security Agency (VBA), faced serious allegations of abuse of office in 2007. Still, it wasn’t until 2015 that he was finally acquitted in a long, arduous legal battle. The accusations stemmed from unauthorized access to phone records, including that of former Defence Minister Zoran Stanković, which ultimately led to Živković’s dismissal from the agency and left him on the brink of homelessness.

The criminal proceedings dragged on for an exhausting eight years and seven months, during which Živković endured profound personal and professional repercussions. Numerous scheduled hearings were postponed, and frequent judge changes further prolonged the process. Throughout the trial, the Higher Court in Belgrade had to request the release of witnesses from confidentiality obligations, adding another layer of complexity and delay to the already protracted proceedings.

At the time of the indictment, accessing call records was not legally regulated and was considered part of routine operations for agents. However, the Constitutional Court intervened in 2018, ruling that there was no justifiable reason for the ineffective conduct of the first-instance court and that Živković’s right to a trial within a reasonable timeframe had been violated.