Reasons for dismissal of police officials "unclear"

Reasons for dismissal of police officials "unclear"

BELGRADE -- The reasons for the dismissal of police departments' chiefs, announced last week, are "unclear," participants in B92 TV's Sunday talk show have concluded.

Zoran Živković, former prime minister and leader of the the New Party (NS), was one of the guests on "Impression of the Week" ("Utisak nedelje"), when he said that Criminal Police chief Rodoljub Milović was "a professional who was dismissed just because Darko Šarić called him out."

Branko Ružić, a high ranking official of the ruling Socialists (SPS) noted that it was "necessary to establish the truth."

"We need to listen to each side. I understood this to be about the existence of two centers that were mutually conflicted, who had their protectors in the police, and that is how I understood the move by the state," he said, and added that Šarić - on trial for organizing a crime group that smuggled tons of cocaine - "certainly cannot be the conscience of the nation."

Vice President of the opposition Democratic Party (DS) Borislav Stefanović was another guest on the show. According to him, it was "not normal to use Šarić's testimony to sack (police officials)."

"We had a pathetic performance by Vučić, the president makes the address (to the nation), and we know when a president is supposed to make addresses. Šarić points the finger at someone and they're all dismissed, with the explanation that they did well. They needed a cause. Vučić wants us to live and go from one scandal to another, because there are no other results," said Stefanović.

Stefanović added that the dismissals could have been carried out "without such pomp" while the police director could...