Student List calls for resignation of Telekom Srbija director Vladimir Lučić and broad institutional purge

After winning the early parliamentary elections on October 25, the Student List delivered a broad set of demands at its first post-election press conference, calling for the immediate resignation of Telekom Srbija’s director Vladimir Lučić and for sweeping changes across Serbia’s security and media institutions.

Students demand resignations, reopen investigations and new media oversight

Mirjana Nikolić, one of the Student List candidates, told reporters that state-controlled Telekom must stop funding private projects and political propaganda and that its management should be held responsible for what the students described as politicisation and waste of public funds. She urged "the immediate and irrevocable resignation" of Vladimir Lučić and those who, in her words, placed the company under political influence.

"We demand an immediate halt to the 'throwing away' of money, the stopping of private projects paid for by Telekom, stopping unjustified payouts and the initiation of proceedings against anyone who is found responsible for abuse," Nikolić said. She added that public funds under state control "must not be a private fund for financing political propaganda and the enrichment of privileged individuals."

The Student List also sent an open letter to Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) and the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), asking for personnel changes at the public broadcaster. They demanded resignations from senior editorial figures and proposed a temporary administration at RTS agreed with representative unions, while calling for REM to be fully reconstituted.

Svetlana Stana­rević, another candidate, named a list of police commanders and internal security officials she said should be dismissed for breaking the law. She proposed that experienced, non-politicised staff be temporarily reassigned to ensure continued functioning of the units, and that employees who had been unjustly removed for political reasons be returned to their posts.

Stana­rević said the students also want the director of the police, Dragan Vasiljević, to submit an "immediate and irrevocable resignation," arguing he breached ethical and legal standards attached to his post.

On intelligence agencies, the Student List demanded that Vladimir Orlić step down as head of the Security-Information Agency (BIA), accusing the service of acting as a partisan instrument rather than a state body. They also called for the resignation of Military Security Agency (VBA) chief Đuro Jovanić and urged prosecutors and a parliamentary oversight committee to urgently investigate allegations of pressure and illegal surveillance.

Jovan Vujičić, another Student List candidate, pressed the public prosecutor’s office to reopen or properly pursue high-profile cases that attracted public attention in recent years. He singled out the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime, Mladen Nenadić, asking him to take action in cases such as "Tenda", "Generalštab" and "Nebesna korrespondencija." He also asked that prosecutors examine the conduct of public prosecutors Nenad Stefanović and Miodrag Marković for alleged abuse of office.

The Student List additionally called on authorities to review financial flows on major projects and contracts — including Expo, Belgrade Waterfront, stadiums in Leskovac and Loznica, the Miloš Veliki highway, Corridor 10 and Rio Tinto projects — and investigations tied to the COVID-19 pandemic period.

Photo: Printskrin