Bar Association: Attorney-client talks privileged, recording illegal

Velja Nevolja Veljko Belivuk hapšenje stadion
Nova.rs/Vesna Lalić

Serbia's Bar Association (AKS) said on Monday that the transcripts of the conversation between lawyer Dejan Lazarevic and his detained clients suspected of being members of a criminal group could only have been made by secret recording in violation of the attorney-client privilege.

AKS referred to the transcripts of alleged statements Veljko Belivuk, the gang leader, and his closest allay Marko Miljkovic gave to the police and published by some media.

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The Association said in a statement that the published transcripts were the suspects’ conversation with their Lazarevic.

„If the published transcripts are true, it would mean that the conversations of detainees and their defence attorneys in the visiting rooms of the special detention unit of the District Prison in Belgrade are recorded to listen to the content of confidential communication,“ the Bar Association warned.

It demanded an investigation into how those communications were recorded and whether that and other prison’s units were illegally bugged.

Belivuk and Miljkovic claimed they had met President Aleksandar Vucic and Interior Minister Aleksandar Vulin and did some jobs for them.

Both Vucic and Vulin denied any links to the Belivuk group.